Detroit
- Written by Lisa D'Amour
- Directed by Anne Kauffman
LISA D'AMOUR writes plays for theater and creates site-specific performances. She recently premiered Terrible Things, a dance-theater piece created with Katie Pearl and choreographer Emily Johnson, at PS122 in New York. Other recent projects include Swimming Cities Of Switchback Sea (a performance for a fleet of seven handmade boats on the Hudson River designed by SWOON) and Bird Eye Blue Print (created with Katie Pearl, for a vacant office in the World Financial Center, NYC). Lisa's work has been presented by theaters such as Salvage Vanguard, Infernal Bridegroom Productions, the Walker Arts Center, Crowded Fire Theater, Children's' Theater Company, Clubbed Thumb, HERE Arts Center, New Georges, and the Women's Project, and has been supported by the Jerome Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, NYSCA and the NEA/TCG Residency for Playwrights. She received an OBIE Award along with Katie Pearl and Kathy Randels for Nita & Zita, and received the Alpert Award in the Arts for theater in 2008. Lisa often collaborates with ArtSpot Productions in her hometown of New Orleans. She is a core alum of the Playwrights' Center and a recent alumna of New Dramatists. Lisa's latest creation with Katie Pearl, How to Build a Forest, premiered at The Kitchen, NYC. Lisa is a 2011 Pulitzer Finalist and Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist for Detroit. That same year, she was awarded the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Playwright Award. (As of August 2012)
Photo by Zack Smith
Anne Kauffman (Directing Consultant) New York Philharmonic, BAM, Ars Nova, NYTW, Roundabout Theatre Company, Encores! Off-Center, Women’s Project, Playwrights Horizons, MCC, The Public, P73 Productions, New Georges, Vineyard Theater, LCT3, Yale Rep, Steppenwolf, Goodman Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Z Space, American Conservatory Theater and Berkeley Rep. She is a Resident Director at Roundabout Theater, Artistic Associate and Founding Member of The Civilians, a Clubbed Thumb Associate Artist and co-creator of the CT Directing Fellowship, a New Georges Associate Artist, an SDC Executive Board Member, Vice President and Trustee of SDCF 2020-2023 and Artistic Director of City Center’s Encores! Off-Center 2017-2020. Kauffman’s awards include a 2024 Tony nomination for Best Director for MARY JANE, a 2023 Tony nomination for Best Revival for THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW, three Obies, the Joan and Joseph Cullman Award for Exceptional Creativity from Lincoln Center, the Alan Schneider Director Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, a Drama League award and the Joe A. Callaway. Co-creator of the Cast Album Project with Jeanine Tesori.
Tues at 7pm, Wed–Fri at 8pm, Sat at 2:30 & 8pm, and Sun at 2:30 & 7:30pm.
Pulitzer Prize finalist. Somewhere in the suburbs of a mid-sized city, Ben and Mary welcome into their lives the rootless couple who move in next door. But as this foursome bonds over backyard barbecues, the neighborly connection they find threatens to unravel the lives they've built and change them forever. An ecstatic, dangerous new comedy, Detroit exposes the nerves that live just under the surface of American life.
Featuring
John Cullum
FrankDarren Pettie
KennyAmy Ryan
MaryDavid Schwimmer
BenSarah Sokolovic
SharonJOHN CULLUM (Frank). Broadway career spans 50 years, from the original Camelot to last summer’s Shakespeare in the Park productions of Measure for Measure and All’s Well That Ends Well. Tony Awards: On the Twentieth Century, Shenandoah. Tony nominations: 110 in the Shade, Urinetown the Musical, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. Drama Desk nominations: Conscientious Objector, Sin, Whistler. Broadway: All My Sons, Old Money, Show Boat, 1776, Doubles, Burton’s Hamlet (Laertes), Boys in Autumn, Trip Back Down, Man of La Mancha, the recent Scottsboro Boys. Television: “Mad Men” “Law & Order: SVU” (Attorney/Judge Moredock), “ER” (Mark Greene’s father), “Northern Exposure” (Holling the bartender), “30 Rock,” “The Middle.” Film: The Night Listener, Betty Page, The Secret Life of Algernon, 1776, Sweet Country, Marie, All the Way Home, Hawaii. Cullum appeared in Playwrights Horizons’ production of Wilder. (As of August 2012)
DARREN PETTIE (Kenny). Broadway: Butley. Off-Broadway: The Milk Train
Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore (Roundabout Theatre Company); The Collection (Atlantic Theater); This, Spatter Pattern (Playwrights Horizons); Hillary (New Georges); Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams (Primary Stages); Hobson’s Choice (Atlantic Theater); Unwrap Your Candy (Vineyard Theatre); Measure for Measure (Delacorte). Regional and festivals: How the Other Half Loves (Westport), Don’t Dress for Dinner (Royal George), The Cry of the Reed (Huntington), The Taming of the Shrew (Commonwealth Shakespeare Festival), Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams (WTF). Film and TV: Taking Woodstock, The International, Ghost Town, Four Single Fathers, “Mad Men,” “Ringer,” “Rizzoli & Isles,” “Pan Am,” “Castle,” “Prime Suspect,” “Scandal,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia,” “Brothers and Sisters,” “Without a Trace,” “Numb3rs,” “CSI,” “Crossing Jordan,” “Charmed.” (As of August 2012)
AMY RYAN (Mary). Broadway: A Streetcar Named Desire (Tony nomination), Uncle
Vanya (Tony nomination), The Women, The Three Sisters, The Sisters Rosensweig. Off- Broadway: On the Mountain (Playwrights Horizons), Saved, Crimes of the Heart, Imagining Brad, As Bees in Honey Drown, Rimers of Eldritch. London: The Distance from Here. Film: Gone Baby Gone (Academy Award nomination), Win Win, Green Zone, Jack Goes Boating, Changeling, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Capote, Dan in Real Life, Keane, You Can Count on Me, The Missing Person. Upcoming: The Tomb, Devils’ Knot, writer/director Drake Doremus’ yet-to-betitled film. Television: “The Office,” “In Treatment,” “The Wire.” (As of August 2012)
DAVID SCHWIMMER (Ben) is co-founder of the Lookingglass Theatre Company in
Chicago, recipient of the 2011 Regional Theatre Tony Award. Acting and directing
with Lookingglass includes Trust, Our Town, West, The Master and Margarita, The Jungle, Eye of the Beholder, The Odyssey, The Idiot, Of One Blood and Race. Broadway: The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. Off-Broadway: Fault Lines (director). London: Some Girl(s). Williamstown: Glimmer Brothers. Los Angeles: Turnaround and D Girl. Film includes The Iceman, Madagascar 1, 2 & 3, Nothing But the Truth, Duane Hopwood, Big Nothing, Six Days Seven Nights, Apt Pupil and The Pallbearer. Television includes “Friends,” “Band of Brothers” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Directing includes Trust, Run Fat Boy Run, “Little Britain USA,” Since You’ve Been Gone and “Friends.” (As of August 2012)
SARAH SOKOLOVIC was last seen at Playwrights Horizons in The Shaggs:
Philosophy of the World, for which she earned a Drama Desk nomination as Betty.
Broadway: Relatively Speaking (Standby/Understudy). Off-Broadway and regional
credits include Othello (Milwaukee Shakespeare and American Players Theatre);
Cymbeline (Milwaukee Shakespeare); Under Milk Wood, Homebody/Kabul (Chamber
Theatre); Bash; Danny and the Deep Blue Sea; among others. Television: “Unforgettable,” “The Good Wife” (CBS). Film: Omphalos, Bitches. Training: Yale School of Drama, recipient of the Jerome L Greene Scholarship Award. (As of August 2012)
Creative Team
Louisa Thompson
Scenic DesignKaye Voyce
Costume DesignMark Barton
Lighting DesignMatt Tierney
Sound DesignLisa Ann Chernoff
Production Stage ManagerLouisa Thompson is an award-winning set/costume designer and creator of theatrical work for young audiences. In 2018, she received an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Design. Her designs have been seen Off-Broadway, on Regional stages, and internationally (with the 10 year tour of GATZ by Elevator Repair Service). Known for explorations of audience space, site specificity, and the potential for materials on stage, Louisa is considered an innovator in the field and has been recently featured in the book Scene Shift. Currently, Louisa connects her projects as Ground_Cloth, a container for past, present, and future explorations of cloth, play, and environmental justice.
Kaye Voyce is a costume and set designer active in theater, opera, dance and performance. She received her BFA and MFA in theatrical design from New York University in 1994. She is represented by Rachel Viola at United Talent Agency.
Broadway: The Real Thing, Violet, The Realistic Joneses. Off-Broadway: Signature, Playwrights Horizons, Public, Roundabout, Elevator Repair Service, NYTW, TFANA, many others. Other NYC: Encores! Off-Center (NYCC), BAM, Juilliard Opera. Regional: A.R.T., Guthrie, Center Theater Group, La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Long Wharf, Huntington, Berkeley Rep, many others. Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.
Matt Tierney is an American actor with a diverse range of credits on stage, television, and film. Born and raised in New York City, Tierney discovered his passion for acting at a young age and began performing in local theater productions. He went on to study theater at the prestigious Juilliard School, where he honed his craft and developed his unique style.
Playwrights Horizons’ 2012/2013 season productions are generously supported by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Photos of (1) Darren Pettie and David Schwimmer; (2) Sarah Sokolovic, Darren Pettie, David Schwimmer, and Amy Ryan; and (3) John Cullum by Jeremy Daniel.
FUNNY AS HELL. Expertly written, directed and acted.
5 STARS. SUPERBLY EXECUTED. Cascading, hilarious monologues with musical, juicy, idea-packed language. Anne Kauffman’s production unites an optimal cast and eerily vivid design. Detroit has just moved in; I suggest you bring over a fruit basket or bottle of wine and hope it stays for a good long time.
Powerful and funny. Speaks to the fractious, frightened American moment more perceptively than any play I've seen on a New York stage.