Mankind
- Written by Robert O’Hara
Playwrights Horizons: Bootycandy (writer and director), Bella: An American Tall Tale (director). He has received the NAACP Best Director Award, the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play, two Obie Awards, and the Oppenheimer Award. He directed the world premieres of Nikkole Salter and Danai Gurira’s In the Continuum, Tarell McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays (Part 2), Colman Domingo’s Wild With Happy, as well as his own plays, Bootycandy and Insurrection: Holding History. He has also written Zombie: The American (Wooly Mammoth) and Barbecue (The Public Theater).
(as of 10/24/17)
"Have you ever heard of the word…Feminism? It’s an old world term. Back when women walked amongst us."
Mark and Jason were keeping things casual until Jason got pregnant. But however unplanned the pregnancy was, nothing could be less expected than the chain of events it would set in motion. Robert O’Hara’s audacious, hilarious allegory envisions an uncannily familiar future – one long after women have gone extinct from centuries of mistreatment – where man’s capacity to eff everything up soars to new heights.
Featuring
André De Shields
Jason’s Father and othersBobby Moreno
JasonAnson Mount
MarkStephen Schnetzer
Mark’s Father and othersAriel Shafir
Detective and othersDavid Ryan Smith
OBGYN and othersPlaywrights Horizons debut. Broadway includes The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Emmy Award), Play On! (Tony nomination) and The Full Monty (Tony nomination). Recent Off-Broadway: As You Like It, 1776, Fortress of Solitude.
Playwrights Horizons: Grand Concourse. New York Theater: Fulfillment Center, Alligator, Lazarus, The Year of the Rooster (Drama Desk nomination), Hand to God, Luther, Phoebe in Winter, I.E. – In Other Words. Film/Television: L.V.J., Five Nights in Maine, How He Fell in Love, Private Romeo, Kings, “Homeland,” ‘Elementary,” “The Good Wife,” “Law & Order.”
Playwrights Horizons debut. Off-Broadway: Three Sisters, Mourning Becomes Electra, Elle, Corpus Christi, Cymbeline. Other Theater: Venus in Fur, Fifth of July. Television: Cullen Bohannon on “Hell on Wheels,” Black Bolt on “Marvel’s Inhumans,” Jim Steele on “Conviction,” Roy Ravelle on “Line of Fire,” Dr. Montville on “Third Watch.” Film: Mr. Right, The Forger, Non-Stop, Supremacy, Cook County, Tully, City by the Sea.
Playwrights Horizons debut. Broadway: Oslo, Wit, The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?, Filomena. Off-Broadway: Yours Unfaithfully, Tribes, We Live Here, Fallen Angel, Miss Julie. Film/Television: Aardvark, Ben’s Plan, Lobster Farm, Hail, “Blue Bloods,” “The Blacklist,” “Flesh and Bone,” “Homeland,” “The Good Wife,” “Fringe,” “Damages,” “The Wire,” “Law & Order.”
Playwrights Horizons debut. New York Theater: Victoria & Frederick for President, The Elephant in the Room, Medea in Jerusalem, American Maul, Craft, Pieces of the Throne, The Pirandello Project, Setting Fires. Regional: titles roles in Macbeth and Picasso at the Lapin Agile, John Proctor in The Crucible. Film/Television: What Happens Next, Bride Wars, What Happens in Vegas, “Orange Is the New Black,” “30 Rock.”
Playwrights Horizons debut. Broadway: One Man, Two Guvnors; Passing Strange. New York Theater: Twelfth Night, The Death of the Last Black Man, Romeo and Juliet, The Glory of the World, Comedy of Errors, Cymbeline, Pericles, The Steadfast, The Rover, Marat/Sade. Extensive Regional credits including Seattle Rep, Berkeley Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Barrington Stage Company, American Conservatory Theater.
Creative Team
Clint Ramos
Scenic DesignDede M. Ayite
Costume DesignAlex Jainchill
Lighting DesignLindsay Jones
Original Music and Sound DesignJeff Sugg
Video DesignJ. Jared Janas & Dave Bova
Hair, Wig and Makeup DesignErin Gioia Albrecht
Production Stage ManagerPlaywrights Horizons: sets and/or costumes for Bella, After the Revolution, Bootycandy, Familiar. With Robert O’Hara: Barbecue, A Raisin in the Sun, Five Guys Named Moe, Wild With Happy. Broadway: sets and/or costumes for Once On This Island, Six Degrees…, Sunday in the Park…, In Transit, Eclipsed, The Elephant Man (also West End), Violet. Other Off-Broadway: Torch Song, Here Lies Love (also London), Sweet Charity, Kid Victory, Appropriate, many others. Over 200 regional/international credits. Encores! Off-Center series. Awards: Tony, Obie (Sustained Excellence), two ATW Henry Hewes, three Lortels, TDF Irene Sharraf Young Master, Helen Hayes. @clintramos
Playwrights Horizons: Bella. Other Off-Broadway: School Girls (MCC); Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (Signature); The Royale (LCT); Tell Hector I Miss Him, Marie and Rosetta (Atlantic); Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout); brownsville song (b-side for tray) (LCT3); Twelfth Night, ToasT (The Public). Regionally Ms. Ayite’s work has been seen at California Shakespeare, La Jolla, Berkeley Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Arena Stage, Steppenwolf, Cleveland Play House, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Signature Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Denver Theatre Center, Berkshire Theatre. TV: Comedy Central, Fox Shortcoms (FOX Network), COPPER Project (Improv Everywhere/BBC America). Awards: Helen Hayes, Theatre Bay Area, and Jeff Awards. MFA: Yale School of Drama.
Playwrights Horizons: Bella (Associate Design), Bootycandy (Associate Design). Broadway: Significant Other (Associate Design), Old Times (Associate Design). Other Off-Broadway: Crude (Ars Nova/Black Lab); ADA, All We Have Left (La MaMa); Campfire (Lincoln Center Education/Trusty Sidekick); Blossom (Dixon Place Residency). Regional: Arena Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Play House, Denver Center.
Playwrights Horizons: Bella, Bootycandy, The Burnt Part Boys. Broadway: Bronx Bombers, A Time to Kill. Other Off-Broadway: Privacy (The Public), Mr. Joy (LCT3), Top Secret (NYTW), many others. Regional: Guthrie, Alliance, Goodman, ACT, many others. International: Stratford Festival (Canada), Royal Shakespeare Company (England). Awards: seven Joseph Jefferson Awards (24 nominations), two Ovation Awards (three nominations), LA Drama Critics Circle Award, three Drama Desk Award nominations, two Helen Hayes nominations. Film scoring: A Note of Triumph for HBO Films (Academy Award winner, Best Documentary). lindsayjones.com
Playwrights Horizons: Bella. Broadway: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweat, Bring It On, 33 Variations. Other Off-Broadway: Articles of Faith (Kitchen), The Layover (Second Stage), Fortress of Solitude (The Public), An Octoroon (Soho Rep.), Tribes (Barrow Street), Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island (The Vineyard). Music: Anthracite Fields (Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize–winning composition), Prince’s final appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” Awards: Lortel, Obie, Bessie, two Henry Hewes Design Awards.
Playwrights Horizons: Bella. Broadway: Bandstand, Indecent, Sunset Boulevard, The Visit, The Real Thing, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Peter and the Starcatcher, All About Me, Next to Normal. Other Off-Broadway: Venus (Signature); The Liar, Dead Poets Society (CSC); Yours Unfaithfully (Mint, Drama Desk Award nomination); This Day Forward (Vineyard). TV: “30 Rock,” “Gotham,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “Master of None.”
Playwrights Horizons: Bella, A Life, Men On Boats, Marjorie Prime, The Christians. Broadway: Bullets Over Broadway, Matilda, Bronx Bombers, Hands on a Hardbody. Other Off-Broadway: Charm, Punk Rock, The Village Bike, The Third Story (MCC); Sundown, Yellow Moon (Ars Nova/WP Theater); Red Speedo (NYTW); Abundance (TACT); Venice (The Public); Bronx Bombers (Primary Stages). Regional: multiple productions at The Old Globe and La Jolla Playhouse, most recently the development of John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons. MFA: UC San Diego.
A daring, topical comedy! The viciousness of Mankind is perhaps its best quality.
O’Hara parodies man’s imbecility to man, and misogyny isn’t his only target.
Intriguing, clever, and visually stunning.
O’Hara’s reputation as one of America’s funniest playwrights precedes him. Man’s lack of kindness is always a worthy target for satire.