User:Bialytock&Bloom/Detroit (play)

Detroit is a play by Lisa D'Amour. A finalist for the Pulitzer and Susan Smith Blackburn Prizes, the production will be mounted on Broadway after a premiere at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Chicago venue.

Synopsis
"In a 'first ring' suburb outside a mid-sized American city," press notes state, "Ben and Mary fire up the grill to welcome the new neighbors who’ve moved into the long-empty house next door. The fledgling friendship soon veers out of control — with unexpected consequences. Shining a light on the middle class American Dream, Detroit looks at what happens when we open ourselves up to something new."

Chicago (2010)
The Steppenwolf Theatre Company presented the piece at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, from September 10, 2010, to November 7, 2010. It was directed by Austin Pendleton and choreographed by Tommy Rapley. The Chicago production featured Kevin Anderson, Laurie Metcalf, Kate Arrington, Ian Barford and Robert Breuler. Lighting was by Kevin Rigdon, sets by Kevin Depinet, costumes by Rachel Healy, and sound by Josh Schmidt.

Broadway (2011-)
Detroit is now expected to transfer to Broadway in Fall 2011. Casting, dates, and venue have yet to be announced.

Response
On April 18, 2011, the winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama was announced. Detroit was a finalist along with the play A Free Man of Color, with the winner being Clybourne Park. The piece was also a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Chris Jones in the Chicago Tribune wrote of the show:
 * "Sure, D’Amour ultimately does not delve as deep as one might wish into the implications of the situation she so richly and vividly realizes. And Austin Pendleton’s quirky and amusing production doesn’t always keep its balance ... But D’Amour has penned a very provocative snapshot of the perilous moment ... that sense of dislocation is exquisitely embodied in the work of Laurie Metcalf, an actress who long has understood the precarious dreams of the lower-middle class. Her blistering performance here has the incision of a laser, creating a character who knows that everything is going away and tries to figure out what that might mean."

"The dream here is the 1960s first-ring suburb," said Michael Brosilow, "where neighbors socialize and kids play outside. But in 2010, “does anyone talk to their neighbors anymore?” Sharon asks, before revealing that she and Kenny are recovering substance abusers. That revelation puts the first chinks in the veneer of Mary and Ben’s safe-and-happy home life; we come to see how close they are to the precipice."

The Windy City Times's Mary Shen Barnidge observed, "Despite the serious questions it raises, D'Amour's premise has all the makings of a situation comedy. There's even a drunk scene—that standby of 1950s farce—along with extended recitations of heavily-symbolic dreams and the bizarre street names characteristic of open-box-add-water subdivisions to escalate the atmosphere of dislocation."

However, the Chicago Stage Style reviewer gave negative reactions: "[T]aking the worst cue from the hysterical dialogue, director Pendleton has instructed his four neighbors to scream hysterically and fuck the motivation. They dance like drunken dervishes. They run around like kids on steroids. They describe their wacky dreams as if they were self-fulfilling prophecies. They howl out their losses to the stars and rage that somehow that’s not enough to fix them. If an audience could make citizen arrests and fill out commitment papers, this entire cast could get the institutional help they deserve."