The theater space formerly known as Vero Voce has been re-christened, and a Tony-award winning drama is opening it’s debut season.
STC Theater presents “The Humans” Nov. 10-19 at its intimate theater space. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 4 p.m. Nov. 13.
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“The Humans is brilliantly written,” Director Maddi LeBlanc said. “It’s award-winning and it’s kind of about the complex web of human experience.”
Written by Stephen Karam, the winner of the 2016 Tony Award for Best Play and a 2016 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama centers on the Blake family on Thanksgiving Day.
Parents Erik and Deirdre travel from Pennsylvania to Manhattan, where they gather in the Chinatown apartment of their daughter, Brigid, and her boyfriend, Richard. They are joined by Brigid’s sister, Aimee, and Erik’s mother. Named Fiona but called Momo, the grandmother is struggling with dementia.
“And everyone is fighting kind of an internal battle as well as the small ones that arise between family and loved ones,” LeBlanc said.
Although the Brigid and Richard have just moved into their apartment, they are hosting the holiday gathering.
“So you can imagine the tension there,” LeBlanc said. “Everybody’s kind of grappling with life, death, religion, love. It’s all things that everybody can kind of relate to.”
“It’s a really cool play because regardless of your age or status there’s someone up there who’s in a similar time of life as you or is going through a struggle that you are going through or went through,” she said.
Taking place after the Sept. 11 attacks, two characters who had been downtown on that day continue to struggle with the aftermath.
“It’s got a lot of intensity and there’s a lot of intense grief for all of the characters for varying reasons,” LeBlanc said.
Despite the heavy issues the characters are dealing with, the play has a lot of levity to it, she said.
“The way Stephen writes is super naturalistic so there’s lots of overlapping lines and quips and the way families make fun of each other,” LeBlanc said. “It’s fun to watch those deeply flawed characters interact and try to get through to each other and fail, as we often do in life.”
For LeBlanc, who lives in Campton Hills, directing at the theater brings her full circle. The recent graduate from Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music had previously acted at Vero Voce.
“It’s been a fun homecoming in that way after I went to school,” she said.
Now, she teaches improv classes at the theater, which was purchased in the spring by Tara Peckys and renamed STC Theater. LeBlanc also offers private coaching for acting and musical theater repertoire.
Close to 50 people auditioned for one of the six roles in “The Humans.”
“It’s a very renowned play and it’s very deep and interesting for somebody who considers themselves an actor,” LeBlanc said.
The production is rated PG-13 for language and content.
“There’s definitely heavy themes and lots going on,” LeBlanc said.
Written by Karam with a two-story set, STC Theater is staging the show with a split stage because of the intimate size of the theater.
“The upstairs and the downstairs of the apartment are both simultaneously always going to be on stage,” LeBlanc said. “One will be stage left, one will be stage right.”
“Because of the nature of ‘The Humans,’ you need to see both levels at the same time,” she said. “Because the actual action might be happening in the basement, like the dialogue, but then we’re also seeing somebody take a moment for themselves upstairs.
“It’s very necessary that we see those quiet moments as well, because then we can really dig into what each person is grappling with and the secrets that they’re hiding from their family,” LeBlanc said.
Although the staging is significant to the way the story is told, it’s not the most important element, LeBlanc said.
“I think that the play, as much as there is symbolism in that two story set and it’s really cool visually, that’s not the root of the story,” she said. “The root of the story is all these people trying their best and failing.
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“It’s truly one of the best modern plays in my opinion,” LeBlanc said. “Anybody that appreciates theater would love this and should definitely come see it.”
‘The Humans’
When: Nov. 10-19
Where: STC Theater (formerly Vero Voce), 3755 E. Main St., Suite 158, St. Charles
Tickets: $20
Information: 630-384-9380; facebook.com and search for STC Theater
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.