Appropriate – Location, Tickets, Reviews
Following a world premiere at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville last spring, and successful runs at both the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago and the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington D.C., Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ comic drama Appropriate arrives in New York, once again under the direction of Liesl Tommy.
The play follows the estranged members of the Lafayette family who return to their hometown in rural Arkansas to settle the accounts of their recently deceased father. A disturbing discovery leads to a flurry of heated confrontations and unleashes a wave of repressed history and regret.
Maxamoo
Appropriate is the kind of play you won’t be able to shake off easily. As haunting as it is funny, as acerbic as it is gentle, Appropriate is a balancing act by author Jacobs-Jenkins and director Tommy, executing a raucous family drama while letting the ghosts of the family’s dark past (and the dark past of the American South) slowly ooze from the crumbling walls of the Lafayette estate (special nod to Clint Ramos’ subtly menacing scenic design). Each member of the Lafayette family, living and dead, has a skeleton to hide, and the ways secrets are revealed throughout the story run the gambit from heartbreaking to shocking. There is one moment in particular toward the end of the play that is genuinely horrifying – it’s a reveal that will rumble within you for days (and, no, it has nothing to do with violence or nudity).
Appropriate is ultimately a play about the ghosts of history, both personal and societal, and how we struggle to put them behind us. Jacobs-Jenkins suggests, gorgeously and movingly, how complex and difficult that struggle is, and that it might be impossible. Can mistakes be erased? Can sins be forgiven? Do the memories of our worst deeds ever die? Or are they just lying in wait?
Public Opinion
The performance we attended was sold out, and it received full ovation. Twitter is raving about it:
@zoeswatkins: Just saw Appropriate at the Signature and AADA Alumna Johanna Day was brilliant! Great show – go see it! @TheAcademyNY @SignatureTheatr
@vesper385: Appropriate at Signature Theatre is a great play! Highly recommend!
@HilaryBettis: Everyone should see Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins! Best play of the season hands down. #2amt #newplay #offbroadway @SignatureTheatr
@Scamandalous: That play was REALLY good. Pulitzer worthy. So much to chew on. See APPROPRIATE at @SignatureTheatr!
Have you seen Appropriate? What did you think? Comment below or tweet to us at @Maxamoo.
Critics’ Reviews
New York Times
A Squabbling Family Kept in the Dark
New York Post
Old Family Feuds Float Up to the Surface in ‘Appropriate’
New York Magazine
Appropriate Explains Too Much and Says Too Little
TheaterMania
What could have made a significant impression on the American dramatic canon lands with a mere ho-hum.
TICKETS
Through April 6: $25
April 9-April 13: $75
(click here for tickets)
DATES
Extended through April 13, 2014
LOCATION
Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
New York City
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RUNNING TIME
2 hours and 30 minutes, one intermission
CAST & CREW
(partial list)
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Liesl Tommy
Featuring Maddie Corman, Patch Darragh, Johanna Day, Alex Dreier, Mike Faist, Izzy Hanson-Johnston, Sonya Harum, and Michael Laurence