{{Short description|2014 American play by Young Jean Lee}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox play | name = Straight White Men | image = | alt = | caption = | writer = [[Young Jean Lee]] | chorus = | characters = | mute = | setting = House in [[Midwestern United States]] | premiere = 2014<!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | place = [[The Public Theater]],<br>[[New York City, New York]] | orig_lang = English | series = | subject = | genre = [[Drama]], [[comedy]] | web = }}
'''''Straight White Men''''' is a 2014 American play by [[Young Jean Lee]].<ref name=times>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/theater/straight-white-men-opens-at-the-public-theater.html|title=My Three Sons and All Their Troubles, 'Straight White Men' Opens at the Public Theater|author=Isherwood, Charles|authorlink=Charles Isherwood|date=November 18, 2014}}</ref> The play's 2018 production at the [[Hayes Theater]] made Lee the first [[Asian Americans|Asian American]] woman to have a play produced on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]].<ref name="paulson">{{cite news|last1=Paulson|first1=Michael|date=20 April 2017|title=Rebuilding a Broadway Theater With American Voices|language=en|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/theater/second-stage-center-theater-group-for-new-american-plays-on-broadway.html|access-date=18 June 2018}}</ref>
==Background== Much of ''Straight White Men'' was born out of a workshop Lee conducted with a group of women, people of color, and LGBTQ people. Lee was cognizant that the umbrella term "straight white man" represented the default "other" for marginalized groups, and so asked the workshop attendees what they thought of straight white men, and how they would prefer straight white men behave. After a lengthy discussion, the group decided the ideal straight white man was someone who was not aggressive, who was passive in [[social justice]] spaces, and overall did not interfere with their causes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tan |first1=Monica |title=Playwright Young Jean Lee: what do we really want from straight white men? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/may/06/playwright-young-jean-lee-what-do-we-really-want-from-straight-white-men |website=The Guardian |date=6 May 2016 |accessdate=17 May 2020}}</ref>
Lee took the ideas and created a straight white male character that fit the workshop's description: this became the character of Matt in the finished play. When Lee brought the character back to the workshop, however, she was surprised to discover that despite fitting everything the group claimed would make him better, the group hated him. On further discussion, they realized the factors that would have made Matt the ideal straight white man had also turned him into a loser, which made him even less likeable. From there, Lee became interested in unpacking what the label "straight white man" actually meant, and the unrealistic expectations behind it.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Saxena|first1=Jaya|date=August 15, 2018|title=Young Jean Lee Has Some Questions for Straight White Men|url=https://www.gq.com/story/young-jean-lee-has-some-questions-for-straight-white-men|website=[[GQ]]}}</ref>
==Plot== The pre-show consists of "loud hip-hop with sexually explicit lyrics by female rappers." The pre-show and scene transitions are guided by Stagehand-In-Charge (or Stagehands-In-Charge, as done on Broadway with [[Kate Bornstein]] and [[Ty Defoe]]), who is "transgender or [[gender nonconforming]]."<ref name="nytimes" />
During the Christmas holidays, three brothers return to their family home in the [[Midwestern United States]] to keep their widowed father, Ed, company. Drew is a writer, Jake is a banker, and Matt - the oldest brother, and a [[Harvard University|Harvard]] graduate - has moved back in with Ed. The family begins to question the reason for Matt's lack of ambition, while Matt insists that he is content.<ref name="nytimes" />
==Productions== ''Straight White Men'' opened [[off-Broadway]] at the [[Public Theatre]] on November 7, 2014 and closed on December 14, 2014. The play was directed by the author, Young Jean Lee. The cast featured [[Austin Pendleton]] as "Ed", Pete Simpson, James Stanley, and Gary Wilmes.<ref>[https://publictheater.org/straightwhitemen/ "Listing"] publictheater.org, retrieved September 12, 2017</ref><ref>[http://www.lortel.org/Archives/Production/5913 ''Straight White Men''] lortel.org, retrieved September 12, 2017</ref>
The play was produced by the [[Steppenwolf Theatre Company]], Chicago, in February 2017 to March 26, 2017 in a revised and restaged version.<ref name=chicago>Jones, Chris. [https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-straight-white-men-review-ent-0213-20170212-column.html " 'Straight White Men': Young Jean Lee asks audience, herself to see both sides"] ''Chicago Tribune'', February 12, 2017</ref> The [[Marin Theatre Company]] produced the play in June and July 2018.<ref name=millvalley>[https://www.enjoymillvalley.com/-blog/to-close-17-18-season-marin-theatre-co-turns-to-ever-audacious-lees-straight-white-men-june-14-july-8?view=full "To Close '17-'18 Season, Marin Theatre Co. Turns to 'Ever-Audacious' Lee's 'Straight White Men' – June 14-July 8"] ''Enjoy Mill Valley'', June 8, 2018</ref> In January 2019, Washington Ensemble Theatre produced the Northwest Premiere in Seattle, WA.
The play made its [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] premiere for a limited run on June 29, 2018 in previews at the [[Helen Hayes Theatre|Hayes Theatre]], with the official opening July 23, running until September 9. Directed by [[Anna D. Shapiro]], the cast featured [[Armie Hammer]] as Drew, [[Josh Charles]] as Jake, [[Paul Schneider (actor)|Paul Schneider]] as Matt, [[Kate Bornstein]] and [[Ty Defoe]] as the Stagehands-In-Charge, and Stephen Payne as Ed ([[Tom Skerritt]] left the show prior to opening and [[Denis Arndt]] left during previews).<ref>{{cite news|last1=Evans|first1=Greg|title=Josh Charles To Make Broadway Debut In 'Straight White Men' With Armie Hammer|url=https://deadline.com/2018/04/josh-charles-straight-white-men-broadway-debut-armie-hammer-1202359323/|date=April 5, 2018|work=Deadline|accessdate=April 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>Clement, Olivia. [http://www.playbill.com/article/denis-arndt-replaces-tom-skerritt-in-straight-white-men-on-broadway# "Denis Arndt Replaces Tom Skerritt in 'Straight White Men' on Broadway"] Playbill, June 25, 2018</ref><ref>McPhee, Ryan. [http://www.playbill.com/article/stephen-payne-replaces-last-minute-addition-denis-arndt-in-broadways-straight-white-men# "Stephen Payne Replaces Last-Minute Addition Denis Arndt in Broadway’s 'Straight White Men'"] Playbill, July 5, 2018</ref>
==Reception== The Broadway production received mixed reviews from critics. The main source of criticism was that the piece was not as confrontational as Lee's other works, with ''[[The New Yorker]]'' critic [[Hilton Als]] writing "not only does it not exhibit any of the humor, recklessness, and passion of Lee's previous work; it refutes those things."<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Als |first1=Hilton |title=The Soullessness of "Straight White Men" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/06/the-soullessness-of-straight-white-men |magazine=The New Yorker |accessdate=2 August 2018}}</ref> Others praised it on the basis of the same reasoning, with Matthew Wexler writing for ''The Broadway Blog'' that Lee intentionally makes the production "a calculated portrait."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wexler |first1=Matthew |title=Man on Mansplaining: 'Straight White Men' |url=https://thebroadwayblog.com/straight-white-men-review/ |website=The Broadway Blog |accessdate=10 August 2018}}</ref> Jesse Green, writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', compared the Broadway production under Shapiro's direction unfavorably to the 2014 production at the Public directed by Lee herself. Green noted that the Off-Broadway production "was shaggier and, paradoxically, more coherent," but overall received the play positively and concluded that the play "is still an exceedingly odd — and thus welcome — presence on Broadway. It remains undeniably powerful, especially when Mr. Schneider, excellent as the forlorn and heartbreaking Matt, tries to make his family understand something he can barely articulate to himself."<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Jesse |title=Review: 'Straight White Men,' Now Checking Their Privilege on Broadway |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/theater/straight-white-men-review-armie-hammer-josh-charles.html |accessdate=10 August 2018 |work=The New York times |date=23 July 2018}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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[[Category:2014 plays]] [[Category:American plays]] [[Category:Christmas plays]] [[Category:Plays set in the United States]] [[Category:Works about White Americans]]