Straight White Men
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New York City, New York
| Straight White Men | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Young Jean Lee |
| Date premiered | 2014 |
| Place premiered | The Public Theater, New York City, New York |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama, comedy |
| Setting | House in Midwestern United States |
Straight White Men is a 2014 American play by Young Jean Lee.[1] The play's 2018 production at the Hayes Theater made Lee the first Asian American woman to have a play produced on Broadway.[2]
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.[3]
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.[4]
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."[5]
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 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.[5]