A Florida police station in the middle of the night. Two parents searching for answers. AMERICAN SON is a gripping tale about who we are as a nation, and how we deal with family relationships, love, loss, and identity.
Enhancing the production is an outstanding company of A-listers: Jeremy Jordan as a young white cop limited by his narrow world view; Eugene Lee providing the pragmatic voice of a black man who's learned how to straddle both sides to survive; Steven Pasquale as a member of the ruling class who's never had to compromise; and Kerry Washington - at times combative and emotionally overwrought - reflects the soul-crippling history of the black experience in America.
But though American Son has the superficial form of a classical tragedy and a scene of raw suffering that few tragedies can equal, it also has a creaky dramatic structure, shallow characterizations, naïve politics and indifferent writing. Directed by Kenny Leon, who has submerged his tendency to showboat in favor of a studied naturalism, it's a very powerful play without being an especially good one and that shouldn't matter - power being hard to come by - but sometimes it does.
2018 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Kerry Washington |
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