Reading Response to D'Amour's "Detroit"

So… why title a play Detroit if it isn’t about Detroit, it isn’t set in Detroit, and the characters never even so much as allude to Detroit? Assuming Lisa D’Amour isn’t just trying to give readers and audiences an answerless riddle to ponder over, a good dramaturge will research the possible connection between the “Motor City” and the characters and events in D’Amour’s play. Based on my own research into the subject matter, I have reason to believe D’Amour is trying to connect the current plight of middle-class Americans, such as Ben and Mary, to the economic and social decline of Detroit, Michigan, which was once the tenth largest city in the country just thirteen years ago.

Much like the 1950’s cookie-cutter neighborhood that Ben and Mary live in, Detroit in the early 21^st century is merely a shadow of its former glory. Unemployment rates are obscenely high (around 15%) due to the closure of factories and other places of business in and around the city, forcing many residents to look for opportunities in other states. This flight from the city only compounds its dismal financial situation. According to one New York Times article, there are nearly 70,000 abandoned buildings in the city of Detroit that one resident stated leaves the children of the city psychologically traumatized (Binelli). Detroit reached its peak population in the 1950’s at about 1.8 million residents; this was right at the beginning of the city’s automobile industry renaissance (U.S. Census Bureau). However the population has been declining significantly since then. From 2000 to 2010, the city went from being the tenth largest city in the nation to just eighteenth, experiencing a drop in population of roughly 25% (Wisely).

Much like Detroit, the couples in Detroit face many of the same struggles. Ben and Kenny both struggle with unemployment and the thought of not being able to provide for their wives and be the breadwinner in the family. The house that Kenny and Sharon move into was abandoned for quite some time before they moved in, according to Ben and Mary, and it may very well continue to be left unoccupied after they leave in a hurry. Ultimately, the neighborhood that once offered the promise of a “bright” new life for families in the 1950’s can no longer live up to its name. Houses have been changed beyond recognition and neighbors refuse to get close to each other, perhaps because they fear these new people who just moved next door may only be passing through.

Binelli, Mark. “How Detroit Became the World Capital of Staring at Abandoned Old Buildings.” New York Times 9 November 2012. Web. 10 April 2013.

United States Census Bureau. U.S. Department of Commerce, 15 June 1998. Web. 11 April 2013.

<http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/tab18.txt.>.

Wisely, John and Todd Spangler. “Motor City population declines 25%.” USA Today  24 March 2011. Web. 11 April 2013.