When we meet the Jerome family, they are crammed into a small home in Brighton Beach, a neighborhood near New York's Coney Island, with parents Jack and Kate Jerome, sons Eugene and Stanley, an aunt, Blanche, and her two daughters, Nora and Laurie. The family is facing tensions that threaten to pull it apart from without and within.
"This play is all about the importance of family and taking advantage of the resource you have in them, because it can bring you through some powerful struggles," said Kevin Hoffman, who plays Eugene.
"He's 15 years old, and his big change is that he's becoming a man, both growing up and getting new responsibilities. The constant threat is that because of some of the things happening in the house, Eugene may end up having to be the man of the house."
The adults of the Jerome family struggle to provide for their extended family in the midst of the Great Depression. Jack Jerome, head of the household, is slowly being worked to death and has a dangerous heart condition. Kate, the lead female figure and emotional center of the family, is looked at to solve problems and help other characters, but has a difficult time seeing that she needs help.
"There are points when family bonds can be taken advantage of too much," he said. "Everyone has those points, those breaking points where we say ‘I can only give so much.' Everybody in this show, at one point or another, reaches their breaking point."