Orphans (Lyle Kessler play)

Orphans
Written by	Lyle Kessler
Date premiered	August 31, 1983
Place premiered	The Matrix Theatre Company
Original language	English
Subject	Orphans, Crime
Genre	Dark comedy, Tragedy, Magic realism
Setting	An old row house in North Philadelphia

Orphans is a play by Lyle Kessler. It premiered in 1983 at The Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles, where it received critical and commercial success and won the Drama-Logue Award. The play has been performed by the Steppenwolf Theatre and on Broadway in 2013.

Orphans premiered at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles in August 1983, and featured Joe Pantoliano, Lane Smith and Paul Leiber.

In January through March 1985 the play was produced at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, with direction by Gary Sinise and starring John Mahoney, Terry Kinney and Kevin Anderson. Sinise said the play "kicked" the three actors "off into the movie business". John Mahoney, who received the Derwent Award and Theatre World Award for his performance said that " Orphans affected people more than any other play I've ever done. I still get mail from it, I still get people stopping me on the street, and it's twenty years later."

After its Chicago run, the Steppenwolf Theatre Company production premiered Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre, running from May 7, 1985 to January 6, 1986, with the same Chicago cast.

Orphans was the first Steppenwolf production to be performed internationally in London, premiering in the West End at the Apollo Theatre in 1986.Albert Finney as Harold won an Olivier Award as Actor of the Year.

The Steppenwolf productions in London and the United States helped establish Kessler's status as a major American playwright as well as the company's signature "rock and roll" brand of theatre. To help highlight the emotional intensity of Kessler's parable, they featured an assortment of compositions by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays to be played along in the background; the pieces have remained optional for every production since.

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