Hominid considers human nature from animal perspective

Primatologist Dr. Frans de Waal, the director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, dreaded the thought of actors in chimp costumes in a stage version of his book Chimpanzee Politics. In fact, the cast of Out of Hand Theater and Theater Emory’s Hominid wear dapper suits and short dresses while speaking English. Audiences who don’t know the new play’s source material, however, will quickly recognize them as primates in a zoo community.

Hominid’s family of chimps display bare feet and occasional animalistic body language, but mostly resemble a peaceable, sun-drenched commune. Written by Out of Hand and Ken Weitzman, Hominid takes some liberties in dramatizing primate behavior: I doubt that de Waal’s original research subjects gathered to sing hymns in celebration of springtime. Homind’s symbolic representations of chimpanzee dynamics offer touching instances of the chimps’ capacity for tenderness, ambition and reconciliation — which, in turn, holds up a mirror to humanity at its best and worst.

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(Photo by Matthew Spaugh)