Detroit

“Not necessarily Detroit,” but Detroit. A confusing choice, maybe, to give your play a name that is not the setting and doesn’t really have anything to do with the show, but a provoking choice. The Time is also “now.” Not present day, but now, so that whenever anyone reads this from now until whenever they will feel as though it was written for their time. I think it’s especially relevant these days with unemployment rates, homelessness, and the economy in general. The fact the it’s specified as “not necessarily Detroit” gives it the ambiguity it needs to be relevant to any city with economic issues, much like the time making it relevant to any time period in the past or future.

The fact that the title is Detroit could be because of the drastic downhill roll the city’s population and economy fell. In fifty or so years, the population was cut by over half. High School dropout rates reached 76% the year the play premiered. Unemployment was at 28.9%, officially, however the actual was believed to be 50% because people had just stopped looking for work, and taking unemployment. Detroit was the quintessential rundown, economic despaired city. That name gave it an image. It instantly gave the audience an idea of what to expect because of what was happening in Detroit, and still is. The setting and time just allow it prevalence in a wider variety.