“Soft Target”
Detroit Public Theatre
June 5, 2025
Since Detroit Public Theatre first arrived on the scene, I’ve seen 90 percent of the shows they’ve staged, and I regret missing the rest. From the beginning days using space inside of Orchestra Hall (where the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performs) to carving out their own dedicated theatre nearby in the city’s Cass Corridor (a space not to be missed), they’ve continued to grow and impress with each passing season.
They just wrapped their 10th season with the world premiere of “Soft Target,” a play penned by Emily Kaczmarek and directed by Jaki Bradley.
“Soft Target” might be the best show they’ve staged yet (and good timing, too, as you can already purchase subscriptions to the 11th season).
It’s not just for the content of the play itself – the lighting, the staging, the excellent writing and acting. It's also for what “Soft Target” signals about where we are heading when it comes to processing the trauma and reality of school shootings and mass shootings in the United States through the arts.
(The play itself was already wonderfully reviewed by Midbrow’s own Erica Hobbs, and I’m in close-to-lockstep with Duante Beddingfield at the Detroit Free Press with his take on “Soft Target,” too. I’m certainly not here to step on the toes of fellow reviewers and critics.)
Here’s the gist. Set in the bedroom of 9-year-old Amanda following a tragic shooting at her school, her stuffed animals come to life and worry over their best friend. She’s playing less with them. She’s sleeping longer. Something seems off.
The acting here is top notch, led by Oxford Middle School student Cora Steiger as Amanda, who delivers a sense of earnestness that never feels false or too much. Everyone in this production – from Emma Kikue as a show-stealing American Girl doll named Molly, to Detroit Public Theatre founding member Sarah Clare Corporandy doing some massive emotional lifting through her acting – is wonderful. Truly no misses in this cast.
It is Emily Kaczmarek’s writing, however, that deserves the most credit here. There’s nothing overly political or heavy-handed with how she navigates America’s school shooting crisis. In fact, this is best described as a dark comedy. I laughed throughout. A lot of the audience for a packed Thursday night show did, too.
Isn’t that how it actually goes when you’re navigating a tragedy? There are heavy moments – many of them – but there’s also relief in laughter and the insanity of it all.
It made me hope that “Soft Target” acts as a pillar for how we use the arts to navigate school shootings moving forward. Powerful art will no doubt emerge as the years go on, but even more of that art will be some of the worst stuff you’ve ever seen. Not all of it will have the grace, humanity and humor that Kaczmarek poured into “Soft Target.”
Because there’s no end in sight for these shootings, there won’t be a clear moment when it all drops on us at once, like the aftermath of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s. By the 1990s, stage productions like “Angels In America” and “Rent” helped make sense of the crisis.
So I applaud Detroit Public Theatre for yet again staging a wonderful production – from the acting to the staging and beyond. But, for me, the bigger deal here is helping to set a tone for how we should navigate school and mass shootings through the arts moving forward.
I’m proud that a regional theater out of Detroit is making that mark before we let the worst of the art from this issue make a mark on us.
