We Had a World

Written by Joshua Harmon

Directed. By Keira Fromm

The Huntington Calderwood

February 12-March 15, 2026

We Had a World is an odd title for a play so myopic in scope. Joshua Harmon, a prolific and talented playwright (Prayer for the French Republic) traces his long, loving relationship with his grandmother in this three-person tragi-comic triangle between Joshua, his grandmother Renee, and his mother Ellen.

Compelling drama emerges from portraying the specific in a way that conveys the universal. We Had a World is very specific, down to the detail of recreating transcripts of taped conversation. Yet the specificity fails to evoke the universal.

One would think that the story of a chubby boy in a dysfunctional alcoholic family, who has a close relationship to his grandmother, and who turns out to be gay, would resonate with me, since it so closely mirrors my own life. But it did not. The biggest challenge was Renee, the alcoholic grandmother. She’s narcissistic and erratic, yet unlike any alcoholic I’ve ever met, her cruelty seems disconnected from the level of alcohol in her blood. Perhaps that’s because young Joshua’s devotion precludes seeing her clearly. Though I think it’s also related to the way actor Amy Resnick plays the part, with a broad humor that makes the woman seem like a caricature. Devious drunks are complex creatures. Renee deserves more depth to become real.

Joshua, played by newcomer Will Conard, is a man-child who also deserves more depth. But how can that happen when the playwright is writing himself? Who is going to stand up against Joshua Harmon and say, “Cut out the Dances with Wolves vignette, yet again, because the audience has heard it before?” Who is going to point out that his character’s repeated intoning about climate change, without once just putting on a sweater and turning down the thermostat, reduces him to an annoying liberal meme. Someone needed to tell the playwright that documenting his relationship with his grandmother is not the same as creating a drama rooted in their relationship.

The unexpected salvation of the play is Eva Kaminsky, who plays Joshua’s mother Ellen with such verve, she almost compensates for the rest of the mess. Ellen is the only truly formed character, complicated and hard-edged, yet ultimately devotional to both her mother and her son. Even though conceptually, she’s the third wheel, whenever Ms. Kaminsky’s on stage, she is the focus.

There’s a meta-aspect to We Had a World. Direct audience address, disconnected time sequences, additional characters who are referenced but never seen, as well as minor characters that Joshua calls upon Ellen to play. Some it works, some of it distracts, but ultimately it feeds the notion that there’s more narcissism than substance on the stage.

The100-minute one act seems infinitely longer. There are at least four places where the play should have ended, yet it droned on. By the time we got to Joshua and Renee’s performative condemnation of Donald Trump, I was past caring what these people did or said.

We Had a World. It doesn’t resonate with mine.