Island Theatre presents ‘4000 Miles’

Published 12:09 pm Friday, October 17, 2014

Aimless youth and aimless old age meet in Amy Herzog’s funny, moving play “4000 Miles,” which will be performed by Island Theatre in a staged playreading at the Bainbridge Public Library this weekend.

Directed by Fred Saas, the play features Pat Scott and Austin Bennett and will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18 and Sunday, Oct. 19.

The performances are free, and donations are appreciated.

The story: After suffering a major loss while on a cross-country bike trip, 21-year-old Leo seeks solace from his feisty 91-year-old grandmother Vera in her West Village apartment. Over the course of a single month, these unlikely roommates infuriate, bewilder and ultimately reach each other. The 90-minute dramatic comedy looks at how two outsiders find their way in today’s world.

“4000 Miles” is the winner of three 2012 Obie Awards and was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. In a New York Times review, it is described as “not the kind of theater that sweeps us into a heightened other world, but rather brings us into a rewarding intimacy with the one outside our own front doors.”

The play contains some drug use, strong language, smoking, and mild adult themes.

Island Theatre was founded on Bainbridge in 1995, and has a mission to provide quality theatre, geared toward mature audiences, onstage and in less conventional venues, through plays that challenge the performers artistically while both entertaining and intellectually engaging audiences. Its regular schedule includes bi-monthly staged play readings at the Bainbridge Public Library; potluck dinners in privately hosted homes at which guests are welcome to join in a selected play reading; and the annual Island Theatre Ten-Minute Play Festival.

For more information, visit www.IslandTheatre.org.