TheatreSquared’s “4,000 Miles” is billed as a “comedy drama.” Then the description goes on to say it’s “the story of a directionless young college dropout, Leo, who has just bicycled the entire width of the United States and landed on the Greenwich Village doorstep of his communist 91-year-old grandmother, Vera” - which doesn’t sound particularly funny.
New York director Shana Gold says there has been lots of laughter during rehearsals for the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play by Amy Herzog, “but there’s never a moment when I think, ‘Wait, that didn’t get a laugh.’”
“Hopefully you’ll experience the gamut of emotions you have in your life,” she says.
“Every response is right, as long as people are engaged.
“That’s what life is like: One minute you’re thinking about the war in Syria, and the next the cat is doing something ridiculous and falls off the shelf. Our lives go to these extremes.
“This is ‘a day in the life’ of these two people.”
What makes “4,000 Miles” different, Gold says, is that it takes the time to let the moments unfold and allows the playgoers to spend time with the characters, much as they would in real life.
“You’ll feel very close to these characters by the time it’s over,” she says.
“I think at the heart of it is … that everyone has ideas that they believe in and these barriers that they put up, and it is only when we open ourselves up and take down those barriers that we can truly grow,” says Chicago actor Michael Holding, who isplaying Leo. “Every character grows throughout the course of the play, and it’s because they choose to accept others for who they are instead of trying to change them.”
Holding, a newcomer toTheatreSquared, has been challenged by “finding the moments where Leo plays it cool, but underneath he’s desperately seeking guidance,” he says. “Finding that struggling, searchinginterior and masking it with a cool, calm demeanor while letting that desperation find its light has been a constant investigation.”
And Broadway veteran Susan Greenhill, playing Vera, agrees that “understanding and embodying the physical and mental challenges she faces” is the objective for her.
It is the exact opposite of a rock-em, sock-em farce such as “Noises Off,” Gold says.
“It’s finding the minute emotional shifts that lead to a huge catharsis - and finding a way for that to come through without banging the audience over the head with it.”
In the end, Gold says, “whatwe’re exploring is closing the distance” - the “4,000 Miles” - between a young man who has isolated himself because he’s “gone through something someone his age shouldn’t have to” and an elderly woman who is isolated because most of her friends are dead.
“They find each other, and they struggle with their relationship, but part of the struggle is closing that gap and finding connections out of that isolation,” Gold says.
Audience members might also find themselves challenged about whether their actions uphold their beliefs.
“It’s a really good question to ask yourself,” Gold concludes.
Whats Up, Pages 15 on 09/27/2013