Lonely Planet
by Punchkin Repertory Theatre

Jul. 17 - Jul. 26, 2015
Fridays-Mondays

Jody is a gay man in his forties and runs a map store. Not one for the outside world, he stays in his store all the time and does not realize that there are things going on in his community, people are dying of AIDS. He must bear witness and help the problem, rather than shun the world. He is reclusive, introspective, gentle, and somewhat ignorant. But, he also seems a bit of a tortured soul, who feels deeply the sense of being alone. He experiences a transformation or awakening by the end of the play. A need to join the rest of the world, to be a part of the greater good.

“History itself is made, day by day, by all those whose names are never known, all those who were handed a place on earth and quietly made a life out of it.” – Steven Dietz

Lonely Planet revolves around two gay men, Jody and Carl, in a map store in an American city. The play, essentially, is an exploration of truth and its close relations, dream and memory. When Jody and Carl need to connect, they play “the truth game.” Jody recounts the plots of his dreams, which spur him to face the world as it is. The two friends consider how little they know of each other, how their ideas of each other are really an invention. We begin to discover that they create these realities to help each other cope with a troubling world and the disease that is crippling their community.

Lonely Planet explores the idea that we can’t change the world, but we can remember the truth of it, as accurately and as respectfully as we can. And to remember the world’s truth is to remember its people, the Carls and Jodys on the periphery of our distorted maps.

About the playwright: Steven Dietz’s thirty-plus plays have been produced at regional theaters across the United States, as well as Off-Broadway. International productions of his work have been seen in England, Japan, Germany, France, Australia, Sweden, Russia, Slovenia, Argentina, Peru, Greece, Singapore, and South Africa. Recent plays include the widely-produced thriller, Yankee Tavern; the Steinberg Award finalist, Becky’s New Car; the Pulitzer-nominated Last of the Boys (produced by Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago); and the Edgar Award-winning Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure(from William Gillette and Arthur Conan Doyle). Other plays include Fiction (produced Off-Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre Company), Shooting Star, Inventing van Gogh, The Nina Variations, Private Eyes, Halcyon Days, God’s Country,and Lonely Planet (PEN-USA Award for Drama). Mr. Dietz’s work as a director has been seen at many of America’s leading regional theaters. He divides his time between Seattle and Austin, where he is a professor at the University of Texas.

 ”Lonely Planet” is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

 

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Lonely Planet
by Steven Dietz
Punchkin Repertory Theatre

July 17-20 and 24-26 at the Off Center  

Tickets $15 plus service fee,  available via