Talk about an odd couple.
Consider 21-year-old Leo, nearing the end of a cross-country bicycle trip, concluding in New York’s Greenwich Village, where his 91-year-old grandmother, Vera, lives. Arriving unannounced and unexpected at her apartment in the middle of the night, Leo embarks on a journey of discovery with a relative he hardly knows, an emotional trek at least as long and arduous as the physical 4,000-mile trek he has just been on.
So it goes in 4000 Miles, the compelling and appealing play by Amy Herzog that launches Palm Beach Dramaworks’ 22nd season this Friday evening (Oct. 14).
Heading the cast is Broadway veteran Patricia Conolly (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Coast of Utopia), who has wanted to be in a production of Herzog’s play ever since she was in a reading of 4000 Miles several years ago.
“I’m just a couple of years shy of this 91-year-old. I must say you hardly ever get parts for a 91-year-old woman where they’ve not either got Alzheimer’s or (are) infirm,” she notes. “This woman searches for a word here and there, but she’s a lovely character. So I did say, ‘Well, if I can learn it, then I’ll certainly consider doing it,’ because the play is delightful.”
Playing Leo will be Miami native Gabriell Salgado, who feels a personal connection to the character. “I mean, we’re very different, but yeah, there are some things I see in him that I used to see in myself,” he says. “That’s the beauty of this play. There are universal struggles that I think a lot of audience members will be able to relate to, whether it’s the grandmother’s character or Leo’s character. I think that’s why it’s such a successful play.”
Asked what he identifies with in the role, Salgado replies. “I’d have to say the journey of a young man who feels lost, and is sort of finding his way. As a young man myself, I’ve been there. I’ve been through the rebellious phase in my life, the hard times when you feel like you’re alone, you don’t really feel like you have traction in this world. I really related with that, sort of seeing how he navigates that.”
The actor was initially taken aback by the play’s subtlety and lack of action. “My personal taste is for action-packed, plot-driven pieces. So when I read the play originally, I didn’t really know what to feel about this,” says Salgado. “On a second read, once I really saw what Amy Herzog was doing, I was fascinated. I went, ‘Oh, this is just real people with a real relationship, with real problems, with real experiences and real love.’”
Director J. Barry Lewis responded strongly to the play’s character-driven quality.
“Good character development is always a bonus for good theater. Amy Herzog has created a work that is extremely naturalistic in how she presents the issues of her work and it is very accessible,” he feels. “We’re always looking for plays that an audience can respond to, get engaged can easily go on the journey. Some are more physically active, some are more emotionally active. This is a very emotionally active piece in this journey that they’re taking.”
4000 Miles is a work of fiction, but playwright Herzog readily concedes that Vera and Leo are based on her own grandmother and a cousin. “She does a lot of exploring her family,” says Lewis, noting that another of Herzog’s plays, After the Revolution, depicts a younger version of Vera. “She has talked about how the idiosyncratic nature of her family members, who they were and are, creates good theater, good drama.
“She is an observer. She leads the audience into a discovery process that they must engage in,” he adds. “It’s like a big puzzle, You begin to pick up the pieces as the play moves forward and you put the pieces together, coming to a realization as an audience member at the same time as the characters.”
Like all good odd couple stories, Vera and Leo reach common ground and rub off on each other. “And there they are, learning from each other. This 91-year-old woman and this 21-year-old man,” says Conolly. “There’s definitely a generational gap there that they have to bridge somehow. But she’s smart and he’s sensitive, and you think, ‘This is good stuff.’”
“The title, ‘4000 Miles,’ is very intuitive,” concludes Lewis. “We learn very quickly that it’s about a bike ride from coast to coast. But it is also a 4,000-mile journey for each of these characters. They are traveling toward each other, finding their way forward without understanding what the future holds. But they’re on a journey, each of them in their own way. We invite the audience to go on an emotional, entertaining journey with them.”
4000 MILES, Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. From Friday, Oct. 14, through Sunday, Oct. 30. $84. Call 561-514-4042 or visit www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.