Q: Did you consider setting the play anywhere but NYC? What does NYC mean in the context of this play?
A: The play has to take place in NYC because it's where Vera lives, but I was also interested in what that environment means to Leo, outdoorsman and latter-day transcendentalist that he is. I biked across the country the summer after I graduated from college, and almost immediately thereafter moved to this city to embark on adult life. It was a rude awakening in ways I didn't recognize at the time...I had been traveling across these expansive, gorgeous, lonely landscapes for two months, sometimes covering upwards of seventy miles without seeing a town, and urban life was a difficult adjustment. I missed the simplicity of life on the road and the feeling of accomplishment that came at the end of every day. For Leo, who has no plans beyond making his way to the Atlantic, and who has just suffered a devastating loss, the city must be even more disorienting. He navigated his way here from Seattle but he doesn't know which direction his grandmother's windows face. That's important, I think.
Q: What do you think Leo will be doing in 10 years?
A: I would have to ask Gabe.
