All Roads Lead Back Home…
by Dominic Wall
You know, I’ve realized recently that the older you get, the more estranged you become with certain family members. Sure, the love’s still there… but there’s too much under the rug to ignore, so maybe you skip sitting next to them during Thanksgiving.
But imagine if that person was the only family member you had left.
That real-life scenario that we all can relate to is Little Bear Ridge Road by Samuel D. Hunter.
If the name Samuel D. Hunter rings a bell, there’s a very good reason.
Hunter is the playwright behind many acclaimed plays as well as The Whale, which was later adapted into the Oscar-winning film starring Brendan Fraser. Hunter grew up in Moscow, Idaho, and that landscape has had a major influence on his work. His plays often explore people who are wrestling with family, faith, loneliness, economic hardship, identity, and the complicated business of simply trying to make a life.
And that Idaho connection is our setting
Little Bear Ridge Road centers around Ethan, who, after the death of his long-estranged father, returns home to Idaho to settle his father’s affairs. Waiting for him is his sharp-tongued, fiercely independent aunt Sarah, who has spent years firmly set in her ways.
Their reunion begins to unravel family history, and a lifetime of things neither of them has said out loud.
But Little Bear Ridge Road is not just a story about a dysfunctional family. It is a story about what happens when two people who have spent years keeping their distance suddenly have to figure out how to be there for each other.
And honestly?
The production is funny.
There’s something so captivating about these characters. They’re messy. Stubborn. Frustrating and vulnerable. And, in ways that might hit a little too close to home, they’re incredibly human.
I can see why it’s been such a smash hit.
Before it arrived here at Virginia Rep, Little Bear Ridge Road had already been on a pretty incredible run. It premiered at Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre before making its way to Broadway, with the original director, Joe Mantello, and original cast, which included Tony Award winner Laurie Metcalf as Sarah and Tony Award nominee Micah Stock as Ethan.
So yes, you could have seen Little Bear Ridge Road in Chicago or on Broadway.
But now you can see it right here in Richmond.
And that’s one of my favorite things about theatre.
A story can start in a far away place, travel across the country, land on Broadway, and eventually make its way here, to our home.
No flights to New York. No fight for Broadway tickets.
You just have to come to the theatre.
And I think you should.
So come see Little Bear Ridge Road at Virginia Repertory Theatre.
Photo by Aaron Sutten