Lonely Planet

Counter-Productions Theatre Company wraps up their tenth season with Steven Dietz’s Lonely Planet, an absurdist comedy exploring friendship and fear at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Directed by Michael Ducharme, who directed last season’s Frost/Nixon, the play features Jim O’Brien as Jody and Chris Plonka as Carl.

Set in “a small map store on the oldest street in an American city,” Lonely Planet is the story of two unlikely friends attempting to deal with an ever increasing number of AIDS related deaths within their circle of friends. Shop owner Jody becomes increasingly fearful of the world outside and the dangers it poses, refusing to leave his shop, even reluctant to open for business. Carl, his manic friend who claims to have a multitude of different occupations, begins filling the shop with a variety of chairs, each one from the home of one of their lost friends.