“Down an old city street, inside a small map store, a pile of chairs begins to form. Two best friends, Jody and Carl, manage the ever-growing mountain of chairs while taking care of each other and navigating the dark reality that looms in the outside world. A funny and heartwarming story of friendship, love, and survival.”
That is the synopsis for Luna Stage’s latest production of Steven Dietz's “Lonely Planet.” Directed by Melissa Firlit and starring John Keller and Dustin Ballard, the play is seeing somewhat of a rebirth. Despite consistent performances all around the country over the last thirty-plus years, Luna Stage’s production will feature brand-new revisions by Dietz himself.
Initially written and produced in the 1990s and set in the present, the play deals with themes of life and loss during a time in which the AIDS epidemic was prevalent. Now in 2024, having survived a worldwide pandemic, the themes are sadly still relevant but the impulse for revisions came not from a want to adjust the theme, but a desire to honor the cultural shifts around homophobia and queer relationships.
Lonely Planet theatrical poster. Courtesy of Luna Stage.
“This is the first time that this version of the script is being performed and we’re all geeking out about that,” says John Keller, who plays Jody in the show. They're right to "geek out," after all, it’s not often that the playwright of a beloved show can work directly with the theater producing his work. According to Keller, this particular iteration of “Lonely Planet” is the culmination of a seven-year trajectory. All three artists were connected years before finding themselves at Luna Stage, and so this team feels it was meant to be. The theater world is smaller than one might think and it was thanks to the six degrees of separation these performers could link up once again to perform this play.
In 2006, Ballard first read and fell in love with Dietz’s script. Years later at McCarter Theater, he worked with Erica Nagel, now of the New Jersey Theater Alliance. Nagel happens to be a former student of “Lonely Planet” scribe Steven Dietz. When Nagel and Ballard reconnected at a Mission Day event through CoLab Arts, where John Keller still works, they realized the connection and asked that Nagel reach out to her former professor which in turn, led to the playwright reaching out to the production team.
Dietz offered himself as a resource to the theater and committed to attending the opening night performance. This blessing from the playwright is considered “a baton pass” by the cast and crew. They are giddy with joy, smiling and laughing as they recount the moment they first heard from the author. These three — Firlit, Keller, and Ballard — have big, admirable personalities and their jubilation is contagious. That energy is necessary for a show like this to survive. In both comedy and drama, the story requires the endurance of its performers, a trait that this team exhibits in spades.
When asked how they resonate with this show personally, all three responses made clear how important this work of art is to each individual. Director Melissa Firlit immediately became emotional. “As I start to cry already, I think this show is so important because sometimes we can forget where we come from, to be where we are. It’s not to be sad in history but it’s to speak names into rooms. What we tell ourselves and what we allow ourselves in order to get through every day, it’s weirdly comforting but also scary what we can do for ourselves. It’s extremely important that stories like this get told. Our job in theater is to make people sit in those seats and be able to see another perspective of life.”
For John Keller, it is, “the really constructive articulation of queer friendships on stage. I think so much art is about sexual dynamics or romantic dynamics. This play wrestles with some of where sex fits in our storytelling about it but it’s really about the deep love of friendships. It’s almost like a subversion because you realize it isn’t about that [romance], it’s about really deep friendship. It’s more intimate in that sense.”
In tune with his friend, Dustin Ballard adds “I feel like this play in particular does a really strong job of showing that love stories come in many shapes, forms, and relationships. At the end of this play, it is a love story between these two friends. You see their love tested over the course of this play and what they do to be there for each other, show up for each other and make space for one another.”
He continues, referencing his first interaction with the book, “At that time, I didn’t have a friendship with - I wasn’t out yet in my own life as a gay person. and I didn’t have a friend who was similar and akin to the way Carl and Jody are friends in this play. I do remember thinking that one day, I’ll have a friend like that.”
Ballard pauses as the three artists laugh and joke with one another upon hearing that line. The inside joke they share with me is that Keller and Ballard are now that very friendship that he’d been hoping for. They adore one another. Yet another example of art imitating life, or vice versa since the two thespians met long after the script was penned.
Dustin Ballard, Director Melissa Firlit, and John Keller. Courtesy of Luna Stage
He continues, “And now I’m blessed in my life where I have many queer friends who I consider chosen family. It’s the articulation of the queer friendship love story that I’d never seen before. It spoke to me in a new way about how people can be people with each other.”
We continue to speak at length about the importance of friendship in our everyday lives when Keller points out the beauty of timing. “Lonely Planet” runs through Thanksgiving Season, a time when so many turn to chosen families, either in addition to or in place of familial relations. It is the season to give thanks for strong friendships and partnerships. This may be a fantastic place in which to forge new friendships and meet like-minded theater lovers should you be in search of your own chosen family.
“Friendship is the cornerstone love story of all of humanity. Going out into the world and finding your other people that then you connect with who are also family. That’s our first experience with love that we choose. That’s a really universal thing that people can connect with. I think that’s why this show spans demographics. ” As Ballard says so eloquently, this is a show for all.
Luna Stage presents “Lonely Planet,” running from November 14th to December 8th in West Orange. For tickets and more information, please visit their website at www.lunastage.org/lonely-planet. The show is best suited for those ages 12 and up.
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