4000 Miles

4000 Miles is a dramatic comedy by Amy Herzog. The play ran Off-Broadway in 2011, and again in 2012. The play was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

When Leo Joseph-Connell suffers a major loss while he was on a cross-country bike trip, he seeks solace from his feisty grandmother Vera Joseph in her West Village apartment. Leo's and Vera's Marxism represents the state, Tyson represents the corporation, and the characters represent the individual. Leo proves to have anti-heroic attributes - a taste for peyote-intoxicated kissing and drunken promiscuity. All main characters except for Vera are foulmouthed. Leo attempts to maintain his relationships with Marxism and the individual, which gradually proves futile. In the end, he is a marginalized, alienated loner in an advanced technological dystopia where daily life is impacted by rapid technological change and a ubiquitous data sphere of computerized information that carries a videophone call. Judging by Vera and Leo infuriating and bewildering each other, both have some anti-heroic/annoying attributes. Of his relationships, there is only Vera - and employment.

Herzog used her grandmother's "words, habits and history to fashion the character of Vera Joseph".

The character of "Vera Joseph" is based on Herzog's grandmother, Leepee. Vera initially appeared in Herzog's play After the Revolution.

Backstage observed that " '4000 Miles' is a bit of a companion piece to 'After the Revolution,' her captivating political family drama... as both plays contain the character of Vera Joseph, a no-nonsense 91-year-old grandmother who's also a member of the Communist Party. Vera is as interesting here as she was in the earlier play, but the story surrounding her is considerably slighter." Leo is based on her cousin who lost a good friend. The "Josephs" in her plays are also partially based on her father's stepfamily.

The play premiered Off-Broadway at the Duke on 42nd Street Theatre, opening on June 20, 2011 and closing on July 9, 2011. The play then ran Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at the Lincoln Center Theater in March 2012 through June 17, 2012. It was the first play in Lincoln Center Theater's new works program. The play, directed by Daniel Aukin, featured Mary Louise Wilson as Vera and Gabriel Ebert as Leo.

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