North to Maine

North to Maine: A Journey on the Appalachian Trail
Original Production Poster
Written by	Brenton Lengel
Characters	Kevin Nick/Creature Man Adam/Frodo Alice/Juice Box Rockstabber
Date premiered	June 2013
Place premiered	The Living Theatre New York, New York
Original language	English
Genre	Drama
Setting	Appalachian Trail, May to August, 2008

North to Maine is a 2009 play by American playwright Brenton Lengel. It is the first play ever written about the Appalachian Trail and the thru-hikers who walk it. The play is sprawling and epic, with scenes taking place over the course of several months and many states, culminating with the ascent of Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. The work has received several awards, honors, and sponsorships and is supported by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the New York–New Jersey Trail Conference.

Set entirely on the Appalachian Trail, sometime during the second Gulf War, the play follows the journey of Adam, aka "Frodo," a young college graduate lacking purpose and searching for adventure along with several other thru-hikers, all of whom are similarly unmoored. Together this impromptu fellowship struggles with nature, each other, and themselves as they make the journey from Georgia north to Maine.

As the play progresses, these disparate individuals pull together and slowly reveal more of themselves to each other and the audience. Each character's story builds upon the others, and several experience moments of crisis which are solved by building human connections between them. This eventually culminates in a mad dash through the woods at night to save a hallucinating member, who is dying of an untreated spider bite, and ultimately in Adam/Frodo's ascent of Katahdin.

The plot of North to Maine is somewhat unusual in the fact that it lacks traditional protagonists and antagonists; as one critic puts it:

"...there are no traditional heroes or villains in this play: these people are not doing battle or even trying to master nature but rather simply become at one with it, and they are likewise never antagonists to each other, except in the heat of random particular moments; they must finally only collaborate to climb these mountains and reach the end of their journey. Their only true battles are within themselves..."

Adam/Frodo: A young man running from a world which he perceives as forcing him into a soulless career, preferring instead the romance and high adventure contained within the work of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Nick/Creature Man: An intense and judgmental entrepreneur who lost his business and maybe some of his mind in the process.