Lonely Planet Extra

By: Donna Maddamma

August 5, 2008

The nineties held times of excitement and new adventure for many people. Lots of new technology and ideas threw our worlds into a higher speed in an instant. The nineties were also trying times for many. With all the new technology came more knowledge and information about all different types of health issues that plagued us and were fatal for many. With health issues naturally comes the issue of death. How do we handle death? Death of a friend, of a loved one, a complete stranger, or even our own pending death. It’s hard to cope. It can be even harder to move on.

In the play Lonely Planet, we meet and ultimately embrace two individuals who are dealing with all that the early nineties had to throw at us. Jody, the owner of a map store, and Carl his good friend. Watching these two gentlemen each deal with death and the fear and uncertainty that death brings, will most definitely have you considering your own ideas.

Although he owns a map store, Jody, portrayed by Lon Barrera, cannot see the life going on around him. So afraid of the outside world, he becomes a recluse in a store that is filled with maps to adventures in every corner of the world. All of his atlases, globes, and maps cannot entice Jody to venture beyond the walls of his store. He lives reluctantly if not vicariously in the outside world through his best friend Carl. “He’s a pretty sad individual,” said Lon of his character. “It’s only through the friendship of Carl, that he learns to discover himself again.” Although Jody finds Carl’s unusual collection of one type of item annoying, he eventually puts it all in prospective and uses it to deal with his own fears.

Carl, played by Ben Phillips, has found his own obsessive, compulsive way to deal with the dark side of the nineteen-nineties. “Carl is kind of a mystery,” explains Ben. “He comes in and he’s obviously full of energy, a really interesting character, but you don’t find out a lot about him.” As his friends succumb to illness or other means of death, Carl chooses one material reminder of each of them and brings it into Jody’s store. He becomes so obsessed with this almost souvenir collecting that he begins volunteering to help clean out homes of others who have passed so he can fulfill his need to add to his collection. He takes only one thing, but it’s always the same type of item from each person. Yet sometimes even this souvenir of the person, who is gone, is not enough. He assumes a piece of their persona as well. “This is a point in his [Carl’s] life when he’s decided he has to do something. He’s trying to do whatever he can. He feels like he has to do something, he has to make a difference but these people are already gone.” Ben continued. “So then he feels like he can make a difference with Jody. He feels like he can do something to help Jody.”

In his misconceived attempt to help his friend Jody cope with living, he pulls Jody into his own struggle to deal with death.

“I read the play and I saw a forty minute clip of it several years ago, and when I reread it…it just spoke to me,” states Emilie Buske, the director. “It’s such a simple, easy story with such a great meaning.” Using The Lonely Planet as her directorial debut, Emily had this to add. “It [the play] puts death into the circle of life. You have to accept it. This is a thought provoking play. There are lots of things that aren’t answered that the audience can figure out themselves and make their own conclusions.”

As to what Carl & Jody’s characters will say to the audience, Ben states “Whatever it is that’s holding you back, do something about it.”

“I hope that people leave here and use the message in their own lives for whatever they are dealing with,” added Lon.

Lonely Planet runs for only two weeks, Aug 8th – 17th, Friday and Saturday night’s play starts at 8:00 and Sunday matinee begins at 3:00 PM. Always remember doors open one hour prior to the beginning of the show. Seating is limited so please reserve your seats now or purchase your tickets through this website.

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