4000 Miles
“4000 Miles” is an upcoming play that follows the story of a young man and his spirited grandmother
July 7, 2026
Stories are usually seen as being more about the journey, rather than the destination, but 4000 Miles isn’t about the journey, it is about whom those making the such a trek really are. 4000 Miles, more than anything, is about the raw humanity of the characters.
After taking a long and hard cross-country bike trip from Seattle to New York, 21-year-old Leo arrives at his 91-year-old grandmother’s house. “Sounds real simple, and in so many ways it is,” said Fred Metzger, a Communications, Theatre, and Film Instructor for the Arts and Humanities Division.
Leo arrives at 3 in the morning and almost immediately begins to complain about the room buzzer, with it still having his grandmother’s deceased husband’s name still on the room’s plaque.
“Whenever you watch a show,” Metzger said, “You wonder why were you sucked in. Was it the action? Was it the setting? Or was it the character that pulled you in?”
Metzger described the play not being completely focused on Leo’s travels to New York, and more of when he arrives. “It’s about understanding who they are, and understanding their relationships to each other.” said Metzger.
“So much of what they look like and who they appear to be comes before the lines.” Metzger gave an example of when Leo comes into his grandmother’s apartment one night with his friend Amanda.
Based on how they look and act in that scene, the audience can already tell that the two have been partying and are drunk. “It’s physically so obvious between the two of them before the scene even unfolds,” Metzger said.
“The character is the seat in the amusement ride of the story, and if we can’t identify with the seat we sit in, it doesn’t work.” Metzger said last year he went through 20 scripts before coming across 4000 Miles, saying the script popped out. “It wasn’t a nice script, it was an amazing script.”
Leo is a foul mouthed loner who constantly tries to maintain futile friendships, and Vera is a no-nonsense, feisty grandmother who is still as outgoing as a youth.
“There’s a little bit of us in all of these characters,” said Metzger, “You should be thrown into kinship to grandma, and you should love and hate Leo, when we’re done.”
4000 Miles is set to premiere February 12, 13, 19, and 20 at 7:00pm, at studio 320 in the Cascade Building.