Hunting and Gathering

Four New Yorkers seek shelter, both physical and spiritual, in a variety of temporary abodes and in one another in this dark comedy. "As every young, single New Yorker quickly learns, real estate is destiny in this town, a fact of urban life that Brooke Berman addresses with bracing wit and intelligence in HUNTING AND GATHERING. The four attractive players in this droll comedy think of their fly-by-night housing accommodations as proof of an independent spirit. Little do they realize, until the scribe plays her romantic trump card, that their loose living conditions more accurately expose their fears of emotional commitment. Character insights are comic, but never cruel, revealed in clever dialogue and delivered in sharp style by a crackerjack cast. Comedy with a point ... Berman wastes no time exercising the satirical verbal wit that has already opened doors for her with savvy institutional theaters like Second Stage and Steppenwolf. Plot-wise, the play raises essentially the same concerns as any romantic comedy - who will end up with whom and why should we care? But in re-casting the old relationship questions as real-estate issues - who will move in with whom and what will be the price of this commitment? - Berman finds a fresh and funny way of looking at the mortal terrors of being young and on your own in a bewildering existential landscape." -Marilyn Stasio, Variety