Joel Drake Johnson

The End of the Tour Joel Drake Johnson

Most of this play takes place in a nursing home where a disgruntled, flamboyant, elderly mother is recovering from a bad fall. With her middle-aged, recently divorced daughter by her side, she awaits the arrival of her long-estranged gay son who is bringing his lover for a brief tour of his hometown and his damaging past. "Joel Drake Johnson's new play is a sensitively written ... portrait of a fragmented family ... Johnson balances gallows humor with acute insight and compassion. He creates characters so real you wonder what will happen to them after the final blackout - and hope that the healing effects of time will allow parent and children to reconcile and thus reclaim life's most fundamental and precious relationship." -Albert Williams, The Reader "The title of Joel Drake Johnson's new play, THE END OF THE TOUR, may suggest the final leg in the career of a middle-aged rock band. That is not at all what it's about, yet the sense of having outlived one's usefulness is at the heart of this tragicomedy ... And even more than that, there is the feeling of being completely unmoored in the midst of one's life - while at the same time remaining hopelessly roped in by one's family ..." -Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times ..". THE END OF THE TOUR, an engaging new work ... The dark comedy homes in on the interconnected lives of six characters who have reached a crossroads where they each must reevaluate their commitment to each other and decide what direction their own lives will take ... Johnson's dialogue - sharp and witty - has more than a little ring of truth in it that may have audience members identifying with the real-life idiosyncrasies of his characters." -Tom Witom, Lakeland Newspapers