Damaged people navigating the push-pull struggle between isolation and connection, between emotional lockdown and empathy have been central to the work of Samuel D. Hunter, a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and one of contemporary American drama’s foremost humanists. The playwright makes his Broadway debut with Little Bear Ridge Road , a singularly beautiful piece that shifts almost imperceptibly from acerbic comedy to searing pathos before an ending whose bleakness is broken by a slender but luminous beam of hope.

Commissioned by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where it premiered under Joe Mantello ‘s exacting direction, the production brings the reliably brilliant Laurie Metcalf back to Broadway in a role that dovetails neatly with her strengths. Playing Sarah, a flinty

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