THE STORY: PEN is about a Long Island family at a pivotal moment in their lives. Confined to a wheelchair, Helen and her son, Matt, are locked in a relationship where love, guilt, recriminations and the ever-present desire to make things right all share centerstage. When it’s time to apply to college, Helen tries to hold tightly to her son by influencing his enrollment in a nearby college, while her ex-husband Jerry tries to get the boy into USC, thinking that Matt needs to get some distance from his mother. In addition, Jerry is about to marry his new girlfriend and has yet to figure out how to tell them. Caught in the middle of all this is Matt. What happens next is at once unexpected and inevitable. The relationship between mother and son takes a mysterious turn, allowing the three of them to consider options that were up to now impossible. Will Matt make it to college? Will Jerry get remarried or will Helen and he get back together? PEN is a sly, perceptive play about the deep bonds that hold a family together and the harsh truths that tear them apart.
“The one liners shoot forth nonstop, some funny, others leaving a bloody track on their target.” —The New York Times.
“Grant has a snappy way with intimate conversations and writes characters we believe.” —Newsday (NY).
“Grant is an honest and serious-minded writer. His play is a lucid, sharply etched map.” —Village Voice.
