AGE OF EXTINCTION is a full-length play examining the connections between ecosystem fragmentation, biogeography, and the loneliness of contemporary urban life. The play’s protagonist, GRUNDY, is a lonely, neurotic bookstore owner grieving both the recent death of her mother and loss of her lover. The play is set in Grundy’s bookshop, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where Grundy was born and raised.
AGE OF...
AGE OF EXTINCTION is a full-length play examining the connections between ecosystem fragmentation, biogeography, and the loneliness of contemporary urban life. The play’s protagonist, GRUNDY, is a lonely, neurotic bookstore owner grieving both the recent death of her mother and loss of her lover. The play is set in Grundy’s bookshop, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where Grundy was born and raised.
AGE OF EXTINCTION begins shortly after the death of Grundy’s mother, RACHEL. Grundy learns that she’s inherited the bookshop from Rachel, and the audience learns that Rachel’s death is the third traumatic event she’s suffered in the past year. Earlier this year, Grundy’s lover, MAGGIE, left her. Shortly after that, Grundy’s cat died of a kidney ailment. Rachel’s death has left Grundy very much alone and struggling with severe insomnia.
Grundy has no interest in running the bookshop and, almost immediately, a real estate developer named MILTON, offers to buy Grundy out of this responsibility. Milton’s company is planning to build a new high rise on Grundy’s block, so he’s hoping to acquire and demolish the bookshop. Milton’s offer leaves Grundy with a difficult choice: she can sell the store and leave her rapidly transforming urban ecosystem for a life in the Berkshires with Maggie. Alternately, she can take charge of the bookstore and, in so doing, fight to maintain her neighborhood ecosystem’s diversity. This choice frames all of the conflict in AGE OF EXTINCTION, motivating Grundy’s actions throughout the play.