Greater Clements & Lewiston/Clarkston

In his work, Samuel D. Hunter has a singular gift for exploring the decline of small-town America with an empathetic yet incisive eye. His plays take place in corners of the country that are receding from the forefront of contemporary American life, focusing on those who get left behind, isolated and disillusioned with the false promise of the American dream. This new collection contains three striking, deeply-felt plays, all set in Hunter's home state of Idaho. In Greater Clements, the longtime residents of a dying Idaho mining town have voted to unincorporate in order to retaliate against the wealthy out-of-staters who are buying up property. In doing so, they also speed the town's decline, forcing them to reckon with their desire to hold onto their history while struggling to find a path forward. In Lewiston, an aging descendant of Meriwether Lewis sells off her family's land as she becomes increasingly convinced that her family's past is a curse. But when an unexpected visitor enters the picture, she is left to consider whether any good remains in the world. In Clarkston, a young descendant of William Clark has made the journey out west from his home in Connecticut, anxious to find meaning in his own history. Faced with the reality of the diminished towns that used to make up America's shining frontier, his faith in his future and the future of the country itself begins to falter.