About the Play:

Finalist for the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

A Walk in the Woods is a full-length drama by Lee Blessing. A Russian and an American, both advocating nuclear disarmament from different positions at a Geneva summit, debate the pros and cons of the issue and come to understand and learn from each other. A Walk in the Woods is an important, brilliantly executed and strikingly original play which brings deep perception and unexpected humour to its probing examination of the superpower negotiations on nuclear disarmament.

A Walk in the Woods is the story of an impossible friendship. The place is a "pleasant woods on the outskirts of Geneva," where two superpower arms negotiators, a clever, cynical Russian and an idealistic young American, meet informally for private walks together after long, frustrating hours at the negotiating table. The Russian, Botvinnik, a seasoned veteran who has mastered the Communist Party "hard line," is urbane and humorous but, at the same time, profoundly cynical about what the current sessions can accomplish. His young American counterpart, Honeyman, a newcomer to the arms-control talks, is a bit stuffy and pedantic, but also fervently idealistic about what can – and must – be achieved through perseverance and honest bargaining. They continue their informal meetings as the talks drag on and the seasons change, and through their absorbing and revealing conversations we become aware both of the deepening understanding between these two wise and decent men and also of the profound frustration that they increasingly feel. In the end, when Botvinnik announces that he is leaving his post, Honeyman is genuinely regretful, not only because of the friendship that has grown between them but also because he knows that he must now confront again the deep-seated mistrust and misconceptions which a "new man" will bring with him – and that the elemental differences in their two systems of government will continue to exacerbate as long as the real power rests in the hands of those burdened by the bitterness of the past. Stemming from an actual incident in Geneva in 1983 when a Russian and an American diplomat took "a walk in the woods" together during arms control talks and had the courage to forge a nuclear weapons agreement without the support of their governments. Filled with unexpected humour and extraordinary humanity, A Walk in the Woods is an absorbing, revealing and brilliant debate on the eternal hope and relentless futility of high-stakes politics.

A Walk in the Woods premiered in 1987 at Yale Repertory Theatre, the internationally celebrated professional theater in residence at Yale School of Drama in New Haven, Connecticut. As timely now as when it was presented on Broadway in 1988 at the Booth Theatre, it remains a popular choice for regional repertory houses and community theatre productions.

Cast: 2 male, however, the American negotiator has also been played by a woman.

What people say:

"It is a marvelous piece of theatre as well as a great treatise on the nature of mankind, and should take its place as a classic of dramatic literature." — Drama-Logue

"…a work of passion and power with the ring of political truth. It is not only the best of the few dramas to reach Broadway this season, it is also the funniest comedy." — Time Magazine

"…a minor miracle…." — New York Magazine

"…a splendid evening of theatre." — New York Daily News

"A riveting study in the way two opposed people try (or not) to clamber out of ideological stalemate... Blessing cleverly keeps us guessing with a taut script." — Metro

"…Blessing's argument that arms negotiators are pawns in a larger political game still seems valid." — The Guardian

About the Playwright:

Lee Blessing is an American playwright who remained in his hometown of Minneapolis working in regional theater before relocating to New York when he was in his forties. The author of over twenty plays and screenplays, he been nominated for Tony and Olivier Awards as well as the Pulitzer Prize. He is professor emeritus at Rutgers University, where for a dozen years he headed the Graduate Playwriting Program of Mason Gross School of the Arts.