Some of the most memorable conversations I've ever had have taken place on trains and planes with complete strangers. Somehow, a sense of shared adventure, combined with the relative anonymity of travel, can make for a kind of fleeting intimacy on a plane or train ride. Craig Lucas is the author of Stranger , a new play at the Vineyard Theater, near Manhattan's Union Square. Most of the first act takes place on a flight from Philadelphia to Seattle. And, uh, anybody who's been on an airplane, most likely, has been at least within earshot of someone who belongs, you know, on a raft in the South Pacific by themselves.
Stranger begins familiarly enough.
The man, Hush, played by noted film actor David Strathairn, says little - he's clearly uncomfortable and clutches a copy of the bible just a bit too tightly. The woman, Linda, played by Kyra Sedgewick, is nervous, too, but she's talkative and outgoing. Over the course of the flight, the conversation between these two characters becomes more intimate, revealing and, ultimately, deeply disturbing. I don't want to give away the plot, but Craig Lucas says his inspiration for this play came from an item that he saw in a newspaper about a heinous crime. And, she said, 'oh, people do that all the time.