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The Distance from Here
This intense look at the dark side of American suburbia is a dark and provocative new play by award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and director LaBute.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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About the author
Neil LaBute
83 books120 followersNeil LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. LaBute also did graduate work at the University of Kansas, New York University, and the Royal Academy of London.
In 1993 he returned to Brigham Young University to premier his play In the Company of Men, for which he received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He taught drama and film at IPFW in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and major awards and nominations at the Deauville Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.
LaBute has received high praise from critics for his edgy and unsettling portrayals of human relationships. In the Company of Men portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and Ben Stiller, was a shockingly honest portrayal of the sex lives of three suburban couples. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled Bash: Latter-Day Plays, a set of three short plays (Iphigenia in orem, A gaggle of saints, and Medea redux) depicting essentially good Latter-day Saints doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by Calista Flockhart. This play resulted in his being disfellowshipped from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.
LaBute's 2002 play The Mercy Seat was one of the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack — with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring Liev Schreiber and Sigourney Weaver, the play was a commercial and critical success.
LaBute's latest film is The Wicker Man, an American version of a British cult classic. His first horror film, it starred Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn and was released on September 1, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures to scathing critical reviews and mediocre box office.
He is working with producer Gail Mutrux on the screen adaptation of The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. LaBute also did graduate work at the University of Kansas, New York University, and the Royal Academy of London.
In 1993 he returned to Brigham Young University to premier his play In the Company of Men, for which he received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He taught drama and film at IPFW in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and major awards and nominations at the Deauville Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.
LaBute has received high praise from critics for his edgy and unsettling portrayals of human relationships. In the Company of Men portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and Ben Stiller, was a shockingly honest portrayal of the sex lives of three suburban couples. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled Bash: Latter-Day Plays, a set of three short plays (Iphigenia in orem, A gaggle of saints, and Medea redux) depicting essentially good Latter-day Saints doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by Calista Flockhart. This play resulted in his being disfellowshipped from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.
LaBute's 2002 play The Mercy Seat was one of the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack — with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring Liev Schreiber and Sigourney Weaver, the play was a commercial and critical success.
LaBute's latest film is The Wicker Man, an American version of a British cult classic. His first horror film, it starred Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn and was released on September 1, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures to scathing critical reviews and mediocre box office.
He is working with producer Gail Mutrux on the screen adaptation of The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 15, 2021
An engaging read - These characters feel all too real, like people I know from my childhood; kids that have grown up surrounded by negative influence, drug abuse, poverty, and lack of opportunity. When a love triangle threatens the pecking order of their friend group, Darrell resorts to a shocking act of violence to gain control. LaBute definitely subverts expectation and goes for the gut punch with this ending.
January 20, 2018
A really messed up and dark play that I read for Acting class. Enjoyed it.
September 8, 2019
This was interesting. I wouldn’t mind seeing it staged. The ending is kind of weird, but I suppose it works. Certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. Engaging regardless.
June 16, 2011
Neil LaBute's intro says it all: he mentions that he feels like with this "kind of people"--by which he means trashy going-nowhere-with-their-life people--he feels like he was always just a couple of detentions, a dead end job and some bad luck away from having their kind of life. I totally agree.
I am glad I read it because i don't think i ever want to see the play; it's pretty dark and while i like that in literature it would probably make my stomach turn to see it in real life. Some of the situations are far fetched, but it's a tribute to the characterization that I bought them all anyway.
LaBute also says in the introduction that he never particularly like this "kind of person" and writing this play was coming to terms with that in a way. I haven't ever liked that kind of person either, and we'll just see how I figure out how to come to terms with it. He said it made him want to be a better person. think about that one for awhile.
I am glad I read it because i don't think i ever want to see the play; it's pretty dark and while i like that in literature it would probably make my stomach turn to see it in real life. Some of the situations are far fetched, but it's a tribute to the characterization that I bought them all anyway.
LaBute also says in the introduction that he never particularly like this "kind of person" and writing this play was coming to terms with that in a way. I haven't ever liked that kind of person either, and we'll just see how I figure out how to come to terms with it. He said it made him want to be a better person. think about that one for awhile.
March 22, 2008
A desperate picture of lower-class suburbia. Unwanted pregnancy grows up to be unwanted children, disrespect to one another becomes a way to compensate for self-hatred, the small glimpses of hope LaBute draws in are twisted in such a way that even the hope becomes unhopeful.
So what do we do? Lack of love from home, lack of an education, and suddenly you are screwed for life. Now that is obviously an awful generalization, but it gets at a point. How do we teach people to respect each other and themselves in a real and meaningful way? Can the cycle be reversed? Kids stuck in a bad place do some stupid things and suddenly their lives are over and spent in jail.
So the question remains . . . What do we do?
So what do we do? Lack of love from home, lack of an education, and suddenly you are screwed for life. Now that is obviously an awful generalization, but it gets at a point. How do we teach people to respect each other and themselves in a real and meaningful way? Can the cycle be reversed? Kids stuck in a bad place do some stupid things and suddenly their lives are over and spent in jail.
So the question remains . . . What do we do?
June 12, 2007
What the fuck Neil? It was, of course, well written but I still have a gapping hole in my chest. People need to read it. It is super law and order without the cops
June 20, 2011
Raw. Smart. True. Shocking.
September 15, 2011
A lot of language and I guess I missed the point. Not for me.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews