We’re all watching the news. We’re all doing our part. Some are even putting their lives on the line to contribute. We’re learning how to work from our homes, and we’re contending with lost jobs and the temporary (hopefully) shutdowns of entire industries.

But at the same time, most of us are mourning the loss of something that we might not have even realized we valued so much: our connections to each other. Suddenly, neighbors seem as though they live halfway across the country, and friends and loved one can feel as though they’re millions of miles away. How do we deal with the broad chasms that have opened?

Closing the Distance is a series of ten short pieces that explores the sudden and seemingly uncrossable distance between people caused by our being sheltered in place. In each piece, individuals are faced with a lack of contact they hadn’t anticipated – from loved ones, from their community, from new and emerging relationships, from their way of making a living, etc. In each case, they struggle with the distance until they find some way to bridge it, often with surprising results. Fractious relationships are healed. Unexpected relationships are formed. Essential relationships are sustained.

A portion of the proceeds from Closing the Distance will be donated to two charities that resonate with us as writers and performers: The Actors Fund, which provides essential assistance to those in the entertainment field, and Save Indie Bookstores, which has been set up to help booksellers – such an invaluable part of our communities – stay afloat in these financially challenging times.

Closing the Distance is a series of emotionally resonant pieces. But more than that, it is an opportunity for us to acknowledge what we are missing and to envision a better outcome.