Off the Map

by Joan Ackermann

Genres: Plays, Theatre

72 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 1998

About the author

Joan Ackermann is a playwright, journalist, and screenwriter. Over a dozen of her plays have been published and produced around the country, and her adaptation of her play Off the Map was released as a feature film directed by Campbell Scott. Joan is the cofounder and Artistic Director of Mixed Company, a twenty-five-year-old theater in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. A Special Contributor to Sports Illustrated for seven years, she has freelanced for many magazines, including Time, The Atlantic Monthly, and Esquire. She lives in the Berkshires, where she enjoys being a part-time hiking guide.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this before, but this time with enough distance to see it more critically. I've also seen the movie many times. I'm not sure that the story/characters, in a staged version, would hold my interest. It would be hard to convey what the family's off-the-grid life actually looks like with the limited area of a stage. The film does a much better job with this.

The play moves with the changes that the family experiences, as individuals and as a unit. The focus is on the daughter, Bo, who narrates the story from her adult perspective. I also pay attention to William Gibbs, the IRS agent turned artist. They change in opposite ways, according to how the landscape and lifestyle affects each of them.

I have an issue with Bo, both in her childhood and as the adult narrator. She has a nostalgia for that summer, and she realizes her dream of leaving her life off the grid to become "normal," but how in anyone's imagination does it make sense for her to become so boring, pretentious, and sad!??

[Catie Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far less dynamic and gripping than the movie --which is one of my all-time favorites-- but does a good job hinting at some of the spirit behind the characters. Really, all that it's missing in comparison to the movie can be chalked up to the limitations of plays themselves; my biggest complaint is that New Mexico itself is a major "character" in the film, and you can't see that in a written play. I've also never seen Off The Map staged, so it's hard to truly say what it's got the potential to be. All told, I enjoyed it.

[Sharla]

I loved this film - can't wait to read the book!