On a lonely 4th of July in Hartford, four isolated individuals search for connection.

“The usual race and class equations have been upended. Nothing is emotionally simple. The play keeps delivering small shocks and aches that end in a standoff, or maybe in that pause between despair, resignation, and a twinge of hope. Haunting.” – Margo Jefferson, New York Times

“Shinn’s landscape of desire is bleak but profoundly familiar. Four eloquently captures the things people don’t say on their way to not getting the love they want.” – Don Shewey, The Advocate

“Four opens with the image of a heartbreakingly jangled teenager trying to get up the nerve to keep a date. For the next 90 minutes, Shinn renders in fine detail an awkward world of youthful self- consciousness, desire and seemingly insurmountable emotional confusion.” – Nelson Pressley, Washington Post

world premiere: Royal Court Theatre, 1998

pictured: Theaterworks (Hartford), 2003. Directed by Rob Ruggiero.

This play is also included in the anthology “Where Do We Live and other plays.”

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