Rest

The setting for Samuel Hunter’s ensemble drama Rest is a nursing home in Idaho in the final days before its closure. Despite only a few residents and a skeleton staff left to populate the home, there is still plenty of intrigue. The residents are Etta; her husband, Gerald, who has dementia; and Tom, who says little and who the staff assumes is deaf. Meanwhile, the young staff are absorbed in their personal lives and the stress of impending unemployment. Manager Jeremy struggles to connect with Ken, a jumpy and devoutly religious 20-year-old hired to run the kitchen for a few days, while Faye and Ginny confront an issue that threatens their long-time friendship. Rest sometimes feels like a sitcom and sometimes like a domestic drama as Hunter poignantly explores aging, generational differences, and human connection.