Approaching Zanzibar

When Charlotte Blossom’s beloved Aunt Olivia, a famous and eccentric artist, is dying of cancer, the whole family -- husband Wally, a composer with writer’s block; son Turner, a classical guitar prodigy; and daughter Pony, a girl with a fearful imagination -- take a road trip all the way from New York to Taos, New Mexico, to say goodbye. Along the way, they encounter an adorable newborn, a precocious psychic, mysterious nighttime noises, and the knowledge that we are born as fish, and to fish we do return. With emotion heightened by major changes and regular road trip anxiety, the members of the Blossom family must each come to terms with their place in the cycle of life. Tina Howe’s Approaching Zanzibar is both intimate and grand, a glorious and magically absurd romp through a vast American landscape and the inner workings of the human family, and the human heart.