Tammy Ryan, Playwright Current Plays Young Audiences Short Plays Publications Bio Contact

Current Events

Monday, Nov. 5 2012, 7:30 pm. (link)
a reading of TAR BEACH (by Tammy Ryan) at the Luna Stage

It is July 1977 and New York City is in the midst of a brutal heat wave. Two best friends, sixteen year old Mary Claire and Mary Francis start that day sunning themselves on the roof of an Ozone Park row house. Younger sister, Reenie is searching for her prize winning Greek Mythology Class Project: The Head of Medusa, while their parents are consumed by the battles of their troubled marriage. The Boy Crazy Marys hatch a plan to stay out all night with a bonfire on the beach, but the unexpected happens: the biggest blackout since 1965, a chance encounter with Son of Sam, and a sudden loss of innocence.

Chicago, June 14, 2012. The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) announced today that playwright Tammy Ryan has won the 2012 Francesca Primus Prize for her play Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods. (link)

LINDSEY'S OYSTER

Lindsey's Oyster was nominated for the David Cohen Award and selected to participate in the 2012 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 2 at Indiana University of PA, directed by Jason Chimonides.

update 3/10/2012: Lindsey's Oyster wins second place in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival's David Mark Cohen Award.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Local playwright Tammy Ryan's still developing play, 'Lindsey's Oyster,' among the 8 productions staged at IUP during the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. (link)

LOST BOY FOUND IN WHOLE FOODS

Pittsburgh Premiere by THE REP
Studio Theater, Pittsburgh Playhouse
Sept 30-Oct 16, 2011

For tickets call 412-392-8000 or click www.pittsburghplayhouse.com

Christine, a recently divorced East Ender makes a remarkable discovery one day in the produce section of Whole Foods: a papaya in the hands of Gabriel, a refugee of Sudan. Soon, Gabriel's world becomes enmeshed with hers -- and daughter Alex's -- leading to a remarkable journey of awareness, struggle and hopefulness. Pittsburgh Playwright Tammy Ryan's eloquent story is simultaneously provocative, beautiful and haunting, leaving us to wonder about the effect of one soul on another.

Blog Post: Emotional Collisions: Lost Boy Found at Whole Foods,
from Poor Lessing's Theatre Almanack

LINDSEY'S OYSTER

Theater by the Grove
Waller Hall Mainstage
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Performing Arts Center

Oct 6-Oct 15, 2011
For tickets call 724-357-ARTS (2787) or click www.iup.edu/page.aspx?id=110707.

When sixteen year old Lindsey finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy by her unloving boyfriend, parental and social pressures mount to force a devastating decision. As she struggles to define love and self and who controls her body and her life, the beauty and fragility of her innermost integrity blossom in this unflinchingly honest coming of age story.

Tammy Ryan is Represented by: