Bøger af Tammy Ryan

Carol, an underappreciated and seemingly invisible suburban homemaker, finds herself wondering what the hell happened to her life. She rediscovers stifled thrill and passion in the secret, sexy world of cyberspace. As her husband obsesses over their local property tax assessment and the cost of their current kitchen renovation, the state of their marriage (along with their roof) is about to collapse under the weight of what they haven't addressed. Their 17-year-old "activist" daughter, who is about to leave the nest and save the world, is torn between going to college or Tibet. Taking place in Pittsburgh during the summer of 2001, Carol solicits a face-to-face meeting with her online lover in New York City. When fantasy collides with reality in his studio apartment, Carol confronts the choices she's made against the desires she has suppressed in the quest for self-fulfillment. "Tammy Ryan is so Irish that nothing is too terrible to be funny ... CONFLUENCE is what we'd call a 9/11 play ... it's also about marriage, parenting, cybersex and especially dreams ... it's engrossing, perceptive and very very funny ... Carol's rebellion is a hoot, involving some very funny sex scenes, remember this is a master class in turning existential despair into comedy. Leave the young children at home." -Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "... The most original aspect of the play concerns on-line chat rooms and the contrast between sexual fantasies and attempts to follow them through in real life. Ryan gets good comic mileage out of on-line connected simulated sex and the subsequent connection of real people ... a good and touching closing scene, which ... contains sweet surprises." -Gordon Spencer, W R C T

Joan moves from the city to the country with her air traffic controller husband and their twelve-year-old daughter in search of peace and safety. Instead the move creates a growing sense of anxiety in Joan. When young girls begin to disappear, her anxieties are confirmed and the growing tension begins to tear apart the family. Interweaving fairytales with Joan's memories of her own sexual coming of age, DARK PART OF THE FOREST follows Joan back through her fears until she can emerge transformed. "Tammy Ryan should have called her new play 'The Dark Part of the Marriage' instead of the DARK PART OF THE FOREST ... in the play's potent debut ... Joan and Bill's faltering marriage is the main event. What's also intriguing about DARK PART OF THE FOREST is the abundance of fairy tale imagery ... Ryan has written no fairy tale, though. She can be grimmer than the Grimm brothers - but just as enigmatically entertaining." -Peter Filichia, The Star-Ledger "Hauntingly poetic language." -Anna Rosenstein, In Pittsburgh "... compact, poetic, turbulent writing ... a vivid appreciation of how dark the forest that surrounds us can be ... a topic this is both timely and eternal ..." -Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "There are few contemporary plays ... that leave audiences frozen in their seats ... the writing is eerily real ..." -Keren Schultz, The Westfield Leader

Susan is a career woman with a seemingly perfect life, complete with sensitive husband and a brand new bundle of joy on the way. Beginning at the moment a very pregnant Susan goes into labor, the play follows her journey as she becomes a new mother, with a frighteningly inexplicable newborn to care for. Employing both realistic and surrealistic elements, BABY'S BLUES explores one woman's descent into postpartum depression, but also brings into focus the difficult challenge of becoming a mother for the first time, as well as the fine line that sometimes exists between health and madness."BABY'S BLUES makes a strong impact through powerful dialogue ... It takes an emotional dilemma and winds it tighter and tighter and tighter to a wrenching peak, leaving us vibrating with the final impact ... BABY'S BLUES has undoubted immediacy." -Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette"Tammy Ryan's fiercely emotional and darkly disquieting play takes a frank and sympathetic look at one mother's descent into serious psychosis brought on by the birth of her first child. Ryan works overtime to keep the story real yet understandable. It's a tensely orchestrated hundred minute journey unrelieved by intermission, yet there are moments of humor and irony." -Alice T Carter, Tribune Review

"Tammy Ryan's poignant SOLIDER'S HEART shines a light on the struggles facing woman warriors...a tense, raw, troubling and no-nonsense examination of what happens to soldiers, particularly female soldiers, serving in the military...This is not an easy play to watch. Nor is it meant to be."Alice Carter, Tribune "Portrayls of soldiers wrecked by war date to the ancient Greeks (see Aeschylus), but Ms Ryan adeptly reworks the time-tested recipe from a woman's perspective to make it seem fresh again...Briskly written in brief scenes that easily flash back and forth...the subject of sexual assault in the military gives the play weight and merit. Ms. Ryan deftly layers critical incidents that culminate in a forceful climax...Frank, colloquial language delivers a strong sense of spontaneity."Michael Sommers, New York Times "Ryan brings a searing story to life about the high cost of war...Ryan's play could border on political [but] it's all about relationships: what you give up in times of war and how families are destroyed in the process...a disturbing, topical production, building on the terror and sacrifices that never-ending wars entail." Liz Keill, The Alternative Press "Ryan brings a heart-wrenching experience into alignment with the blisteringly traumatic aftershock of rape...It is a story worth telling." Simon Saltzman, Curtain Up "Tammy Ryan has written an intense drama that grabs you from the first scene and doesn't let go until the lights go down two hours later...a story with a strong dramatic arc...on an important subject with which we must deal decisively, now." Ruth Ross, NJ Arts Maven "...richly nuanced, three-dimensional characters and a neatly constructed, riveting story. Ryan has done her homework." Bob Rendell, Talkin' Broadway