PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Paul Brockman, Managing Director
paul.brockman@catastrophictheatre.com / 713.522.2723 x3
THE CATASTROPHIC THEATRE PRESENTS THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING)
(Houston, TX, November 12, 2015) – Thom Pain (based on nothing) by Will Eno wil run April 1st to April 24th, 2016 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. & Sundays at 5 p.m. Performances at 14 Pews, 800 Aurora Street.
All tickets Pay-What-You-Can and available at www.catastrophictheatre.com
Charles Isherwood in his review in The New York Times wrote: “"Is there such a thing as stand-up existentialism? If not, Will Eno has just invented it…It’s one of those treasured nights in the theater – treasured nights anywhere, for that matter – that can leave you both breathless with exhilaration and, depending on your sensitivity to meditations on the bleak and beautiful mysteries of human experience, in a puddle of tears. Also in stitches, here and there.”
About the Play
Something has happened to Thom Pain—something mysterious involving love and heartache and the end of childhood and electrocution and a swarm of bees. Will Eno’s surprising, intermittently hilarious, and ultimately devastating one-man show—a \inalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama—brings the audience face-to-face with one of the most original and compelling characters of the twenty-\irst-century American theatre. As David Cote of Timeout New York put it: “Will Eno… is one of the few writers who can convert discomfort and outright agony into such pleasure.” Much of the play’s fascinating power comes from the fact that the main character seems to both love and hate his audience. When asked about Thom Pain’s seemingly antagonistic relationship with being onstage, Eno answered: “[It] will only be possible for him to get offstage when he is done doing what he came to do. And that thing he came to do is a mystery. But, in a few words, it is to have proven his existence to himself, and to the world. To have stated ‘Here I was.’ And, ‘Here is what it felt like.’ And maybe, ‘Here is how we all are, and maybe should not be.’” Simultaneously acerbic and poetic, wounded and humane, Thom Pain is a truly unforgettable character.
About the Production
Catastrophic's production of Thom Pain (based on nothing) is being presented at 14 Pews (800 Aurora St.), a former church that has been converted into a film and performance space. Catastrophic artistic director Jason Nodler, assisted by Greg Dean, directs George Parker (Detroit, Paradise Hotel) in this singular theatrical experience. Lighting design is by Dustin Tannahill. This was the one that led The New York Times to call Eno “a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation.” Let your minds run wild with that notion for a while.
About the Playwright
Will Eno was a Pulitzer-prize \inalist in 2005 for his one-man play Thom Pain (based on nothing). He has been commissioned by the Royal National Theatre, is a Helen Merrill Playwriting Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, an Edward F. Albee Foundation Fellow, and was awarded the first-ever Marian Seldes/Garson Kanin Fellowship by the Theater Hall of Fame, as well as the Alfred Hodder Fellowship at Princeton. Will is now 50-years-old and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
The Catastrophic Theatre
3400 Main, Suite 285
Houston, TX 77002
Tel: (713) 522-2723
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Web: www.catastrophictheatre.com