Tings Dey Happen, Written and Performed by Dan Hoyle November 12, 2008

Tings Dey Happen
Written and performed by Dan Hoyle
Developed with and directed by Charlie Varon
Wednesday, November 12 8:00pm
$20.00 General Admission
Buy tickets at TicketWeb or by calling 415.383.9600

“...a smart, engrossing, funny, challenging and moving look at the too-neglected story of Nigeria's bloody oil politics... an aptly complex, hard-hitting piece that paints memorably
touching and entertaining figures."
-Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle

Author’s Note
This play is a distillation of the Niger Delta as I experienced it. Many of the characters are composites, the monologues a blend of many people’s words and my own writing.
For some of you, the language will be challenging, but if you don’t catch every word, don’t worry. Try “blurring” your ears and see if your eyes can read the physical text. Charlie and I have made every effort to make sure you understand everything necessary. But we also wanted to recreate Nigeria as faithfully as possible, and so in creating the show, we pushed towards authenticity and nuance over familiarity and comfort. I hope tonight you will come to Nigeria with me and see the people and conflicts of the Niger Delta not through the ideological or conceptual lenses we are familiar with from our newspapers, but through the eyes of those who live and work there. This was the challenge I made to myself while I lived in Nigeria for ten months, and so I invite you to join me in that quest tonight.
Events continue to unfold in Nigeria. Of the people I got to know there, one has died, one has been jailed for two years and then released, some have been kidnapped, others have helped with the kidnappings. For tonight, I honor them all with this play, and hope their stories stay with you after you leave the theater, as they continue to haunt and delight me. --Dan Hoyle

Dan Hoyle is an actor and writer based in San Francisco. His first solo show Circumnavigator, directed by Charlie Varon, ran for three months at The Marsh in Fall 2004 before touring colleges
throughout the country. His second solo show, Florida 2004: The Big Bummer, had a sold-out run in Winter 2005 before he had to leave for Nigeria. While in Nigeria on a Fulbright scholarship, Dan performed at the U.S. Embassy and at the University of Port Harcourt’s theater,
The Crab. He has served as an artist-in-residence for San Francisco’s School of the Arts High School, and has been commissioned by the San Francisco Mime Troupe and the Aurora Theatre Company. In 2003 he graduated from Northwestern
University with a double degree in Performance Studies and History. His essays have been featured in The San Francisco Chronicle and on
SportsIllustrated.com and Alternet.org. He has also performed with his father, actor and comedian Geoff Hoyle.

Official Website: http://www.142throckmortontheatre.org