Tom Ryan Thinks He's James Mason January 22, 2011

The full title of this show is 'Tom Ryan Thinks He's James Mason Starring in a Movie By Nicholas Ray in which a Man's Illness Provides an Escape from the Pain, Pressure and Loneliness of Trying to be the Ultimate American Father, Only to Drive Him Further Into the More Thrilling Though Possibly Lonelier Roles of Addict and Misunderstood Visionary'. Inspired by mid-century Hollywood melodrama, specifically the films of Nicholas Ray and Douglas Sirk, this work re-imagines the genre to explore the pain, pressure and isolation of America's addiction to heroism. Through the intimate story of one man's struggle against society's conventional demands, it depicts a family and a nation coming apart at the seams -- a people that aspire to heroism only to become beastly.