Thom Pain needs to find a human connection. “He’s sort of lost his tether in the world,” says Catastrophic Theatre Artistic Director Jason Nodler. Who’s he looking for? Anyone and everyone and so when Will Eno’s Thom Pain (based on nothing) begins, audience members should expect to be part of the entire enterprise.
“The audience becomes more present and more important than they are in any other play,” says Nodler. George Parker (Detroit, Paradise Hotel) plays the chronic sufferer, and although Nodler says the play covers dark and serious subjects like the existential dilemma during Thom’s rambling monologue, it is still “extraordinarily funny.” And there are bees.
Nodler has wanted to do this play for a long time, but decided to back off when Nova Arts Theater decided to do it about seven years ago. He’s directing along with assistant director Greg Dean. The one-act has a running time of about 75 minutes and will be presented at 14 Pews.
“The audience it’s meant to appeal to is human animals who have some experience with love and loss and wonder. It has quite a lot to do with the wonder of childhood. Thom at one point asks, ‘When did your childhood end?’ It’s very much about feelings, the happy ones and the sad ones.”
Performances are scheduled for April 1-24 at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays at 800 Aurora. For information, visit catastrophictheatre.com or call 713-522-2723. Pay what you can, $25 suggested.
This article appears in Mar 24-30, 2016.
