The Wake

by Tammy Ryan

In life, Colleen was a force of nature. Six months after her death from cancer, her sisters Maggie and Rosemary rent a beach house in Florida to scatter her ashes, only to find themselves and their respective partners trapped in much more literal storm. The Wake explores grief, family, and the nature of America’s shifting cultural and environmental climates, leaving the sisters to battle storms outside and in.

In life, Colleen was a force of nature. Six months after her death from cancer, her sisters Maggie and Rosemary rent a beach house in Florida to scatter her ashes, only to find themselves and their respective partners trapped in much more literal storm. The Wake explores grief, family, and the nature of America’s shifting cultural and environmental climates, leaving the sisters to battle storms outside and in.

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The Wake

Recommended by

  • Alec Silberblatt: The Wake

    Loved seeing this on Zoom early in the pandemic as part of Pittsburgh Public Theater's PlayTime Series. A great play for actors, great dialogue, moving and funny.

    Loved seeing this on Zoom early in the pandemic as part of Pittsburgh Public Theater's PlayTime Series. A great play for actors, great dialogue, moving and funny.

  • Connie Schindewolf: The Wake

    When sisters reunite to honor their dead sister, Colleen, deep-seated resentments and guilt surface from these wonderfully created, uniquely human characters. Colleen manifests into a hurricane which physically and emotionally shakes the characters to theirs cores, forcing them to closely examine their lives, their relationships, and their losses. Ryan beautifully, and almost magically, inserts Florida wildlife into this struggle, and connects humanity to the earth.

    When sisters reunite to honor their dead sister, Colleen, deep-seated resentments and guilt surface from these wonderfully created, uniquely human characters. Colleen manifests into a hurricane which physically and emotionally shakes the characters to theirs cores, forcing them to closely examine their lives, their relationships, and their losses. Ryan beautifully, and almost magically, inserts Florida wildlife into this struggle, and connects humanity to the earth.

  • Donna Hoke: The Wake

    There's so much to love about a Tammy Ryan play, the theatricality, the sharp injections of humor, the use of physicality, surprise, sight, and sound. But what I love most of all is the way they sneak up on you: you're just listening to casual conversation, but there's an edge to it, but you're sucked in, lulled, and then all hell breaks loose. The Wake excels at all of this.

    There's so much to love about a Tammy Ryan play, the theatricality, the sharp injections of humor, the use of physicality, surprise, sight, and sound. But what I love most of all is the way they sneak up on you: you're just listening to casual conversation, but there's an edge to it, but you're sucked in, lulled, and then all hell breaks loose. The Wake excels at all of this.

View all 10 recommendations

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization Pittsburgh Public Theater PlayTime LIVE, Year 2023
  • Type Reading, Organization The Road Theater Summer Play Festival 13, Year 2022
  • Type Reading, Organization City Theatre Company, Momentum , Year 2019
  • Type Reading, Organization Premiere Stages Playwriting Festival, Year 2019
  • Type Reading, Organization Playfest Orlando Shakes, Year 2019
  • Type Reading, Organization Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Ignite Festival, Year 2018
  • Type Reading, Organization Theatre Lab in residence at Florida Atlantic University, Year 2017

Awards

  • Premiere Stages Playwriting Festival
    Premiere Stages at Kean University
    Winner
    2019