Thom Pain (based on nothing)

“Astonishing in its impact. . . . One of the treasured nights in the theatre 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 . . . Thom Pain is at bottom a surreal meditation on the empty promises life makes, the way experience never lives up to the weird and awesome fact of being. But it is also, in its odd, bewitching beauty, an affirmation of life’s worth.”—Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

“Eno has emerged as one of the most original young playwrights on the scene. He is one of the few writers who can convert discomfort and outright agony into such pleasure.”—David Cote, TimeOut New York

“Will Eno is one of the finest younger playwrights I’ve come across in a number of years. His work is inventive, disciplined and, at the same time, wild and evocative.”—Edward Albee

When Will Eno’s one-person play Thom Pain opened in New York in February 2005, it became something rare—an unqualified hit, which soon extended through July. Before that, the play was a critical success in London and received the coveted Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival. Dubbed “stand-up existentialism” by The New York Times, it is lyrical and deadpan, both sardonic and sincere. It is Thom Pain—in the camouflage of the common man—fumbling with his heart, squinting into the light.

Will Eno lives in Brooklyn, New York. His plays include The Flu Season, Tragedy: a tragedy, King: a problem play, and Intermission. His plays have been produced in London by the Gate Theatre and BBC Radio, and in the United States by Rude Mechanicals and Naked Angels. His play The Flu Season recently won the Oppenheimer Award, presented by NY Newsday for the previous year’s best debut production in New York by an American playwright.

"Will Eno is a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart Generation."--The New York Times

London Daily Telegraph

It's hard to imagine more dazzling writing on any stage...Eno is light, rhythmic and meticulous.

Will Eno's play Thom Pain (based on nothing) won the First Fringe Award with its Edinbugh Festival premiere, and had acclaimed productions in London and New York. His plays have been produced in London at the Gate Theatre, Soho Theatre Company, BBC Radio; in New York by Rude Mechanicals, NY Power Company, Naked Angels.