CAUGHT DREAMING: A FEATURED EVENT AT THE 2017 NYSUMMERFEST

“Loneliness is its own kind of madness,” quotes playwright Ryan Dancho.

When Brady’s shrink recommends he join group therapy to aid in a diagnosis of depression that just won’t quit, he’s thrown into the lives of social misfits and mental defectives who meet just as often outside therapy as in. Why take the pills when you just talk about it?

Ryan Dancho’s riveting new drama, Caught Dreaming features a group of individuals set in a world of ordinary madness: Judah, the ringleader and man on the mend, who’s just as much manic as he is schizophrenic. His girl, Elle, whose bipolar disorder is a source of creativity for her art. Angelo, the gay lech, who prefers the term manic-depressive because it’s more descriptive. Brady, the newcomer, navigating the waters of his millennial ennui with the help of some newly acquired friends. And Doctor Weir, the psychiatrist trying to reign them all in.

Crazies rejoice! You can find family in strangers if you just talk about it.

Caught Dreaming is a featured event at NY Summerfest, one of the largest festivals in New York.

Caught Dreaming @ NYSummerfest!

The Hudson Guild Theater, 459 West 29th St., New York City
Thursday July 27 at 9pm; Saturday July 29 at 1pm; Sunday July 30 at 6pm

We had a chance – before things get really crazy – pardon the pun – to speak with the author himself.

So your concept is [intense. You deal in a powerful subject. Where do you get your inspiration? 

Inspiration is a funny thing. It comes and it goes. When you have it you feel like you’ve caught a bolt lightning. The other 90% of time is the grueling stuff of finding your voice and your characters voices. Sometimes 6 cups of coffee is the closest thing you get to inspiration.

But to answer your question, my fractured characters inspire me and each has its own little voice in my head.  ‘Caught Dreaming’ deals with a bunch of crazies in group therapy and the inspiration for that comes out of personal experience. I have a mental illness, schizoaffective disorder, and while the play isn’t autobiographical, it is deeply drawn from my experiences with the disease.

I can guess the answer but, why independent theater?

Ryan: I think independent theater is a necessary and driving force in the theater community. It affords people like me with big ideas but not necessarily a big audience to have our voices heard.