The Tao of Lloyd: Workshop Performance

ABOUT THE SHOW:
Join Lloyd for a kinda-sorta guided meditation to survive late-stage everything.
Still refusing to buy, sell, or process anything, Lloyd Dobler (yes, that Lloyd—the boombox idealist from Say Anything) is now a middle-aged zen-punk dissident duct-taping ancient spiritual wisdom to the collapse of the American empire—with deep gratitude and zero credentials.

Part guided meditation, part comedy, part theatrical mixtape melting on the dashboard of American empire, The Tao of Lloyd blends storytelling, philosophy, cultural critique, and Gen X nostalgia into a funny, thoughtful, and occasionally absurd exploration of what it means to stay human in an age of American decline.

This work-in-progress presentation offers audiences a chance to experience the show during its development on the road to Edinburgh. The performance runs approximately 60 minutes.

Following the performance, guests are warmly invited to stay for a drink, conversation, and an informal discussion with Dennis and Guy about the piece, the creative process, and the journey from podcast to stage.

Why 'PAY WHAT YOU WILL'?
This event also serves as a fundraiser supporting the continued development of the production and its 2026 Edinburgh Fringe premiere. Tickets are offered on a pay-what-you-will basis. If you'd like to support the project at a higher level, your generosity is deeply appreciated. If money is tight, please do simply 'pay what you wil' and come anyway—we'd rather have you in the room.

Seating is limited to 55 guests. Advance reservation is strongly recomended.
Bios:
DENNIS TRAINOR JR. (Writer & Performer) is a writer, actor, and multi-media storyteller. As an actor, he has extensive acting credits in Boston and New York, including Loyd in Job and Henry Wilcox in the regional premiere of Mathew Lopez's The Inheritance at Speakeasy Stage in Boston. Other stage roles roles: Let The Right One In; The Merchant of Venice; Straight White Men; In the Next Room; The Goat, or Who is Sylvia; Picasso at the Lapin Agile; The Pain and the Itch; The Rainmaker; Waiting for Godot; The Winter’s Tale; Mac Wellman's Cellophane; and many more. As a playwright, his previous plays include Manifest Destiny's Child, Plug and I Coulda Been A Kennedy As a filmmaker, his on-the-ground documentary on the Occupy movement, American Autumn: an Occudoc garnered critical acclaim. He was the creator, host, and producer of two nationally syndicated T.V. programmes: Acronym T.V. and The Resistance Report. He was a founding co-Artistic Director of the New York-based Rude Mechanicals Theater Company. Dennis is on the Boston Conservatory at Berklee faculty, where he teaches acting in the B.F.A program. He holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater and is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild and Actors' Equity Association.
GUY MASTERSON (DIRECTOR & PRESENTER) is a UCLA & LAMDA trained actor, director, writer and theatre producer of 40 years. A 32-year veteran of the Edinburgh Fringe, where his company, Theatre Tours International, has presented over 150 predominantly new works and associated with several of its biggest hits since 1994 including 12 Angry Men(2003); One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (2004) with Christian Slater and The Odd Couple (2005) with Bill Bailey. He produced & directed the Olivier Award winning Morecambe (2009), The Shark Is Broken (2019) which transferred to the West End in 2021 and then Broadway in 2023. He also performed 11 solo works, most notably Under Milk Wood, Animal Farm, Shylock and A Christmas Carol in over 5000 performances globally since 1991. He received The Stage Best Actor Award at Ed Fringe 2001 for Fern Hill & Other Dylan Thomas and has received a further 4 nominations for his solo work. He has also directed many other award-winning solos including Justin Butcher’s Scaramouche Jones, Rebecca Vaughan’s Austen’s Women, Pip Utton’s Adolf and Peter Tate’s Picasso: Le Monstre Sacré all of which continue to tour after many years. He is married to Brigitta for 27 years, and father to Indigo and Tallulah.

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Host or Publisher Dennis Trainor Jr