Five of Tim Joyce’s plays have been produced by theatres in Chicago and Arizona. Marry Arrchie Theatre in Chicago premiered his one act play “Six Great Conversations” in 1995 after its initial run at the Around The Coyote Festival. In 1998 Talisman Theatre presented the Equity World Premiere of “Tell Me About Ireland” a full length dramatic comedy set in his hometown of Buffalo New York. In 2002 the Tri-Arts Company produced “A Temporary World”, a comedic exploration of the lives of temporary workers. Canyon Moon Theatre of Sedona, Arizona premiered “Sad Songs and Happy Wars: To Be Irish” in 2002. “Sad Songs…” was a series of dramatic and comedic monologs interspaced with famous speeches from Irish playwrights that he developed along with actor Chris Gausselin. The Raven Theatre is currently featuring “Diner Tales” at its West Stage Theatre. Diner Tales is a pair of intertwining one-act plays set in the same Chicago Diner. This production has been designated as “Recommended” by the Joseph Jefferson Committee, (essentially the Tony Awards of Chicago) meaning it is in serious consideration for awards for excellence in production.

Synopsis for Diner Tales:

The Sunnyside Diner is home to eight varying and fascinating characters who work or dine there almost daily. The first one-act in “Diner Tales”, titled “Coffee On Wednesday”, is a slice of life look at two best friends, Pat and Steve, who’s entrance into middle age has left them both off kilter. Through a series of funny and poignant scenes we are taken through the sublime and ridiculous; from fears of death to arguments over baseball trivia. The second act of “Diner Tales” is the one-act “Without A Net”. Ilana, the beautiful waitress at the diner (and a world class high wire artist), has just experienced the greatest disappointment of her life and ultimately must decide whether she should balance her life 50 feet in the air or down on the floor of an all night restaurant.

Synopsis for A Temporary World:

Three Chicago roommate/actresses share their frustrations and joys in the tangled world of short term day jobs, from cheesy sexual harassment to cleaning toilets, through a series of humorous and not so humorous flashbacks. In the end one of them has a secret that might end all of their friendships for good.

Synopsis for Tell Me About Ireland:

There is a world where 11 people share one bathroom in a tiny house, and 106 year old nuns speak of the deceased as easily as they speak of the people in front of them. Sean Riordan lives in that world. He is a dreamer blessed with a loving family and great friends, but he never seems able to get his life going. His only true desire, to live in Ireland someday, may or may not ever happen. We find out where his life went as friends gather for his too early funeral. His friends Steve and Ken share his losses and triumphs over the course of 23 years along with Sean’s powerful and dignified sister Kate. Kate’s own dreams are deferred by the burdens of womanhood in an Irish American family.

Synopsis for Six Great Conversations:
(Play cover coming soon)

A man in his thirties realizes that his entire relationship with his deceased father can be best summed up by six conversations he had with him during crucial times of his life. Those conversations are lived out in dialog between father and son, leading to a moment of learning for the younger man.

Synopsis for Sad Songs and Happy Wars: To Be Irish:
(Play cover coming soon)

In a series of humorous monologues, the meaning of what it is to be an American of Irish descent is explored. Several famous monologues by Irish writers are interspersed with original new material by Tim Joyce, centering around a young man trying to get satisfaction and absolution in a confessional booth for accidentally wetting himself as a young altar boy many years earlier.