Tammy Ryan at the American Folk Art Museum

From Artifact to Inspiration

Local Historical Societies and the Making of Seven Cousins for a Horse

Playwright Tammy Ryan is no stranger to commissions. Her wide-ranging work has been commissioned, developed, and performed at regional theaters across the United States and around the world. While many of her plays, such as Molly’s Hammer, The Music Lesson, Tar Beach, and Pig, could be called period pieces, her recent commission from Thrown Stone challenged her to unearth a much older story — one of a little-known self-taught painter born in 1788: Ammi Phillips. Ryan embarked on a fascinating journey into the past, weaving together the emotionally compelling story of the folk artist now acknowledged as the most prolific in American History.

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Tammy Ryan and the surviving Kinney portraits by Ammi Phillips

Five Questions with Playwright Tammy Ryan

Tammy Ryan, the author of Seven Cousins for a Horse, is a renowned playwright who has had her works performed at various theaters both within the US and internationally. We chose Tammy because of her distinctive ability to portray vast moral and social ideas through the lens of family in plays like Molly’s Hammer, The Music Lesson, Tar Beach, and Take My Hand and Wave Goodbye. In this interview, Tammy shares a few thoughts on her writing process and experience as a playwright. 

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The Cast of the world premiere of "Seven Cousins for a Horse" by Tammy Ryan

Announcing the Cast of ‘Seven Cousins for a Horse’

Thrown Stone is delighted to announce the cast of the world premiere of Seven Cousins for a Horse by Tammy Ryan. We are particularly excited that this will be a homecoming for six, and a Thrown Stone début for one. Please join us in welcoming back Shannon Helene Barnes (Athena, Hysterical!), Emma Factor (The Arsonists), Will Jeffries (The Suburbs), Aidan Meachem (Milk), Jason Peck (Where All Good Rabbits Go), and Bridget Ann White (The Suburbs). We are also pleased to introduce you to Emmanuelle Nadeau, who will play Sarah Kinney. 

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‘Seven Cousins’ Workshopped at New Dramatists

This week, New Dramatists facilitated a workshop of Tammy Ryan’s Seven Cousins for a Horse, commissioned by Thrown Stone Theatre Company with the support of the Daniel E. Offutt, III Charitable Trust. The workshop, supported by the Jerry A. Tishman Playwrights Creativity Fund and the Venturous Theater Fund, was instrumental to the development of the new play, which will receive its world premiere with Thrown Stone in Ridgefield this July. Read more

Thrown Stone Awarded NEA Grant for ‘Invitation to the Conversation’

Thrown Stone is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the launch of its Invitation to the Conversation program. The program aims to make the full experience of attending a performance financially accessible to lower-income families in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and to create a more inclusive theatrical culture. Read more