The Tin Woman is a comedic drama by Sean Grennan. It was first produced in 2014 by Peninsula Players in Fish Creek, WI. Based on a true story, The Tin Woman follows the struggles of Joy, a heart transplant recipient, as well as the struggles of the family of the organ donor whose heart she received.
Cast:
- Joy - a heart transplant recipient
- Jack - the organ donor whose heart Joy received
- Hank - Jack's father
- Alice - Jack's mother
- Sammy - Jack's sister
- Nurse - a nurse at the transplant hospital
- Darla - Joy's friend
This dramedy contains examples of:
- Based on a True Story: The author's sister gave him a newspaper clipping and told him to write the story.
- Connected All Along: Sammy discovers a photo of Joy still in the memory card of Jack's camera.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Hank uses alcohol in response to his grief.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The journey isn't easy for Joy or for Jack's family.
- Flashback: Jack speaks only during these flashback scenes.
- The Glomp: Sammy's response upon meeting Joy.
- Hates Being Touched: Joy does not like being touched.
- Hippie Teacher: Sammy is a preschool teacher whose New Age beliefs annoy her father.
- I Can't Hear You: In the second act, Sammy has difficulty hearing because she went swimming earlier and still has water in her ears.
- Mess of Woe: Joy falls into this after returning home from the hospital.
- Offscreen Breakup: Sometime after we see Joy leave the hospital, she breaks up with the boyfriend who stayed with her during her pre-transplant illness.
- Parental Abandonment: Joy's revealed that her parents abandoned her when she was a child.
- Stink Snub: Darla tells Joy that she really needs a shower when she discovers her in her Mess of Woe.
- Survivor Guilt: Joy struggles with the fact that she is alive only because someone died, enabling her to receive a heart transplant.
- The Teetotaler: Joy isn't allowed to drink because of the post-transplant medication regime that she is on.
- Used to Be More Social: Joy cuts herself off from everyone but Darla.
- Visible Invisibility: Jack is visible to the audience, but none of the other characters see or interact with him except in flashback scenes.
