The Tao of Lloyd is a solo performance set at the end of a weekend luxury ocean view meditation retreat, with the theme “Stillness as Strategy - Ancient Wisdom for Modern Collapse.” Our speaker, Lloyd Dobler — the teenage boombox romantic played by John Cusack in the 1989 film Say Anything —is now as a middle-aged Zen-punk dissident invited as last-minute replacement speaker. Despite having almost zero experience leading rooms like this one, Lloyd wants to help the audience embrace the corporate wellness speak of “changing themselves, and by doing so, changing the world.”

Except Lloyd wants to expedite that spiritual process and change the world today: “Right here, right now, in this hour, with this meditation that will be a spiritual Molotov cocktail to help us survive late-stage everything.”

The show combines political satire, Gen X cultural memory, Taoist philosophy, storytelling, and guided meditation.

No knowledge of Say Anything is required.

The production is intimate, direct, and highly portable: one performer, a minimal scenic footprint, handheld microphone, simple lighting, and Q-Lab audio playback. 

A full theatrical version can play black boxes, studio theatres, performing arts centers, and proscenium spaces. A compact configuration can adapt to galleries, community rooms, universities, private spaces, and other unconventional venues. 

Written and performed by Trainor, The Tao of Lloyd marks a new collaboration between Trainor and Olivier Award winning Director Guy Masterson, who previously worked together on Manifest Destiny’s Child. Trainor previously brought Manifest Destiny's Child to the 2023 Fringe, where the political solo work received four- and five-star reviews, including praise from The Scotsman, British Theatre Guide and UK Theatre Network, and more.

Selected Critical Response

The Herald (link 1 | link 2)
“One of the Top 35 Fringe Shows of 2026”
“Gives audiences plenty to laugh at, and even more to think about afterward.”
“Beneath the boombox nostalgia lies a thoughtful meditation on aging, purpose, disillusionment and the challenge of staying human in a noisy world.

The List
“The writing sings… full of phrases you want to chew over.”
“a tightly constructed hour of smart and sly humour aimed at end-stage capitalism”
“Trainor’s world-building is strong and this thoughtful, provocative monologue both informs and unsettles.”

The Scotsman
“Trainor is an elegant writer, capable of incisive, memorable lines.”
“Unafraid to sit inside contradiction… shifting between individual reckoning and collective possibility.”
“An earnest, ambitious, often moving production.” 

 Broadway Baby
“A fascinatingly different Fringe show… appealing to both the intellect and the soul.”

“Immaculately delivered with authority and sensitivity, and accompanied by a suitably simple Taoist set, lighting and sound, we are gently drawn into a world of questioning that might lead, little by little, to a new world order.”

“Funny and increasingly urgent.” 

Entertainment Now
“A clever, angry piece of theatre that asks uncomfortable questions.”
“Fresh, funny and ultimately rewarding.”
“Trainor’s impressive, well-judged performance… toggles between fury and hopelessness.” 

Theatre Muse UK
“Trainor is adept at bringing Dobler to life.”

One4Review
“Clever, funny and politically furious.”

“You don’t have to be a fan of John Cusack, or to have seen the film to love this show.” 

 Fringe Biscuit Magazine
“We’re reminded of Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle. Going full revolutionary manifesto, Trainor unloads a verbal torrent laced with fiery one-liners. But listen closely & you begin to realize Lloyd is excellent at rattling the ideological bars of his cage. Jailbreak is another story.”

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. Recent credits include Job, The Inheritance (2023 Elliot Norton winner for Outstanding Ensemble and Outstanding Production) and In the Next Room (Mr. Daldry) all at Speakeasy Stage. For Actors’ Shakespeare Project: How I Learned To Drive (2024 Elliot Norton nominee- Outstanding Lead Actor), Macbeth, Let The Right One In, and The Merchant of Venice. For Shakespeare and Company: Comedy of Errors and Taming of the Shrew. Additional appearances at New Rep, Gloucester Stage, Company One, Lyric Stage, Soho Rep, The Flea, The Kraine, and others. His solo show, The Tao of Lloyd, is based on the podcast of the same name. Other credits as a playwright 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. programs: 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 (Original Direction) 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.

Short Description
For the politically furious and spiritually curious. At an upscale meditation retreat in Trump’s America, Lloyd Dobler — the teenage boombox romantic played by John Cusack in the 1989 film Say Anything — returns as a middle-aged Zen-punk anti-guru, leading a meditation designed as a spiritual Molotov cocktail for surviving late-stage everything. A dark comedy that pits ancient spiritual wisdom against modern collapse.

One-Sentence Version
A funny, politically furious and spiritually curious solo performance about aging idealism, commodified dissent, and the search for meaningful action in late-stage everything.

Audience / Programming Fit

No prior knowledge of Say Anything is required. Multiple reviewers specifically noted that the show works for audiences unfamiliar with the film. The production may appeal particularly to audiences interested in:

• Political theatre

• Satire

• Spirituality and philosophy

• American politics and culture

• Social change and civic engagement

• Gen-X culture

Engagement Opportunities
Optional engagements include post-show discussions, artist talks, and university/community conversations around political theatre, activism, spirituality, and the making of solo performance.

The Tao of Lloyd asks what becomes of youthful idealism when outrage becomes routine, dissent becomes content, spirituality becomes branding, and political language is absorbed by the very institutions it once opposed.