Playwright Tammy Ryan lives in Shadyside with her husband and two daughters, where is she is a Dramatists Guild representative for the Pittsburgh region.

But her plays turn up in theaters across the country and around the world.

She’s had her work produced by companies that include Florida Stage, The Marin Theater Co. in California and Playwrights Theater of New Jersey. In November, her play “Lindsey’s Oyster,” which was commissioned by International Culture Lab, will be presented at “The Honour Games” Festival at Garagistanbul in Istanbul.

A 1990 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s master of fine arts playwriting program, her works for young audiences have twice won the National Playwriting for Youth Bonderman Award.

At the moment, her attention is focused on The REP, Point Park University’s professional theater company, which begins performances Friday of the Pittsburgh premiere of her play “Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods” at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in Oakland.

The action revolves around a chance encounter in the produce department of Whole Foods that leads to a relationship between a recently divorced woman and a young refuge from the civil war in Sudan.

The star who would play me in the movie version of my life and why:

Amy Madigan, because that’s who my husband says should play me, plus she’s married to Ed Harris, and maybe I’d get to meet him.

Childhood hero and why:

Capt. Raymond Hornek, whose name was on my P.O.W. bracelet.

The superpower I wish I had in real life and why:

I wish I could fly so I never have to get on a airplane again.

I can’t live without my: iPod, cell phone, DVR, or laptop?

I’d have to say laptop, although I prefer to write early drafts on a legal pad.

My favorite reality show:

Don’t watch them. Life offers more than enough “reality” for me.

App I wish I could invent:

An App that would tell me where I put my car keys.

Favorite guilty pleasure:

Chardonnay

Best mistake I’ve ever made:

Marrying an air-traffic controller

Pick one:

A. Pirates

B. Penguins

C. Steelers

D. Other

E. I hate sports

I really want to say E., but I don’t think you can say that in Pittsburgh, so I will say, “all of the above.”

Favorite lunchtime spot:

Make Your Mark Cafe on Reynolds Street in Point Breeze, great coffee and vegetarian paninis

Top thing on my “Bucket List” to do before I’m gone:

Visit my childhood friend in Australia

In five years, I’d like to:

Downsize

My favorite thing about Pittsburgh is:

The theater community, the three rivers (kayaking with Venture Outdoors), how kid friendly it is.

Star I’d like to dance with on “Dancing With the Stars”:

Ed Harris (see #1)

Three people I’d love to have dinner with:

Eleanor Roosevelt, Tennessee Williams, Emma Thompson … and Ed Harris

The role I haven’t yet played but hope to :

Grandma (but not for at least 10 years)

My quirkiest inherited trait:

The inability to remember the name of the daughter I am speaking to, and I only have two of them.

One word my mother would use to describe me:

Dramatic as in “Don’t be so … ”

Celebrity crush:

Ed Harris (see #1 and others above)

The oldest thing in my refrigerator is:

A bottle of capers

When I was 10, I wanted to be:

A spy for the CIA

Exercise I hate most:

Anything in a gym, I prefer to be outside

I’m deathly afraid of :

Getting stuck in an elevator

The best stage play or musical I’ve ever seen:

“Dancing at Lughnasa” by Brian Friel on Broadway

TV marathon I could watch all day and why:

“House” — because the writing is so good.

Favorite Pittsburgh-area landmark.

Phipps Conservatory

Best new gadget I’ve tried recently.

Don’t do gadgets. Especially if I have to read the instructions.

The worst advice I ever received:

“Don’t go back in the bar.” ( I didn’t listen. The air-traffic controller I married was in there)

In high school, I was:

Playing hookey

The most famous person I ever became friends with:

Mark Tierno, Pittsburgh actor and star of “The Mercury Men” series now on SyFy Channel

The movie that always makes me cry:

Too many to mention, including Hallmark card commercials.

If I wasn’t an actor/dancer/director/choreographer, I’d be:

A brain researcher

The last book I read:

“Year of The Ginkgo” by Sharon Dilworth — a fabulous book every East Ender (and Pittsburgher) should read.

My favorite Pittsburgh pizza:

Pizza Sola, although I wish they’d deliver.

Movie I could watch every time it appears on cable:

“Midnight Run” with Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin

My favorite website:

Facebook . I never realized I had so many friends.

If I could live my life as someone else, it would be:

My cat, Ziggy

My first job:

Herman’s World of Sporting Goods at the Queens Center Mall in Queens, N.Y.

My worst job:

Midnight shift waitress at Kosta’s Greek Restaurant in Buffalo.

My favorite cable channel :

The Weather Channel

Life would be better without:

Racism

If I could tour with any two bands, they would be:

Led Zeppelin and Ani de Franco

People would be surprised to know that I:

Didn’t learn how to drive until I was 32.

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