The One Man Show

In honor of National Cancer Survivors Day (June 7), Cancer NOT My Friend, in partnership with Remedy Edge New York, announced the release of The One Man Show, a performance-led short film that confronts the painful but rarely discussed experience of friends, loved ones, and support systems fading away during and after a cancer diagnosis. Also known as “cancer ghosting.”
Performed by professional stage actor and cancer survivor J Dixon Byrne, The One Man Show unfolds as a stark theatrical performance built around a single actor and four roles: a cancer survivor one year into remission, and three people who gradually disappeared from his life following diagnosis.
The film gives physical form to an absence many survivors know intimately. While remission is often framed as the end of the cancer story, life after treatment can bring its own emotional aftershocks in the form of strained relationships, unanswered messages, awkward silence, and the loneliness of being expected to move on before feeling whole again.
“Cancer ghosting is not always dramatic. It can be simply unanswered texts, canceled plans, or people who don’t know what to say, so they say nothing,” said Kenley Diaz, EVP, Creative Director, Remedy Edge New York. “With The One Man Show, we wanted to make that absence visible and remind people that support does not have to be perfect to matter. It just has to continue.”
By having Byrne play both the person left behind and the people who vanished, the film turns ghosting into something viewers can no longer ignore. Each character reveals a different version of withdrawal: discomfort, fear, avoidance, helplessness, and the quiet rationalizations that can leave survivors carrying even more alone.
The One Man Show demonstrates that cancer patients and survivors don't need grand gestures. It's a call for ordinary, sustained presence. The texts, calls, visits, invitations, and check-ins that remind people facing cancer that they have not been forgotten.
The One Man Show is now available at theonemanshow.org.