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2008 NEW WORKS READING SERIES
As part of our mission statement, The Irish Repertory Theatre "encourages the development of new works focusing on the Irish and Irish American experience, as well as a range of other cultures."
Coming Up Next . . .
Friday, May 23 2008 @ 3 PM
HORSE LATITUDES by Hilary Fannin
In HORSE LATITUDES, Jude and his wife Ann are celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary over dinner with Jude's parents. The fault lines in their marriage gently shudder over the first course; by dessert, the scotch isn't the only thing on the rocks. A black comedy, HORSE LATITUDES explores, over two generations of an offbeat Irish family, just how tricky those simple little words 'I do' can turn out to be.
Hilary Fannin (playwright): In the 1980s, Hilary was founder-member, director, writer and actor with Wet Paint Arts, a theatre company committed to performing innovative new work for young people culminating in THE LAMENT FOR ARTHUR CLEARY by Dermot Bolger, which won an Edinburgh Fringe First and played at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin and the Riverside, London. Actor in Irish theatre and television. Work included new plays by Tom MacIntyre, Michael Harding and Dermot Bolger.
In 1997, Hilary wrote her first stage play, MACKEREL SKY, which was performed at the Bush Theatre, London. MACKEREL SKY was subsequently produced by Red Kettle, Waterford, and, in a German translation, at the Schauspiel, Bonn. Her second stage play, SLEEPING AROUND, was a collaboration with Stephen Greenhorn, Abi Morgan and Mark Ravenhill, premiered at the Donmar Warehouse, London, and has been performed in translation all over Europe and in South America. From 1998-2001: Writing or BBC Radio Four, TIME IT WAS, RED FEATHERS, DROP ZONE. Adapted the novel “Dear Exile” for Woman’s Hour. In 2002-04: Commissioned by the Abbey to write DOLDRUM BAY, which premiered at the Peacock in May 2003 and was subsequently chosen by CEAD (Centre des Auteurs Dramatiques) to be translated into Quebecois. DOLDRUM BAY was produced at La Licorne, Montreal’s premier new writing theatre. Wrote RED BALL a play for young actors for The Abbey Theatre Outreach and education department.
Radio play TIME IT WAS broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and RTE wins Stuart Parker Radio Drama Award. DOLDRUM BAY translated and produced in Germany. 2005 - 2006 Anglo Irish Bank Writer in Association at The Abbey Theatre. 2005-2007 Wrote final play in planned trilogy; HORSE LATITUDES. 2005-2008: Weekly column for The Irish Times. And occasional features and theatre reviews. Hilary lives in Dublin with her husband Irish Times journalist Giles Newington and their two sons Peter and Jacob.
Upcoming 2008 Reading . . .
June - No Reading
July - No Reading
August - No Reading
Friday, September 26 2008 @ 3 PM
Friday, October 24 2008 @ 3 PM
Friday, November 21 2008 @ 3 PM
Friday, December 5 2008 @ 3 PM
* * * All events are FREE to the public! * * *
RSVP to (212) 727-2737
The 2007/8 New Works Reading Series is underwritten in part by
Patricia Smith and the members of our Patron Circle.
Author and play titles are announced at least one month before
the scheduled reading. Please check back for additional information.
Title and cast is subject to change without advance notice.
All readings are at 3 PM, unless otherwise noted and are held at
The Irish Repertory Theatre
132 West 22nd Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues)
New York City
Our 2008 Readings . . .
Friday, April 25 2008 @ 3 PM
THE ELECTRIC CENTURY by Andrew Case
THE ELECTRIC CENTURY is an historical fantasy set in Gilded Age New York. The play imagines that Thomas Edison, on the verge of a breakthrough discovery, met Belle da Costa Greene, the curator of JP Morgan's Library. Set in a New York where the Bowery B'Hoys rule the five points and Henry Clay Frick rules uptown, the play follows Tom and Belle as they struggle to leave their mark on the century to come-- Tom through his inventions, Belle through the paintings that she chooses to hang on the walls of the Morgan library. As the two grow ever closer entwined, and Tom learns some of Belle's deepest secrets, he finds she may have been the better inventor after all, because she had invented not just a trinket but herself.
ANDREW CASE (Playwright): Plays include THE RANT, which will be produced in 2008-9 at InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia and the New Theatre in Miami; PACIFIC, produced at Steppenwolf Theatre; and a number of plays read and developed at Primary Stages through their New American Writers Group, including THE CAD, BULLHEAD CITY and IN LOCO PARENTIS. Other work has been produced at the 24-Hour plays at the Atlantic Theatre, Prospect Theater Company, the Salon for the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, and the New York International Fringe Festival. His plays have been developed at New Dramatists, the Atlantic Theatre, the Fifth Night Series at Nuyorican Poets Café, the 78th Street Theatre Lab, 29th Street Rep, and ASK Theatre Projects. Andrew has received a playwriting fellowship from the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Samuel Goldwyn screenwriting award. In addition to the Primary Stages New American Writers Group, he is a member of the Lark Theatre Play Development Center, and the PEN America Center. In January 2006 his parody blog "The Right Honorable Samuel A. Alito, Jr.," was featured on CNN and newspapers across the country. He once wrote a few limericks for NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me."
Friday, March 28 2008 @ 3 PM
FOR NINA
by Robert Emmet Lunney
Nina Dalton is a forty-something stage-actress/movie-star performing in a new play written by her celebrated novelist husband Brian Bartov.
Brian, in his early seventies, fights a dual battle against early stage Alzheimer's Disease and the temptation to rewrite Nina's part for a younger woman in the film version of his play. Their world is shaken by the surprise return of Gar Jackson who after thirty years away has finally completed a play of staggering beauty written especially for Nina. For Nina is inspired by Anton Chekhov's The Seagull.
FOR NINA will be read by Lisa Emery* (The Maddening Truth, Abigail's Party), Peter Friedman* (The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, Twelve Angry Men), Steven Goldstein* (The Voysey Inheritance, Romance), Louisa Krause* (Iphigenia 2.0, In A Dark Dark House), Larry Pine* (Secret Order, Stuff Happens), and Jennifer Van Dyck* (Orson's Shadow, Hedda Gabler).
Robert Emmet Lunney is a writer/actor/director living in New York City. He is co-founder of The Barker Project, a loose affiliation of theatre artists inspired by the early works of contemporary British playwright Howard Barker, and founded on the principle that argument and entertainment need not be mutually exclusive. His first play, FOR NINA, was a semi-finalist for the 2007 O'Neill Playwrights Conference and a finalist for the Abingdon Theatre's Christopher Brian Wolk Award. An early version of his, PATRIOT ACT (AN OCCURRENCE AT YANKEE
STADIUM) was recorded as part of Coyote Rep's Sound-Play series and is available as a pod-cast through their website. He is currently working on three new plays: TWO WOMEN, FBR, and 22 QUESTIONS. His screenplay, WHEN YOU WAKE -- a touching father/son story of love and loss, easily confused for a demonic thriller -- is just sitting around hoping someone makes it into a major motion picture. As an actor, he has appeared on Broadway in MAURITIUS, DEUCE, THE GRADUATE, A DOLL'S HOUSE, DANCING AT LUGHNASA, THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE, and THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA; Off-Broadway in GRACE, THE BREADWINNER, THE DYING GAUL, TWO SMALL BODIES, CHOPIN IN SPACE; and in Regional theatre (Long Wharf, McCarter, Seattle Rep). Recent film work includes IMAGINARY HEROES, FLYING SCISSORS (2008), and JULIE & JULIA (2009). Robert has had major roles on LAW & ORDER, and was a regular on the short-lived CBS series FEDS.
*Courtesy of AEA.
Friday, February 22 @ 3:00 PM
MONGED by Gary Duggan
A darkly comic play that takes place over the course of a weekend in Dublin as three lads in their early twenties struggle to find their identities and chase down their dreams through a self-inflicted drug-muddled haze.
GARY DUGGAN (Playwright): Gary won the Stewart Parker Trust Award for his first full-length play, MONGED. Produced by Fishamble Theatre Company and directed by Jim Culleton, MONGED was first staged at Project Arts Centre, Dublin in 2005. A revival of the show took place in October 2006 at several Dublin venues before transferring to the UK in November as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival. MONGED has also been translated into Romanian as part of the 2006 Sibiu International Theatre Festival. A full production of the translated version was successfully produced in Bucharest in 2007. MONGED had its first major UK production in November 2007 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry.
Gary's second play DEDALUS LOUNGE premiered at the Samuel Beckett Theatre as part of the 2006 Dublin Fringe Festival. Devised in collaboration with Pageant Wagon Theatre Company, the show was directed by Alan Kinsella and toured twice in 2006 and 2007. A further revival of the show proved to be a great success for the Mill Theatre, Dundrum in January 2008. A Romanian translation is currently being developed by Bucharest based playwright/director Veronica Ion and is due to be produced in Romania in 2008. Both MONGED and DEDALUS LOUNGE had public readings in New York by Origin Theatre Company and The Irish Repertory Theatre in May 2007. This reading of MONGED was arranged with the cooperation of Fishamble Theatre Company and Origin Theatre Company.
MONGED will be read by Gideon Glick* (SPEECH AND DEBATE, SPRING AWAKENING), Austin Lysy* (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, ALL THAT I WILL EVER BE), and James McMenamin* (BUTLEY, BFE)
Friday, January 25 @ 3:00 PM
DUCK by Stella Feehily
In DUCK, Cat and Sophie are teenagers on the brink, growing up in the face of everything a city can throw at them. But girls just wanna have fun. And you can't learn to be good when your elders are no longer your betters. Somehow, the girls must cope- or find a way of escaping.
STELLA FEEHILY (playwright). Stella is an actress and writer. Her performing work includes A CHRISTMAS CAROL (the Gate Theatre), MACBETH (the Tivoli Theatre), TEN (the Project Arts Centre), LETTERS TO FELICE (the Pavilion Theatre) and IPHIGENIA AT AULIS (the Abbey Theatre). Her short play GAME was commissioned by Out Of Joint and Fishamble Theatre Company and premiered at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin. DUCK, Stella's first full length play premiered in an Out Of Joint and Royal Court co-production at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, July 2003, before playing at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh and the Royal Court Theatre, London. Stella's second full-length play O GO MY MAN was produced by the Royal Court Theatre in January, 2006. CATCH (written with four other female playwrights) opened at the Royal Court in December 2006. Stella recently assisted Max Stafford-Clark on THE OVERWHELMING by JT Rogers at the Laura Pels Theatre in New York. She recently completed a television pilot for Lime Pictures is currently under commission to the Royal Court Theatre, Soho Theatre and the Manhattan Theatre Club.
The play was first produced by Out of Joint and The Royal Court Theatre under the direction of Max-Stafford Clark.
DUCK will be read by Aya Cash* (FROM UP HERE, THE PAIN AND THE ITCH), Orlagh Cassidy* (THE FIELD, BRIGHT IDEAS), Jarlath Conroy* (THE HOMECOMING, PIGTOWN), Mattie Hawkinson* (THIRD, A BOSTON MARRIAGE), Sean Fredricks* (ALL MY SONS, BALM IN GILEAD) and David C. Wells* (THE COAST OF UTOPIA, THE RIVALS)
* courtesy of AEA
Our 2007 Readings . . .
Friday, January 26 @ 3 PM.
THE MOTH-HOUR by Jacqueline McCarrick.
Michael McDaid lives at home and works in the family grocery store in County Monaghan with his irascible, controlling, sleepwalking mother. Michael is trapped, unlike the gentle family of foxes he observes in his free time. But when his old flame makes a surprising return to town, old wounds and hurts might arise . but changes are very much needed in the McDaid household.
Jacqueline McCarrick is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. Her plays THE MUSHROOM PICKERS and THE MOTH-HOUR have had staged readings at the Old Vic. THE MUSHROOM PICKERS won the 2005 Scottish Drama Association's National Playwriting Competition, and premiered at the Southwark Playhouse in London (starring Catherine Cusack and Michael Culkin) in May 2006. (The production did very well, receiving a four-star review in the Evening Standard.) THE MOTH-HOUR was long-listed for the 2006 Bruntwood Prize and short-listed for the Sphinx Theatre Playwriting Award - and received a reading at the Soho Theatre in November 2006 (with Catherine Cusack and Niall Buggy). A reading of her third play, THE STAG OF DOOHAMLET, will tour the border regions of Ireland in spring 2007. She has published poetry and short stories, more recently in the Irish literary journals Poetry Ireland Review and Cyphers. She has written reviews for the Times Literary Supplement and has been published in the Trinity College anthology, Lemon Soap. THE MOTH-HOUR is her second play, and is part of a trilogy of plays set on the Irish border.
With Tim Deenihan* (Bookside, Batman Begins, Susan & God), Marylouise Burke* (Into the Woods, Kimberly Akimbo), Jarlath Conroy* (Faith Healer, A Man of No Importance), Katie Firth* (Law & Order, Humble Boy, Picnic), Pippa Pearthree* (The History Boys, Frozen) and Gordana Rashovich* (Conversations with my Father, A Shayna Maidel)
* courtesy of AEA
Friday, February 23 @ 3 PM
THE REST OF YOUR LIFE by Megan Mostyn-Brown
Dizzy ditches NYC for her small hometown to figure out the mess that is her life. A freak snowstorm, her best friend's crumbling marriage, the genius kid she baby-sits and the stockboy at the local market make things more complicated. It seems everyone is on the edge of something but no one knows what to do next.
Megan Mostyn-Brown (Playwright). Plays include: GIRL, THE SECRET LIVES OF LOSERS, 4th OF JULY, GOING AFTER ALICE, THE HAWK HAS NO HOME, LIZARDS and THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Her plays have been read and performed at: The Actor's Theater of Louisville, The Women's Project, LAByrinth Theater Company, University of Missouri Kansas City at Union Station, The 52nd Street Project, The Guthrie Theater, The Public Theater, The Warehouse Theater, Barrington Stage Company, The NYC International Fringe Festival, The Tribeca Theater Festival, Bennington College, Carlton College and The HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, CO. Megan was a mentee in the 2005-06 Cherry Lane Mentor Project (mentor: Theresa Rebeck). She won an honorable mention in the 2004 Herrick Theater Foundation New Play Competition. Megan is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company and The Women's Project Playwrights LAB. She has been a guest playwright at New River Dramatists, the Electric Pear Theater Company, The Royal Court Theatre and the 24/7 Lab. Megan is a graduate of Northwestern University.
With Michelle Federer* (Anon, Wicked), Meg Gibson* (From Above, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan), Austin Lysy* (All That I Will Ever Be, The Water's Edge), Addison Timlin* (Gypsy, Annie), Malcolm Morano* (Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), Susan Louise O'Connor* (The Silent Concerto, Never Swim Alone) and Laurence Lowry (The Field, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me).
*courtesy of AEA
Friday, March 30 @ 3 PM
MY WIFE by Conor McDermottroe
MY WIFE begins simply as a strange man lingers over a cup of coffee in a cafe at closing time, but the three part drama takes tricky twists into darkness and a dodgy turn of events. A tough, unflinching consideration of prison life, personal deception and modern day morality.
Conor McDermottroe (Playwright): Conor has worked in a variety of theatre, film and television roles. He started at the Irish Theatre Company as an ASM, then worked at The Abbey, The Gate and The Royal National Theatre as an actor. He spent ten years in Australia, appearing in award-winning TV and film productions. On his return to Ireland he worked with the Druid Theatre Company and returned to The Abbey Theatre Dublin for three years. His many TV and film roles include Pure Mule,The Matchmaker and Intermission. Conor's own plays include Dawnhurst, My Wife and the one-act Swansong which was produced at the Irish Repertory Theatre in 2006. His short films A Woman's Hair and 20 or 22 have been shown at film festivals in Cardiff, Brisbane, Cork and Venice and Belfast. Another short film, Squaddie, aired on RTE in 2005.
With Salvatore Inzerillo* (DUTCH HEART OF MAN, JESUS HOPPED THE A
TRAIN), Tim Ruddy* (THE FIELD, PHILADELPHIA HERE I COME), Meredith
Zinner* (JUMP!,SORE THROATS) and Waleed Zuaiter* (THE AMERICAN PILOT,
STUFF HAPPENS).
Friday, April 27 @ 3 PM
IF YOU IMAGINE IT SO by Ann Marie Healy
IF YOU IMAGINE IT SO follows the story of a marriage through all its thorny truths and lies. Grace and Charles Travers learn to negotiate the narratives they once created about each other with the unexpected aspirations they now have for their lives. Their daughter Jinny is forced to examine her betrayal against her mother in light of a memory that refuses that make itself known. An unexpected neighbor forges a connection that only serves as a reminder of the fragility of chance, love and the will to live. In the end, love does not save the day. It only makes all it all that much harder to understand.
Ann Marie Healy (playwright). Ann Marie's play HAVE YOU SEEN STEVE STEVEN will be developed at the Sundance Theater Institute this summer followed by a production in September 2007 with the Obie-award winning theater company, 13P (directed by Anne Kauffman). Her play THE NIGHT THAT ROGER WENT TO VISIT THE PARENTS OF HIS OLD HIGH SCHOOL GIRLFRIEND recently premiered in the 2006 EST Marathon of One-Acts plays (directed by Andrew McCarthy). NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A STORM was the recipient of a workshop fellowship with MCC Theater (directed by Jo Bonney), and produced by Edge Theater Company, directed by Carolyn Cantor and featuring Marylouise Burke. DEAREST EUGENIA HAGGIS was developed at LAByrinth Theater's 2004 summer intensive and The Cape Cod Theater Project. Her writing is published through Samuel French, Smith & Kraus, Playscripts and in The Kenyon Review. She is an affiliated artist with the Obie-Award winning theater company Clubbed Thumb; a member of MCC's Playwrights Coalition; a member of 13P, a former member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, and a writing fellow at New River Dramatists. Ann Marie was recently awarded a 2006/07 Sloan Commission and a 2006 NYSCA commissioning grant. She is currently studying with Paula Vogel and Bonnie Metzgar in the Playwriting Graduate Program at Brown University.
IF YOU IMAGINE IT IS SO will be read by Kathleen Chalfant* (Spalding Gray: Stories Left To Tell, Wit), Colby Chambers* (Dog Sees God, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore), Lynda Gravátt* (King Hedley II, Miss Witherspoon), Marin Ireland* (The Ruby Sunrise, Cyclone), and David Margulies* (The Accomplices, All That I Will Ever Be).
* courtesy of AEA
Friday, May 25 @ 3 PM
DEDALUS LOUNGE By Gary Duggan
Danny, Delphine and Daragh are trying to survive in Dublin's fair city. Their usual haunt is the Dedalus Lounge - best bar in the city. Danny's trying to get a Queen tribute band off the ground. Delphine's struggling with a high profile affair and the fact that her granny's dying and Daragh, well, he can be seen in all places dark and dangerous. A jet-black Christmas tale of desperation, casual sex, bereavement, shoplifting, bisexuality, rampant disloyalty, copious drinking and Freddie Mercury impersonations.
Gary Duggan (Playwright) won the Stewart Parker Trust Award for his first full-length play, MONGED. Produced by Fishamble Theatre Company and directed by Jim Culleton, MONGED was staged at Project, Draiocht and as part of the Westport Arts Festival in 2005. A revival of the show took place in October 2006 in several Dublin venues before transferring to the UK in November as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival. MONGED has also been translated into Romanian as part of the 2006 Sibiu International Theatre Festival. A full production of the translated version was successfully produced in Bucharest this year.Gary's second play DEDALUS LOUNGE premiered at the Samuel Beckett Theatre as part of the 2006 Dublin Fringe Festival. Devised in collaboration with Pageant Wagon Theatre Company, the show was directed by Alan Kinsella and toured to the Civic theatre in Tallaght and The Helix in DCU. A second tour of the play is currently appearing in several venues around Ireland. Gary studied Media Production and Film & Broadcasting at DIT. Since graduating he has written and directed several short films, music videos and a digital feature called CRIMSON UNDERWORLD. MANHATTAN WHISPERS, a series of short stories based on Gary's experiences living in New York, was staged as part of the 2001 Dublin Fringe Festival. Some of his previous writing has been short listed for The Corcadorca Playwright Award, The Stella Artois Pitching Award, The Fish Publishing Short Story Award and has been commissioned by RTE Radio 1's SOUND STORIES.
Gary is currently under commission by Fishamble and Bedrock Productions for two new plays and has received funding from the Irish Film Board to develop a screenplay version of MONGED.
with Patch Darragh* (ALL THAT I WILL EVER BE, THE RUBY SUNRISE ), Annie Parisse* (PRELUDE TO A KISS, THE INTERNATIONALIST) and Paul Sparks* (ESSENTIAL SELF DEFENSE, BUG)
* courtesy AEA
Friday, June 29 @ 3 PM
GIRLS AND DOLLS by Lisa McGee
GIRLS AND DOLLS takes place in Northern Ireland, the summer of 1980. Two ten year old girls Emma and Clare meet in the park and quickly become best friends . It was the summer they built a tree house, The summer they stole from Dennis O'Donnell's shop. The summer a chain of devastating events were set in motion that they will never be allowed to forget, no matter how much they want to.
Lisa McGee (playwright). Lisa studied Drama at Queens University Belfast. Writing credits for theatre include, GIRLS AND DOLLS (Irish Tour, winner of the Stewart Parker Award ) and JUMP! which was performed this spring at The Exchange Theatre in New York. Other productions of JUMP! include the Cathedral Quarter Festival, Belfast, and a rehearsed reading at the Royal National Theatre in London . Other plays include THE YOUNG MAN WITH THE CREAM TARTS and HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM BELFAST. Lisa was writer on attachment with The Royal National Theatre London in 2006 and a member of " The 50" with the Royal Court Theatre London (Nominated by the RNT). Television credits include "Totally Frank" for Channel 4. Lisa is currently creating a new drama series, "The Things I Haven't Told You" for the BBC, as well as developing JUMP! into a feature film with the Northern Ireland Film Commission. At present she is working on a new play with Rough Magic theatre company Dublin.
With Samantha Soule (THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE, CORAM BOY) and Laura Heisler* (CORAM BOY, THE MISTAKES THAT MADELINE MADE)
Friday, July 27 @ 3 PM
O GO MY MAN by Stella Feehily
Sarah loves Neil, Ian loves Sarah, Zoe loves Neil, Neil loves - work. And work is - unusual. Back from Darfur with a head full of nightmares, maverick television journalist Neil takes a hammer to his life. Is it self preservation or is he just bloody selfish? With a raised eyebrow and sense of the ridiculous, O GO MY MAN questions how love survives amidst the monotony of monogamy, set against a backdrop of the 'new Ireland' - celebrity chefs, 12 kinds of cafe lattes and a thousand Polish immigrants to pour them. O GO MY MAN was first presented by Out Of Joint at the Royal Court Theatre in January 2006.
STELLA FEEHILY (playwright). Stella is an actress and writer. Her performing work includes A CHRISTMAS CAROL (the Gate Theatre), MACBETH (the Tivoli Theatre), TEN (the Project Arts Centre), LETTERS TO FELICE (the Pavilion Theatre) and IPHIGENIA AT AULIS (the Abbey Theatre). Her short play GAME was commissioned by Out Of Joint and Fishamble Theatre Company and premiered at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin. DUCK, Stella's first full length play premiered in an Out Of Joint and Royal Court co-production at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, July 2003, before playing at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh and the Royal Court Theatre, London. Stella's second full-length play O GO MY MAN was produced by the Royal Court Theatre in January, 2006. CATCH (written with four other female playwrights) opened at the Royal Court in December 2006. Stella is currently under commission to the Royal Court Theatre, Soho Theatre and the Manhattan Theatre Club.
With Mia Barron* (THE COAST OF UTOPIA, THE PAIN AND THE ITCH), Denis
Butkus* (THE COAST OF UTOPIA, THE CAINE MUTINY COURT MARTIAL), Bianca Amato* (THE COAST OF UTOPIA, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST), Mattie Hawkinson* (A FLEA IN HER EAR, A BOSTON MARRIAGE), Roxanna Hope* (FROST/NIXON, AFTER THE FALL), David Pittu* (LOVEMUSIK, THE COAST OF UTOPIA), Amanda Quaid* (AS YOU
LIKE IT, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE) and Reg Rogers* (THE PAIN AND THE
ITCH, BACH AT LEIPZIG).
THE AVENUE by Christian O'Reilly
Friday, August 24 @ 3 PM
In The Avenue, Jimmy never got over the departure of his father thirty years ago, and spends his days watching Judge Judy. His fiancée Norita wants to name the day and build a home, but how long will she wait for him? Maureen, his mother, has created a fantasy-past from her own vanity and her closest friend Robert just wants to be accepted by them all. When historian Gerard starts asking them to look at their own histories, Norita takes drastic action, and no-one is quite prepared for the stories that are about to emerge.
The Avenue is a new play by Listowel writer Christian O'Reilly, commissioned by Kerry County Council under the Per-Cent for Art Scheme. Richly comic and moving, it explores the meaning of family, forgiveness and letting go.
Christian O'Reilly writes for theatre, film, television and radio. His one-act play, It Just Came Out, was staged by Druid as part of its Debut series (2001). His first full-length play, The Good Father, produced by Druid and directed by Garry Hynes (Galway Arts Festival 2002, national tour 2003), was the joint winner of the 2002 Stewart Parker Trust New Playwright Bursary. Other plays include The Avenue (St. John's Theatre, Listowel 2005), Problem Solvers Anonymous and It Won't Be Great When I'm Not Here (Dublin Fringe Festival 2004, national tour 2005). For youth theatre he has written Treble, commissioned by Abbey Outreach, and Teacher for Galway Youth Theatre. For radio (RTÉ, Lyric FM, BBC) he has written The Play, Chapatti, My Spanish Countess Granny and an adaptation of The Good Father. His screen credits include On Home Ground (RTÉ), three short films (The Birthday, The Kiss of Life and The Ring) and Inside I'm Dancing, a feature film based on his original story. Inside I'm Dancing won the Audience Award for Best Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival (2004) and two Irish Film and Television Awards - Best Script (2004) and the AIB People's Choice Award for Best Irish Film (2005). Christian lives in Galway with his wife, Ailbhe.
With Seán Gormley* (WAITING FOR LEFTY, ANTIGONE), Derek Lucci* (BETROTHED, AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE), Paula McGonagle* (BETROTHED, INNOCENTS), Gordana Rashovich* (OLD ACQUAINTANCE, A SHAYNA MAIDEL) and Tommy Schrider* (SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER, ACTS OF MERCY)*
* courtesy of Actors' Equity Association
Friday, September 28 @ 3 PM
SIX CONVERSATIONS ABOUT LOVE By Ionna Anderson
In Ionna Anderson's Six Conversations About Love, Dorothy is losing her memory, Fergus remembers everything but not necessarily the way it actually happened. Katherine, their daughter thinks her life might be over, Katherine?s husband Tom thinks his is just beginning. Delilah, who is from somewhere else, understands more about them than they think. It?s a play about gettting older, about the way people change, or don?t, and the way the new Ireland they live in is changing. There are love stories, there are conversations.
Ioanna Anderson was born in Edinburgh, of Irish and Greek parents and is currently living in Dublin. She has an English degree and used to be an administrator. Was a co-founder of Greenlight Productions, who produced her first play, Describe Joe. Describe Joe (dir. Neil Jack) was produced twice, once in January 2000, and again in September 2000 as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival, at Andrews Lane Studio. It won the OZ Whitehead Award in 2000. Her second play Why I Hate The Circus (produced by Greenlight in association with the Civic Theatre) was produced at The Civic Theatre, Tallaght, in 2001. Her third play Words of Advice For Young People was produced as part of the Rough Magic new writing SEEDS programme, directed by Philip Howard, at Project Theatre, Dublin in 2004. Nightshift a short play commissioned for The Gaiety School of Acting, was performed as part of their graduation show, in June 2004. Her fourth play 6 Conversations About Love, written with the assistance of an Arts Council bursary, was later commissioned by The Abbey Theatre, Dublin. She is currently working on a play for The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, working title PANTO! and a site specific show for ReadCo Theatre Company, Dublin, working title You Are Here.
With Becky Ann Baker (Suddenly Last Summer, Assassins), Gerry Bamman (Nixon's Nixon, Mrs. Farnsworth), Rosalyn Coleman (Radio Golf, Seven Guitars), Patricia Connely (Is He Dead?, The Coast of Utopia) and Peter Rogan (Defender of the Faith, Ballad of Soapy Smith).
Friday, October 26 @ 3 PM
HANG LENNY POPE by Chris O'Connell
First produced in the UK in March 2007 by Theatre Absolute and Warwick Arts Centre, HANG LENNY POPE compellingly explores the possibility that love might return and redemption be found for a couple whose lives have been battered by the experience of parenting a violent son. Both touching and funny, HANG LENNY POPE is an urban love story with a truly macabre twist.
Chris O'Connell's previous work for Theatre Absolute includes the multi award winning Street Trilogy (Car, Raw, Kid), which played to great acclaim at the Edinburgh festival, in London, and across Europe. He has been writer in residence for Paines Plough, London, and his other work for theatre includes Thyestes (RSC), Hymns, (Frantic Assembly), Tall Phoenix, and Cool Water Murder, (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry). All of Chris O'Connell's work is published by Oberon Books, UK.
HANG LENNY POPE will be read by by Jennifer Dundas* (Iron, Arcadia), Luke Farrell Kirby* (Defender of the Faith, HBO's "Tell Me You Love Me"), Ciarán O'Reilly* (A Touch of the Poet, Eden) and Annie Purcell* (The Coast of Utopia, Awake and Sing!)
*courtesy AEA
Friday, November 16 @ 3 PM
CHERRY SMOKE by Jim McManus
In Cherry Smoke, Fish has been in and out of jail his entire life and earns his living by fighting men in illegal, back-alley brawls. Cherry is a homeless runaway who lives in an abandoned bus and believes that Jesus lights her cigarettes. Can Fish overcome his explosive temper and his haunting past in order to create the stable family that he and Cherry never experienced?
James McManus (Playwright). Plays include Underground, Sheena, Cherry Smoke, Bulldog Whiskey, Dorothy 6, The Night They Drugged the Orange and Pistachio. His plays have been read and performed at the Kennedy Center, New Dramatists, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. James was the recipient of the 2006 Princess Grace Award in playwriting for Cherry Smoke, which was recently published by Samuel French.
His short film, "Love and Bones," is currently in post-production. McManus received his M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University in 2006 where he was a two-time recipient of the Schubert Fellowship for Dramatic Writing.
With Zachary Booth* ("Damages," VICTORIA MARTIN: MATH TEAM QUEEN), Mahira Kakkar* (OPUS, BETROTHED), Louisa Krause* (IPHIGENIA 2.0, IN A DARK, DARK HOUSE) and Benjamin Walker* (INHERIT THE WIND, "Flags of Our Fathers")
*courtesy of AEA
Friday, December 14 @ 3 PM
In CRUMBLE (LAY ME DOWN JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE), Janice asks for seven very strange objects for Christmas. Her perpetually anxious mother complies, suspecting Janice might blame her for the absurd circumstances in which her father disappeared. Janice reveals the dark nature of these objects to her mother on Christmas morning and a calamity ensues. Special appearances by Harrison Ford and Justin Timberlake, and an embittered talking Apartment.
Sheila Callaghan's plays have been produced and developed with Soho Rep, Playwright's Horizons, South Coast Repertory, Clubbed Thumb, The LARK, Actor's Theatre of Louisville, New Georges, and Moving Arts, among others. Sheila is the recipient of a 2000 Princess Grace Award for emerging artists, a 2001 LA Weekly Award for Best One-act, a 2001-02 Jerome Fellowship from the Playwright's Center in Minneapolis, a 2002 Chesley Prize for Lesbian Playwriting, a 2003 Mac Dowell Residency, a 2004 NYFA grant, a 2005 Cherry Lane Mentorship Fellow, a 2006 NYSCA grant, and the 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn Award. She also received the 2007 Whiting Writers Award for LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING. Her plays have been produced internationally in New Zealand, Norway, and the Czech Republic. She has been commissioned by Playwright's Horizons, South Coast Repertory, and EST/Sloan. Her full-length plays include SCAB, THE HUNGER WALTZ, CRAWL FADE TO WHITE, CRUMBLE (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), WE ARE NOT THESE HANDS, DEAD CITY, LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING, and KATE CRACKERNUTS. Several of her plays are published by Playscripts, Inc. She has taught playwriting at The University of Rochester, Spalding University, The College of New Jersey, and Florida State University. Sheila is a member of the Obie winning playwright's organization 13P and resident of New Dramatists.
2006 Readings
January Reading: Friday, January 27 @ 3:00 PM. FROM THESE GREEN HEIGHTS by Dermot Bolger. FROM THESE GREEN HEIGHTS is a darkly poetic play tracing forty years in the life of a family living -- and barely surviving - in north Dublin's notorious Ballymun council estates. The seven towers of Ballymun, long a ravaged symbol of urban despair in Dublin, have been demolished since the summer of 2004 as part of Ballymun's regeneration project. Bolger's very timely play was produced at the Axis Art Centre, Ballymun and received The Irish Times/ESB Award for Best New Irish Play of 2004.
About the Playwright: Dermot Bolger was born in Dublin in 1959 and has worked as a factory hand, a library assistant and a publisher. His nine novels include The Family on Paradise Pier, The Journey Home, and Night Shift, which received the AE Memorial Prize. His debut play, The Lament of Arthur Cleary (1989) won the Samuel Beckett Award. Bolger's other plays have been produced by The Gate Theatre (later filmed by RTÉ Television) and The Abbey Theatre (where he was Playwright-in- Association). A former Writer Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin, and a published poet, Bolger also ran Raven Arts Press until 1992, co-founded, and is currently executive editor of New Island Books.
With Elizabeth Canavan*, Lynn Cohen*, Ronald Cohen*, Stevie Ray Dallimore*, Leslie Lyles*, and Kate Wetherhead*.
* Courtesy of AEA.
February Reading: Friday, February 24 @ 3 PM. RAGTOWN by Jayme McGhan. RAGTOWN follows the tale of an Irish immigrant family gone destitute during the days of the Great Depression and hoping for a change in fortune--by finding work during the construction of the Boulder (Hoover) Dam. The Kilkenny immigrants settle in a squalid shantytown in the harsh Nevada desert and not only encounter hellish conditions there, but within their own family dynamic when the eldest son is faced with the demands of his father, his desire for an unhappily married woman, and the welfare of the thousands of union workers on Boulder Dam.
About the Playwright: Jayme McGhan was born and raised in and around Minneapolis. He received his B.A. in Theatre from Southwest Minnesota State University in 2003. He is now currently in his final semester of graduate school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, receiving his M.F.A in Playwriting. He has spent two summers studying playwriting at the Kennedy Center and is currently a finalist for the Jerome Fellowship at the Minneapolis Playwrights Center for his play THE METHUSELAH TREE. Jayme continues to write, act, and direct with Cockroach Theatre in Las Vegas, having just returned from The Burning Man Festival with a production of Richard Foreman's PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE. Jayme is the author of eight full-length plays, seven one-acts, and a myriad of award-winning short plays. RAGTOWN has received a Las Vegas Centennial Grant and will be produced by Nevada Conservatory Theatre in April, 2006. Jayme currently resides in Las Vegas with his wife, Nicole, and his two dogs, Darby and Murphy.
With Todd Cerveris*, Catherine Curtain*, Kevin Geer*, Roxanna Hope*, Greg Keller*, Sam Kitchin*, Nicole Lowrance*, and James McMenamin*
* Courtesy of AEA.
March Reading: Friday, March 24 @ 3 PM. DEFENDER OF THE FAITH by Stuart Carolan. A story of tragic loyalty, mistrust, betrayal, and violence among men in a Republican family on a South Armagh farm in 1986. An IRA visitor from Belfast, a possible informer, a young man's grief over his dead brother and a ruthless patriarch intersect in this dark, astute, and brutally honest debut play.
About the Playwright: Stuart Carolan's first play was DEFENDER OF THE FAITH and it was produced at the Peacock Theatre in Dublin in 2004. He was co-winner of the 2005 George Devine Award for most promising playwright. Stuart has a new play called EMPRESS OF INDIA that will be seen in September in a Druid production (by arrangement with Galway Arts Festival). He spent six years as a current affairs/radio producer. He lives in Dublin.
With Colby Chambers* ('TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE, DOG SEES GOD), Luke Kirby* (JUMP/CUT, TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, GEOMETRY IN VENICE), David Lansbury* (HEDDA GABLER, COMEDIANS), Michael O'Keefe* (RECKLESS, MCREELE), David Rasche* (MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS, FIVE BY TENN, SPEED THE PLOW).
* Courtesy of AEA.
April Reading: Friday, April 28 @ 3 PM. MIND THE WAY by Ann Deignan. MIND THE WAY follows the ragged recovery of Western Ireland family several years after the Great Hunger of the 1840's. A brother, Michael, follows his family from a distance, caught between worlds, watching the living turn the page to a new chapter, hoping to escape the shroud of past suffering but finding that despite hope, compassion and wit, that journey isn't always so simple.
About the Playwright: Ann Deignan is a poet and a Doctor of Chiropractic in private practice, living in New Rochelle, New York. Born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, she received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of Psychology and Science from Fordham University, the College of New Rochelle, and New York Chiropractic College, with on-going personal study focused on literature, the Greek classics and quantum physics. Her parents were from the West of Ireland where Ann spent her childhood summers. More recent visits to Ireland awakened her to its history of "The Great Hunger," and inspired a short story, THE VIOLIN PLAYER, and this her first play, MIND THE WAY. She is the author of two volumes of poetry, "Mythos Gate," and "Migration."
With Rob Campbell* (Small Tragedy, Ivanov), Maria Dizzia* (The Wooden Breeks, Apparition), Thomas Sadoski*(Reckless, Jump/Cut), Dee Pelletier* (Bug, The Syringa Tree), Jesse Pennington* (Rodney's Wife, Franny's Way).
* Courtesy of AEA.
May Reading: Friday, May 26 @ 3 PM. SAVOY by Eugene O'Brien. Like his play EDEN, Eugene O'Brien's SAVOY is set in the provincial Irish town of Edenderry, Co Offaly as three friends mark the closing night of the Savoy cinema and share in an unusual wake. Not only do they exchange memories of friends, foes and "A Fistful of Dollars," but expose much darker revelations and regrets which unveils the fiction and frailty of their relationships.
About the Playwright: Eugene O'Brien was an actor for ten years before writing his first play, EDEN which had its premiere at the Peacock in 2001. It transferred to The Abbey's main stage and to London's West End under the direction of Conor McPherson. It had its U.S. premiere at the Irish Repertory Theatre in 2004 starring Irish Rep producing director Ciaran O'Reilly and Catherine Byrne.
O'Reilly and Byrne later toured Ireland with the production. EDEN won best new play at the 2001 Irish Times/ESB Irish Theatre Awards, the Stewart Parker New Play Award, and the Rooney Prize for literature. It has been translated into many languages and has also been performed throughout the US, Europe and Canada. O'Brien's second play SAVOY premiered at the Peacock Theatre in 2004 as part of the Abbey Theatre's centenary celebration. Eugene is also the author of two one man shows (AMERICA 87 and CHECKING FOR SQUIRRELS), a car show for Corn Exchange theatre company and a radio play for RTE called "The Nest." He has written a new monologue for the forthcoming "Seven Deadly Sins" radio drama series. Last year his six part tv drama "Pure Mule" aired on RTE2 to great acclaim and audience figures culminating in winning five Irish Film and Television awards.
With Bill Buell* (THE HISTORY BOYS, URINTOWN, THE FALSE SERVANT), Laurence Lowry* (THE FIELD, SOMEONE WHO'LL WATCH OVER ME), Brian Murray* (THE RIVALS, THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY, THE LITTLE FOXES), Adam Rothenberg* (THE WOODEN BREEKS, DANNY & THE DEEP BLUE SEA, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE), and Samantha Soule* (A BODY OF WATER, VALHALLA, DINNER AT EIGHT).
* Courtesy of AEA.
June Reading: Tuesday, June 27 @ 3 PM. THE SUGAR WIFE by Elizabeth Kuti. Elizabeth Kuti's THE SUGAR WIFE, is set in Dublin in the 1850s and tells the story of a wealthy, Irish Quaker woman, Hannah, who is conflicted between her work with the poor and her duty to her ambitious husband who runs a string of successful teahouses. Hannah's idealistic views on morality, piety and loyalty are challenged when she befriends a charismatic, freed American slave, Sarah, and her compassionate -- and passionate -- English friend, Alfred. It was first commissioned by Rough Magic Theatre Company and nominated for Best New Play in the Irish Times Theatre Awards for 2005. It also co-won the Susan Smith Blackburn Award 2005/6.
Elizabeth Kuti was born in the UK in 1969, and then lived in Dublin from 1993 to 2004, where she studied at Trinity College and then worked as an actress with a number of Irish theatres and companies (including Corn Exchange, Loose Canon, Rough Magic, the Peacock, the Abbey and the Lyric Theatre in Belfast Her plays have been produced in the United states and in the United Kingdom She was awarded second prize in the Susan Smith Blackburn Awards for the year 2000 and the BBC Radio Drama prize in the Stewart Parker Awards 2000.
With Arija Bareikis (Orange Flower Water, Intimate Apparel), Orlagh Cassidy (The Field, Bright Ideas), Portia (McReele, Our Lady of 121st Street), Matthew Rauch (The Revenger's Tragedy, In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer) and Paul Sparks (Landscape of the Body, Blackbird).
July Reading: Tuesday, July 25 @ 3 PM. TRAD by Mark Doherty (in cooperation with Galway Arts Festival). Mark Doherty's TRAD, a short but epic voyage, follows the relationship of a one hundred year old Irishman and his father, in a surreal comedy that looks at the value of tradition. In TRAD, Doherty bequeaths his voice to two characters with a heady mixture of irreverence, bitterness and bewilderment; Da, an ancient widower who has lived longer than any man should, and his 100-year-old son, Thomas. Da hates the English and is disappointed in his son for failing to become a father himself. Thomas, meanwhile, has news for him; some 70 years ago, during a wordless encounter with a girl known to him only as "Mary", he did his bit to further the family line, and there's a possibility of a son of his out there, somewhere.
MARK DOHERTY (Playwright) Radio credits include Only Slaggin', A Hundred and Something, Stand-up Sketches and The Bees of Manulla for RTE, and The O' Show for BBC Radio 4. He has written for, and appeared in, various TV shows, including The Stand Up Show, and Back to the future for the BBC, and Couched, a 6-part comedy series for RTE. Theatre credits include LUNCH, by Steven Berkoff, ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST, by Dario Fo, an Abbey production of THE HOSTAGE by Brendan Behan and I AM THE TIGER written as part of CAR SHOW for the Corn Exchange. From 1995 to 2000 Mark worked extensively as a stand-up comedian performing all around Ireland and England, as well as Edinburgh, New York, and Adelaide. Acting credits include The Struggle, Headrush, Custer's Last Stand-up, Any Time Now, Rebel Heart, The Magnificent Ambersons, November Afternoon, Angela's Ashes, Disco Pigs, Rat, Ballykissangel, Father Ted, The Clinic, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse and Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto. He recently appeared in Playin' aRound for Galway Arts Festival which he wrote, and performed in Barry Murphy's The Giant also at the Galway Arts Festival.
Mark was the recipient of the 2004 BBC Radio Drama Award (Stewart Parker Award) for TRAD.
With Reed Birney* (Stuff Happens, Pen, Bug), Jarlath Conroy* (Faith Healer, A Man of No Importance, Pigtown) and Fritz Weaver* (Trying, Ring Round The Moon, A Life)
* Courtesy of AEA.
August Reading: Tuesday, August 22 @ 3 PM. THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM & THE SMALL THINGS by Enda Walsh. THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM: Three sisters in a remote fishing village, trapped by the tumble of years that have passed since their halcyon days at the New Electric Ballroom, remain driven by darker memories of something resembling romance.
With Marylouise Burke (Into The Woods, The Oldest Profession, Kimberly Akimbo), Mary Beth Peil (Celebration and The Room, Nine, Hedda Gabler) and Fiana Toibin (Long Day's Journey Into Night, Shining City, Crestfall), and Andrew Connolly (The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Made In China).
THE SMALL THINGS: Two houses, perched on top of mountains, stare at each other across a deep valley. A man and a woman talk about the small things - parquet floor, zigzagging down corridors, the memory of mother's breasts, brown sauce and soggy chips. But these minutiae disguise a bigger story of brutality and unfaltering loyalty which emerges horrifically through the chit-chat.
Enda Walsh (Playwright). Enda's play THE WALWORTH FARCE was produced by Druid Theatre, Galway earlier this year. THE SMALL THINGS was originally commissioned by Paines Plough theatre company and performed in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2004. THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM was commissioned by the Kammerspiel in Munich and performed there in 2005. It will be produced by Druid Theatre in 2007 along with THE WALWORTH FARCE.
Enda's other plays include BEDBOUND (produced by the Irish Repertory Theatre and directed by Enda in 2003, also produced at the Royal Court in 2002 and winner of Edinburgh's Fringe First in 2001), DISCO PIGS (awarded Arts Council Playwrights Award, won the Best Fringe Production in 1996, and played at the Traverse Theatre for the '97 Edinburgh Festival, winner of the 1997 Stewart Parker and George Devine Awards), SUCKING DUBLIN, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, THE GINGLER ALE BOY, MISTERMAN, AND CHATROOM. CHATROOM is set to return to the Royal National Theatre next year after a sell out run last spring. A film adaptation of "Chatroom" is to be directed by John Crowley ("Intermission"). Other films/screenplays include "Disco Pigs" (with Cillian Murphy and Eileen Cassidy), "Island of the Aunts," "Hunger" and "Miss Emerald Isle." Radio dramas include For Big Days in the Life of Dessie Banks for RTE Radio (winner of PPI Award for Best Radio Drama in 2001). Enda, who is also a director and actor, is a founding member of the Corcadorca Theatre Company in Cork.
With Frances Sternhagen (SEASCAPE, STEEL MAGNOLIAS, MORNING'S AT SEVEN) and Harris Yulin (HEDDA GABLER, FRAN'S BED, THE PRICE)
September Reading: Friday, September 29 @ 3 PM. THE CHERRY SISTERS REVISITED by Dan O'Brien. The true story of Addie, Effie, Lizzie, Ella, and Jessie Cherry, five sisters from Marion, Iowa, who took the vaudeville world by storm with the collective awfulness of their talent. Unfunny, ungraceful, and tone-deaf, they nonetheless (or because of it) rose to the height of their profession, playing to capacity on Broadway, ostensibly without ever knowing that their fame was a kind of trick played on them -- the audience was laughing at them, not with them. The Cherry Sisters Revisited re-imagines this history as a nightmarish fable of ambition and entertainment, seeking to answer the question: Were the Cherry Sisters victims, or the architects of their exploitation?
Dan O'Brien has been awarded The Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University for 2006-7. His play The Voyage of the Carcass will have its off-Broadway premier with 2005 Tony-winner Dan Fogler in October 2006 at the SoHo Playhouse. Previous productions of Dan's work include The Dear Boy at Second Stage Theatre (directed by Michael John Garcés); Moving Picture at the Williamstown Theatre Festival (Darko Tresnjak, dir.), Key West at Geva Theatre Center (Skip Greer, dir.), Am Lit at Ensemble Studio Theatre, the short play Her First Screen Test at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Lamarck at California Repertory Company, Perishable Theatre and Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre; and The Voyage of the Carcass with P. 73 Productions at HERE Arts Center and the Greenwich Street Playhouse / GreenLight TheatreWorks. His plays have been developed at the Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, New York Theatre Workshop, O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Primary Stages, Magic Theatre, The New Harmony Project, Black Dahlia Theatre Company, The Play Company, Rattlestick, Lincoln Center Directors' Lab, and Manhattan Theatre Club, where he was recently a playwright-in-residence. He has received playwriting commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club, Ensemble Studio Theatre and Trinity Repertory Company; and residencies and fellowships from Yaddo, O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Sewanee the University of the South, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. Current commissions include a new play for Geva Theatre Center, a play for Williamstown Theatre Festival, and a screenplay for Robyn Goodman's Aged In Wood Productions.
Awards include the Osborn Award by the American Theatre Critics Association; the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Comedy Playwriting Award; and the National Student Playwriting Award and the National AIDS Award for Playwriting (Kennedy Center/ACTF). His work has been published by Samuel French, Dramatic Publishing, and Playscripts Inc.; and in numerous anthologies and journals including Alaska Quarterly Review, Confrontation and Blackbird. Dan also writes fiction; his short stories have been published in the anthology 25 And Under/Fiction (Doubletake/W.W. Norton, 1997), and the journals StoryQuarterly, Quarterly West, Greensboro Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Louisville Review, Ellipsis, Salt Hill.
Dan holds a B.A. in English & Theatre from Middlebury College and a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting & Fiction from Brown University. He has taught playwriting at Princeton University, Brown University, Sewanee Writers' Conference, and Primary Stages; he has also been a guest artist at Middlebury College and Brown University, and in 2002-03, and 2005, he was the Tennessee Williams Playwright-in-Residence at Sewanee the University of the South. He lives in New York City. www.danobrien.org.
With Marc Blum* (The Music Teacher, Twelve Angry Men), Stephanie D'Abruzzo* (Avenue Q, I Love You Because ) Katie Firth* (Susan and God, Humble Boy), Emily Cass McDonnell* (Indoor/Outdoor, Aunt Dan and Lemon), Paula McGonagle* (Innocents, Betrothed) and Amy Redford* (Bhutan, The Golden Ladder).
* Courtesy of AEA.
October Reading: Friday, October 27 @ 3 PM. THE EXCHANGE by Ursula Rani Sarma's. THE EXCHANGE questions what happens when you can no longer tell what is real and what isn't? What if the world is changing but you cannot? In a small post office in rural Ireland, Jack and his daughters struggle to remember what holds them together and try to forget what drove them apart. On the anniversary of his wife's death, Jack is tormented by things he would rather forget. Dark deeds, old friends and one terrible night. And Ireland has changed. There is no room for men like him. The Post Office is closing and yet the Post Master does not belong anywhere else. The unexpected return of his prodigal daughter Roisin causes chaos and enrages Anna, the "good" sister who has remained at home. This dysfunctional family try to wade through the secrets and lies of the past and move towards a new brighter future. Meanwhile.a storm is coming.
Ursula Rani Sarma's THE EXCHANGE received a workshop at the 2006 O'Neill Playwrights Conference this past July. Ursula is from the West of Ireland and is of Irish/Indian descent. She has been writing predominantly for theatre since graduating from University College Cork in 1999. Ursula co founded Djinn Productions later that year and has directed several award winning productions as Artistic Director of the company. Ursula has been Writer in Residence for The National Theatre London, Paines Plough Theatre Company London, Galway Local Authorities and most recently with the Cross Border Centre project which united artists from the North and South of Ireland. In that time, Ursula has written nine plays for stage (Blue, .touched., Gift, Orpheus Road, The Spider Men, Like Sugar on Skin, Wanderings, When the War Came, Patriotism) and three for radio (Car Four (BBC), A Tiny Light in the Darkness (BBC) and The Fishermen (RTE). Her plays been published, translated and produced extensively in Ireland, the UK and internationally. Ursula also translated Italian Playwright Luca De Bei's play The Dogs that Face the Hare for the National Theatre Studio in 2003 and selection of her poetry was published last year in the Divas: A Sense of Place anthology of Irish writing.
Ursula has received many awards for her plays including an Irish Times/ESB Theatre Award, an Edinburgh Fringe Award and the Heidelberg Audience Award for Best Play. Most recently she was selected to take part in the 2006 New Playwriting Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center where her play The Exchange was developed. Ursula was also selected by the US-Ireland Alliance as a 'Future Leader of Ireland' in her field.
Ursula is currently developing work for The National Theatre London, Paines Plough Theatre London, The Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough, The Traverse Theatre Edinburgh and the BBC. Ursula is also collaborating with Artist Rosie McGurran for an Irish Arts Council commission based on Inishlacken Island, off the coast of Galway. Other on going projects include an original libretto, a collection of poetry, work for the screen and a series of stories for children. Some recent productions of Ursula's work include The Spider Men staged at the National Theatre London in July and the airing of her radio play A Tiny Light in The Darkness by the BBC in March. Upcoming work includes the first reading of her play Stone Island, commissioned by the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, on November 10th as part of their Cubed Festival of new work.
Cast is TBA
November Reading: Friday, November 17 @ 3 PM. THE ASH BOY by Chris Lee. Lonely Jack likes to sit on the park bench and clear his mind. When Benny reaches out the hand of friendship Jack doesn't know what to do. When Jack takes Benny home to meet his mother Eve, she is suspicious and angry. She knows what happened the last time. But Benny has a rough charm that worms its way into the hearts of these brittle people. They open up to him and expose their sorrow. Benny has a choice. Will he be the friend he says he is? Or will he be the avenging angel of the past?
Chris Lee (Playwright). Chris' plays include HUMMINGBIRD (The Old Red Lion Theatre, London, 1996), THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER (The Finborough Theatre, London, 1997), EAT THE ENEMY (The Old Red Lion, 1999 and in the US, at TheaterLab, Houston, Texas), THE MAP MAKER'S SORROW (Peacock, 1999) and THE ELECTROCUTION OF CHILDREN (The Peacock Theatre, Dublin, 1998) for which he won the Stewart Parker New Playwright Award. In 1999 he was appointed Writer- in-Association with the Abbey Theatre. In 2000 Chris was awarded a Pearson New Playwright's Bursary for an attachment to the Finborough. His fifth play ON LINE & PARANOID IN THE SENTIMENTAL CITY opened at the Finborough in September 2000 and VERMILION DREAM opened at Salisbury Playhouse in October 2004. His play THE ASH BOY was produced at Theatre 503 in London this past spring. Chris' work has also been developed through The Royal Court, Paines Plough, The Royal National Theatre, The Abbey Theatre, Mousson d'ete, The New Jersey Repertory, and The Theatre Royal. He has also written "The Parallax of Jan Van Eyck" for RTE Ireland.
Cast is Manoel Felciano, Roberta Maxwell, and Lee Sellars.
December Reading: Friday, December 15 @ 3 PM. THE GOOD FATHER by Christian O'Reilly. It's New Year's Eve and most of the party guests are in the kitchen admiring photos of each other's babies. But two lonely strangers find themselves cut off from the others. Jane was invited because she knows the people in the kitchen. Tim was invited because he painted the kitchen. Their lives would have been very different if Jane hadn't come up to Tim and asked, 'What are you doing for sex tonight?'
With Matthew Rauch* (THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, REVENGER'S TRAGEDY) and Samantha Soule* (THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE, VALHALLA)
* Courtesy of AEA.
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