In the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre
As a part of the New Works Summer Festival
Readings of 5 plays in 5 days, Spotlighting LGBTQ+ voices
By Phillip McMahon
Directed by Colm Summers
Featuring Arnie Burton,Una Clancy, Doireann Mac Mahon, Kieran Mulcare, Morgan Sullivan, and Stephen Quinn
June 24, 2023 at 7pm*
Join us onsite for a pre-reading happy hour starting at 5:30pm!
Told against the backdrop of Dublin’s burgeoning gay rights movement of the 1980s and 1990s and the contemporary LGBTQ+ community of today, Once Before I Go charts the close friendship of Lynn, Daithí, and the luminous Bernard, and sits on the exhilarating edge between comedy, tragedy and melodrama.
Exploring the fragile yet resilient bonds of Irish queer lives across three decades in Dublin, London and Paris, the play steps between the early days of the AIDS crisis and today’s LGBTQ+ community, living in an era of marriage equality, gender self-determination, and untransmittable HIV.
At once political, joyous and heart-breaking, Once Before I Go honours the fabulous people we lost along the way, and celebrates those who fight on.
*Tickets for this reading are free with a suggested donation of $10
Not recommended for anyone under the age of 14.
Reviews from previous productions:
“Once Before I Go is a play that implores us to join the dance, to live fully, to live without judgment, to live well.” – Sara Keating, Irish Times
The inaugural New Works Summer Festival is part of Irish Repertory Theatre’s New Play Development Program, which includes table reads, staged readings, workshops and commissions from voices that fulfill Irish Rep’s mission and tell stories of Irish and Irish-American people of all races, genders, abilities, and orientations. The program will provide opportunities for playwrights to further develop their work and enable Irish Rep to discover new plays and musicals for future production.
