With Conor McPherson
In Discussion with Charlotte Moore and Ciarán O’Reilly
Acclaimed Irish playwright Conor McPherson (The Girl from North Country) speaks with Irish Rep Artistic Director Charlotte Moore and Producing Director Ciarán O’Reilly about playwrighting, creativity, coronavirus, and more.
CONOR McPHERSON
Conor McPherson was born in Dublin in 1971. He attended University College Dublin where he began to write and direct. His plays include Girl from the North Country (Olivier nomination for Best Musical, New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off Broadway Musical – opening soon on Broadway), The Night Alive (New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play), The Veil, The Seafarer (Tony nomination for Best Play), Shining City (Tony nomination for Best Play), Port Authority, Dublin Carol, The Weir (Olivier Award, Best Play), St. Nicholas, This Lime Tree Bower, The Good Thief and Rum & Vodka.
Previous and productions by Conor McPherson at Irish Rep: The Weir: A Performance on Screen, Dublin Carol,The Seafarer, Shining City, Port Authority, The Weir(2015), The Weir (2013),St. Nicholas.
CHARLOTTE MOORE
Recent directing credits include: London Assurance, Love, Noël, The Plough and the Stars as part of The O’Casey Cycle, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Three Small Irish Masterpieces by William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory and J.M. Synge, New York premiere of Brian Friel’s The Home Place, World premiere of Larry Kirwan’s Rebel in the Soul, Finian’s Rainbow, The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative gala, Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory, Juno and the Paycock, and Dancing at Lughnasa. New York stage appearances include A Perfect Ganesh, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Perfect Party, Morning’s at Seven, Private Lives (with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton), and many performances with the New York Shakespeare Festival. Ms. Moore has received two Tony Award nominations, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Drama League Award, the Irish America Top 100 Irish Award, The Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2008 Irish Women Of The Year Award. She is the recipient of the St. Patrick’s Committee in Holyoke’s John F. Kennedy National Award, and has thrice been listed as one of the “Top 50 Power Women”in Irish America Magazine. Charlotte was named “Director of the Year” by The Wall Street Journal in 2011. Charlotte has recently been inducted in to the Irish America Hall of Fame and been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, 2019 by President Michael D. Higgins.
CIARÁN O’REILLY
Favorite directing credits include: Lady G: Plays and Whisperings of Lady Gregory, Dublin Carol, The Shadow of a Gunman, The Seafarer, The Dead, 1904, Shining City, Off the Meter, On the Record, The Weir (Calloway Nom.), Banished Children of Eve, The Emperor Jones, (Callaway Award, O’Neill Credo Award, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Nom.), The Hairy Ape (Drama Desk Drama League and Callaway Nom.), Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Drama Desk Nom). Irish Rep acting roles include Da, Juno and the Paycock, Dancing at Lughnasa, Molly Sweeney, Candida, Aristocrats, A Whistle in the Dark, The Shaughraun, and The Irish and How They Got That Way. He appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of A Touch of the Poet with Gabriel Byrne. He has appeared at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and made his Broadway debut in The Corn is Green. Films include “The Devil’s Own” (starring Harrison Ford), “Law & Order,” “The Irish…and How They Got That Way,” “Third Watch,” “Bored to Death,” and “The Knick.” Ciarán has recently been inducted in to the Irish America Hall of Fame and has been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, 2019 by President Michael D. Higgins.