1989-1990 Season

by Brian Friel
directed by Paul Weidner

Summer 1990
Opened at Tada Theater and transferred to South Street Theatre

Tomorrow morning, Gar O’Donnell is leaving Ballybeg and the Ireland of his childhood. Leaving his father and the lads. Leaving Kate. There’s a dream across the ocean, of Cadillacs, Coke floats and girls: a dream of America. On his last night in town a series of visitations, real and imagined, force Gar to confront the choices he’s made and the promise of the future. The play that established Brian Friel as one of the greatest theatrical voices of the English language, Philadelphia, Here I Come! paints a touching portrait of a young man on the verge of a new beginning, searching for the strength to say goodbye.

“Better than flawless” –The New Yorker

“A poignant revival! Vibrant…absorbing… the able cast does not have a weak link in it!” –New York Times

“Grab this one- revivals this good don’t come around often” –New York Post

Creative Team:
Set Design: David Raphel
Lights & Sound: Richard Clausen
Costumes: Natalie Walker
Stage Manager: Margaret Richie
Hair: Gary Brennan
Props: Athena Baer

Now moved to Theatre Row by popular demand!

by Tom Murphy
directed by Charlotte Moore

Previews begin November 10, 1989
At 424 West 42^nd Street

Michael Carney has left Mayo for Coventry, hoping to leave behind his homeland and his past with modest ambitions for a decent job and respectable family. However, he is relentlessly pursued by his past: a past that is both the flesh of his own family and the soured spirit of a haunted, marginalized people. With tragic inevitability, the impossibility of escape from his own dark history becomes all too obvious.

“The most powerful contemporary play this season” –New York Times

“The evening coils up into a fist and strikes home with wonderful acting” –New York Post

“A thrilling performance… ignites a powder keg on stage!” – New York Daily News

An Irish Love Story

by Gardner McKay
directed by Paul Weidner

Fall 1989
At Tada Theatre, 120 West 28^th Street

Sea Marks is the story of two people falling in love.  He is a rough-hewn fisherman, living by the sea, on a remote island off the West of Ireland.  She lives in Liverpool where she works in a book publishing house.  They meet.  Letters follow–letters full of powerful alluring words like she’s never heard before… Gardner McKay’s play beautifully captures the heartache of long-distance love and when the call of the heart challenges the call of the wild.

“lovely…splendid actors with unwavering convincingness” –New York Times