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Irish Arts Center
In association with
Georganne Aldrich Heller
and
Fishamble: The New Play Company
present

Forgotten

Written and Performed by Pat Kinevane
Directed by Jim Culleton
Produced by Orla Flanagan

February 17– March 7 | Wednesday - Saturday 8 pm, Sunday 3 pm

“Never underestimate the substance, the complexity, of a long life. ‘Forgotten,’ Pat Kinevane’s one-man show at the Irish Arts Center, gracefully illustrates that point with mimickry, invention and formidable stamina. Well paced and poignant. Mr. Kinevane artfully conveys the secrets, the hidden past, of the aged, and the dignity often behind their quaint, seemingly innocuous bearing.”

Rave review for Fishamble's Forgotten in

"... the monologues are beautifully written and vivid , what makes this show uniquely memorable is Kinevane’s raw, over-the-top, compassionate performance.." Read more...

“The Japanese and dance elements are
as weird as they are fresh, bold choices
in a show with a serious heart.”

—Gwen Orel, BackStage

“Every now and then you see something truly unique…Pat Kinevane's Forgotten is a superb showcase for this exceptionally warm and generous performer. More than a play, it's poetry, and it’s an immersive experience.”
—Jon Sobel, Blogcritics.org

“With this poignant one-man show, Fishamble proves itself once again to be the progenitor of innovative, socially engaged drama that's both lyrical and tough as nails. The power of the piece—which juxtaposes each character's pain with flashes of humor and humanity—transcends. Forgotten is well-worth seeing for the strength of Pat Kinevane's writing and precision of his performance, and the fluidity of Culleton's direction. It is an exemplar of the solo show form.”
—NY Theatre.com

Pat Kinevane’s captivating portrayal of four vibrant elderly characters on the fringe of society is a unique collage of Kabuki dance and Irish storytelling. With humor and haunting honesty, Kinevane’s performance brings to life the challenges, loves, dreams and sorrows of these heroic figures in the twilight of their lives.

Dublin’s award-winning Fishamble: The New Play Company, returns to New York for this special limited engagement following their triumphant Off-Broadway production of Sebastian Barry’s The Pride of Parnell Street.

Admission:
$38 general sale/$30 members
To buy click here or call 212 868-4444

Cambria/Douglass
Two Plays.   One Legacy.

The Cambriaby Donal O'Kelly
Featuring Donal O'Kelly and Sorcha Fox

and

Frederick Douglass Now
Written and performed by Roger Guenveur Smith

Presented on alternating evenings and matinees through October 25th only

Click here to jump to full schedule.  

“A star turn, a rapid-fire riff, darting among epochs that mix the sounds of
poetry slam, hip-hop and the old-style preacher. Spoken, sung and emoted with entertaining conviction” —The New York Times

Click here to read the reviews

Marvelous. Eye-Opening.
O'Kelly's performance of Douglass is brilliant.
You need to make it your business to go and see this show." —Amsterdam News

Cambria/Douglass features two thrilling plays that illuminate the Frederick Douglass story for our time.The Cambria and Frederick Douglass Now are presented on alternating evenings and matinees through October 25th only. See full schedule below.  Presented in association with the Classical Theatre of Harlem.

“Entertaining, thought provoking, beautifully crafted
. . . a well aimed appeal to our better selves.”
—Irish Times

Forced to flee the U.S. after publishing his life story, Frederick Douglass sought refuge in Ireland.   With false papers, and a bounty on his head from enraged slaveholders, he boarded the paddle-steamer Cambria out of Boston.   Donal O’Kelly’s THE CAMBRIA is the thrilling tale of the historic voyage in which Douglass’s identity was revealed—placing his life in mortal danger—and how he survived to become the person Abraham Lincoln called “the most impressive man I ever met.” Featuring Sorcha Fox and Donal O’Kelly.

“Run, do not walk, to The Cambria
…a superb evening at the theatre.”
—NY Theatre.com

Written and performed by Roger Guenveur Smith (A Huey P. Newton Story, American Gangster, Do The Right Thing), FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW brings to life the pioneering abolitionist and orator in a nationally acclaimed solo performance.  At the core of Smith's Douglass is the fugitive slave turned statesman, whose quest for an America free of racism, sexism and economic deprivation is still, tragically, relevant. Most recently presented at the Kennedy Center, FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW returns to New York following sold-out engagements at Aaron Davis Hall and La Mama.

Tue-Fri 8 pm | Sat 2 pm & 8 pm | Sun 3pm & 7 pm
Presented on alternating evenings and matinees through October 25th only.

Each Performance :  $50* general, $42* IAC & CTH members

PURCHASE TICKETS TO ONE PERFORMANCE & RECEIVE 50% OFF THE OTHER.   
Buy tickets to THE CAMBRIA or FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW and use the discount code in your confirmation e-mail to see the other show for half the price!


Please Note: There will be no late seating for FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW

Click here to buy now or call 212-868-4444

IAC & CTH members can book directly through Irish Arts Centerand avoid ticket processing fees.  Call 212-757-3318 ext. 204 from 10 - 6 Monday through Fri.

About Classical Theatre of Harlem

Since its founding in 1999, the Classical Theatre of Harlem has presented nearly forty productions that have included works by Anton Chekhov, Samuel Beckett, Euripides, Jean Genet, Langston Hughes, Adrienne Kennedy, William Shakespeare, Melvin Van Peebles, Derek Walcott and August Wilson among many others.  The company combines non-traditional casting, original adaptations, music and dance in ways that render works from the classical canon as fresh, innovative, and essentially a new experience of world classics. It is CTH’s vision to create the next great American theatre company whose value to its community is inherent and essential, a company that is engaged in producing theatre that has the capacity to change lives and truly reflects the diversity of ideas and racial tapestry that is America. www.ClassicalTheatreOfHarlem.org

“I have spent some of the happiest days of my life since landing in this country." Frederick Douglass

The Cambria
by Donal O’Kelly
Celebrating Frederick Douglass's Historic Trip To Ireland

Starring Donal O’Kelly and Sorcha Fox
Directed by Raymond Keane

March 17-22
Tues-Fri 8pm | Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 3pm

Strictly limited engagement

CLICK HERE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL FEATURE

THE CAMBRIA leads Ben Brantley's column in NY Times Click here

CLICK HERE FOR THE FEATURE IN THE
BLACK STAR NEWS

CLICK HERE FOR THE FEATURE IN THE IRISH TIMES

Click on the link below for review:

"This play provides one of those concentrated, magical experiences one hopes for every time one takes one's seat in a theater." —Blogcritics Magazine

Frederick Douglass is one of the great iconic figures in American history and a forerunner to our new American president, Barack Obama.   At the 1888 Republican convention in Chicago, Douglass became the first African-American to have his name placed in nomination for the presidency by a major party.  

But forty three years earlier, as a relatively unknown escaped slave, he was forced to flee the United States after publishing his life story, A Narrative of the Life of an American Slave.  With false papers – and a bounty on his head from enraged slaveholders – he boarded the Cunard Line paddle-steamer The Cambria out of Boston bound for Ireland.    He was greeted like a hero by the Irish people and spoke to mass meetings on platforms with Daniel O’Connell, the leading Irish politician of the day.

The Cambria is the thrilling tale of the historic voyage in which Douglass’s identity was revealed – placing his life in mortal danger. Written by Ireland’s master theatrical storyteller Donal O’Kelly, who dazzled IAC audiences last November with his virtuosic Catalpa, The Cambria tells the story of how Douglass survived to become what Abraham Lincoln called "the most impressive man I ever met”, and the rhetorical inspiration for Barack Obama’s successful campaign for the American Presidency.

Irish Arts Center New Plays Partnership

Brendan
Staged Reading of a New Play by Ronan Noone
Directed by Will Frears

Friday, February 20 | 3pm

Brendan is a funny and touching coming of age story about a recent Irish immigrant in Boston.  Brendan misses his family, but works hard to fit-in in his adopted country, earn his American citizenship, and find love and meaning in his new life.  

Originally from Clifden, Co. Galway, Ronan Noone is the author of The Lepers of Baile Baiste and The Blowin of Baile Gall, which had its Off-Broadway premiere at the Irish Arts Center in 2005.  His play The Atheist was recently produced Off-Broadway starring Campbell Scott, and had earlier sold-out runs at the Huntington Theatre and Williamstown Theatre Festival, and is published by DPS. Brendan, produced by the Huntington Theatre, won the IRNE Best New Play Award in 2008 and is published by DPS. A former journalist, Noone studied playwriting in Boston University’s MFA program under the tutelage of Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott.

Will Frears holds an MFA in directing from Yale School of Drama.  His Off-Broadway credits include Rainbow Kiss (The Play Company); Omnium Gatherum (Variety Arts); Where We’re Born andGod Hates The Irish (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre); The Water’s Edge (Second Stage); Pen (Playwrights Horizons).  Regionally, he directed Romeo & Juliet, Bus Stop, The Water’s Edge and A Servant Of Two Masters at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; The Pillowman at George Street Playhouse; and Our Lady of 121st Street at Steppenwolf Theatre.  His film credits include Coach; Beloved; and All Saints Day (Winner, Best Narrative Short, Savannah Film Festival). 

This program is supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts,
a public agency.

Catalpa LIMITED ENGAGEMENT!

Written and performed by Donal O’Kelly
With live music composed and performed by Trevor Knight


November 12 – 30 | Tues-Fri* 8pm, Sat 2pm & 8pm, Sun** 3pm

Click here for more info

“DAZZLING, THEATRICAL STORYTELLING” Times of London

Winner, Fringe First Award, Edinburgh Fringe Festival

“Exuberant, exhilarating, magical ...a triumph, a joy, a delight" Irish Times

“Dazzling, theatrical storytelling”The Times of London

“A masterpiece ... searingly satirical, comic, tragic, profoundly sensitive" The Scotsman

“Donal O’Kelly is Ireland’s Robin Williams...a one-man tour-de-force" The Herald (Glasgow)

“A triumphant feat...a ferocious night of imaginative theatre" RTE Guide

Click here for more info

Irish Arts Center in association with
Georganne Aldrich Heller and Semper Fi (Ireland)

presents the American premiere
of the award-winning theatrical event

Ladies and Gents

Performed in the Bethesda Fountain Restrooms Central Park

Written and Directed by Paul Walker
Original Direction by Karl Shiels

A site-specific noir thriller set in a public restroom in 1957 Dublin, “Ladies and Gents” has shocked and delighted audiences and critics alike from Dublin to Edinburgh.      Winner of the Edinburgh Fringe First Award.

Limited Engagement! | March 17th – 29th | Performances at 7PM, 8PM, and 9PM nightly

Click here for more information,

Irish Arts Center New Plays Partnership
LITTLE BLACK DRESS
Staged Reading of a New Play by Ronan Noone
Directed by Ari Edelson

Monday, February 4th at 7.30 PM

Free Event!

In a small Midwestern town Charly Kennedy needs help with his booming gigolo business, and hires his best friend, Jimmy, to help out.  Jimmy agrees as long as his mother, Amy, doesn’t find out. An outrageous satire on the “pursuit of happiness," Little Black Dress asks what you have to sacrifice when chasing the American dream.


Ronan Noone, originally from Clifden, Co. Galway, is the author of The Lepers of Baile Baiste and The Blowin of Baile Gall, which had its Off-Broadway premiere at the Irish Arts Center in 2005.  His most recent plays, The Atheist (starring Campbell Scott) and Brendan received enthusiastic reviews and played to sold-out audiences at Boston’s Huntington Theatre in 2007.      

"Noone's plays are now the highlight of any given theatre season!" 
The Boston Globe 

“(A) talent likely heading for The Great White Way” 
San Francisco Bay Times 

As a director, Ari Edelson has worked both in the US and internationally, with recent credits including: Vengeance (Cherry Lane), Expats (The New Group (naked), NY), Jump! and Realism (The Exchange, NY), The Attic (Play Company, NY, Obie Award), The Atheist (Theatre 503, London), Blood Wedding, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Theatre Project Tokyo), True West and Tape (Tokyo Globe), Rape of Lucretia (English National Opera, London and Luxembourg). He has also worked with such companies as La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf, the Old Vic, Circle in the Square, the Royal National Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket, The Vineyard Theatre, The New Group and the Westport Country Playhouse. In additions to his roles at the Exchange, the Orchard Project and with Old Vic New Voices, he has been a guest director on attachment at New Dramatists, a Directing Fellow of the Drama League of New York, and has taught at Northwestern University, Fordham University and in Japan.  He graduated from Yale University and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

The Irish Arts Center New Plays Partnership links playwrights with directors, offers a safe space for the development of new work, and provides exposure to a wide network of New York-based theatre professionals. 

ROCK DOVES
A New Comedy by Marie Jones
Directed by Ian McElhinney



presented in association with Georganne Aldrich Heller
and Anita Waxman

Rock Doves ran from September 6, 2007 to October 28, 2007

Set in Belfast – a thriving city now that the “Troubles” are over – Rock Dovescenters around four wild and colorful characters as they navigate the “new” Northern Ireland: a squatter, a prostitute, a cross-dresser… and a teenager who still thinks he is fighting the war. In Marie Jones’ signature comedic style, Rock Dovesoffers an affectionate portrait of the resilience and humanity of people who will do anything to survive. Featuring Natalie Brown, Johnny Hopkins, Marty Maguire (A Night in November),and Tim Ruddy (The Blowin of Baile Gall).

From the Olivier-winning,Tony-nominated team behind the international hit Stones in His Pockets.

Click here for photos, cast info and more.

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