The Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) is hosting a NEW WORKS READING SERIES to support new plays and emerging playwrights. As part of its 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." The next of the free staged readings is the Irish Repertory Theatre's commission of Kelly Younger's adaptation of Banished Children of Eve, based on the novel by Peter Quinn. The reading will be directed by the Irish Rep's producing director, Ciarán O'Reilly. The reading is on Friday, June 5th at 3 PM, tickets are free, and the event is open to the public. An RSVP to 212-727-2737 is suggested.
The reading of Banished Children of Eve will be presented as the culmination of a two-day developmental workshop. The play will be read by Fred Applegate* (Happiness, Young Frankenstein), David Wilson Barnes* (Becky Shaw, The Lieutenant of Inishmore), Muiris Crowley (The Yeats Project), Mark Hartman* (Avenue Q, Finian's Rainbow), Michelle Hurst* ("SherryBaby," The Story), Nicola Murphy (The Yeats Project), Aaron Shaw ("In Treatment") and Tracie Thoms* (10 Things To Do Before I Die, Rent). *courtesy of AEA
Set in New York City during the Civil War years, Banished Children of Eve echoes with Stephen Foster songs and the disparate voices of immigrants, minstrel actors, hucksters, and domestic servants whose lives all intersect. As tensions surrounding emigration, war, and racial strife reach a flashpoint and rush toward the fatal Draft Riots, the characters are drawn together in a net of violence and fear, longing and hope.
Kelly Younger (playwright) is an award-winning playwright with work staged in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, throughout the Midwest and South, as well as in Canada, England, and Ireland. He is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA Playwrights Unit, the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights, and The Dramatists Guild of America. Currently, Younger is developing a full-length, time-bending, romantic-comedy called Rorschach that recently had a premiere reading in New York. Select works include: I Think You Think I Love You (Playscripts; Smith and Kraus anthology "Best Plays of 2005"); Forgive me, Father (JAC publishing); Lady Gregory's Ingredients (JAC publishing), winner of the Ireland National Lady Gregory Playwriting Award; Off Compass, winner of the 2007 John Gassner New Play Award; Once a Marine; Epiphany Cake; and Why Wyoming, Critics' Choice for its night in the Samuel French off-off-Broadway Festival. Several monologues from Younger's plays appear in various anthologies from Smith and Kraus as well as Playscripts, and an excerpt of Younger's translation of Trojan Women appears in Beth Henley's play Revelers (Dramatists Play Service). Born and raised in Los Angeles, Younger earned an MA in Classics at Loyola University Chicago and PhD in Drama Studies from University College Dublin in Ireland. He is currently an Associate Professor of English at Loyola Marymount University where he leads workshops in Playwriting and teaches courses in Dramatic Literature. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. www.KellyYounger.com
Kara Manning, Literary Manager, hopes that the reading series will "give playwrights, both emerging and more established, the invaluable opportunity to develop their new work in a supportive, safe environment and will also introduce some Irish playwrights, especially those who might not yet have the New York recognition they merit, to an American audience." The Irish Repertory Theatre's 2007 production of Stuart Carolan's Defender of the Faith was an alumnus of the 2006 New Works Reading Series. Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director, Ciarán O'Reilly, Producing Director, Jeffrey Chrzczon, General Manager
The New Works Reading Series will be on summer hiatus until September. All readings are at 3 PM unless otherwise noted and are located at The Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street).
Tickets are free and the reading is open to the public. Seating is limited. RSVP by calling The Irish Repertory Theatre Box Office at (212) 727-2737. For more information visit www.irishrep.org.
