Dermot Crowley, Dearbhla Molloy Set for Irish Rep's GIVE ME YOUR HAND

Paul Durcan was born in Dublin of Mayo parents in 1944. His first book, Endsville (1967), has been followed by twenty-two others, including O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor (1975), The Berlin Wall Café (a Poetry Book Society Choice in 1985), Daddy, Daddy (winner of the Whitbread Award for Poetry in 1990), Crazy About Women (1991), A Snail in My Prime (1993), Give Me Your Hand (1994), Greetings to Our Friends in Brazil (1999), The Art of Life (2004), The Laughter of Mothers (2007), Life Is a Dream: 40 Years Reading Poems (2009) and Praise in which I Live and Move and Have My Being (2012). In 1974, Paul Durcan received the Patrick Kavanagh Award and, in 2001, a Cholmondeley Award. He was Ireland Professor of Poetry from 2004 to 2007. He was conferred with a D.Litt by Trinity College Dublin in 2009 and by University College Dublin in 2011. He is a member of Aosdana.

Director Richard Twyman's credits include HENRY IV PT II for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s HISTORIES CYCLE, which won three Olivier Awards, the Evening Standard’s Editor’s Choice Award, and was named by critic Michael Billington (The Guardian) as his "Production of the Decade, 2000-2010." Other directing credits include DITCH (Old Vic); THE DJINNS OF EIDGAH (Royal Court/Rage Theatre Mumbai); DR. MARIGOLD & MR. CHOPS (Theatre Royal Bath & National Tour); and SIXTY-SIX BOOKS (Bush Theatre). He has worked extensively as a director/associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre London, Royal Court, Gate Theatre & York Theatre Royal.

Co-founded by Producing Director Ciarán O'Reilly and Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, The Irish Repertory Theatre opened its doors in September 1988 with Sean O'Casey's THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS. The mission of the theatre was and remains to bring works by Irish and Irish American masters and contemporary playwrights to American audiences; to provide a context for understanding the contemporary Irish American experience; and to encourage the development of new works focusing on the Irish and Irish American experience, as well as a range of other cultures. Ms. Moore and Mr. O'Reilly recently received the 2011 Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award from Irish American Writers & Artists, Inc.

GIVE ME YOUR HAND is presented with the support of Culture Ireland.

Playing on the Irish Repertory Theatre's mainstage, with previews set to begin February 15, prior to an official press opening on February 26, is Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama BEYOND THE HORIZON, directed by Ciaran O'Reilly.

Performances of GIVE ME YOUR HAND run March 7-April 1 at The Irish Repertory Theatre Company's W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre (132 West 22nd Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues): Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm; plus 3pm matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $30, and are available by calling 212-727-2737 or online at www.irishrep.org. For more information, visit www.irishrep.org.

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