Asolo Repertory Theatre Announces Cast of DANCING AT LUGHNASA

Asolo Repertory Theatre has announced complete casting for the Olivier and Tony Award-winning memory play Dancing at Lughnasa, which begins previews on March 19, 2025.  Written by Brian Friel and directed by Joe Dowling, Dancing at Lughnasa runs March 19 – April 19, 2025. 

Music and memory draw you back to the 1930s in this lyrical, effervescent portrait of five sisters holding onto each other through the joys of life in rural Ireland. Their missionary uncle has sparked a town scandal, their means of employment are looking doubtful, and their country is caught between ancient traditions and Catholic expectations. Still, the Mundy sisters face life with hard work, family loyalty, and once a year: dancing at the annual harvest festival of Lughnasa.  

CAST OF DANCING AT LUGHNASA

Mark Benninghofen (Father Jack) is thrilled to return to the Asolo Rep stage and this wonderful Sarasota audience. Last season he appeared as Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind and Inspector Hubbard in Dial M for Murder. Other national theater credits include: Juno and the Paycock, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Six Degrees of Separation, Born Yesterday, St. Joan, Time Stands Still, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide, Great Expectations, Tyrone and Ralph and The Hot House. TV and film credits include Movie Stars, Frasier, Drew Carey, Chicago Hope, The Public Domain, Wilson and Older Than America.  

Gina Costigan (Kate) Broadway: Hangmen, The Ferryman. Off-Broadway: Party Face (NYCC), The Suitcase Under the Bed (The Mint), Crackskull Row (Irish Rep). Regional: The Seedbed (NJ Rep). UK/Ireland: On McQuillan’s Hill (The Finborough), The Valley of the Squinting Windows (Mullingar Arts Centre), An Trial (National Tour), The Risen People (Gaiety). Film/TV: Law & Order, “Kiin”, “My Sailor, My Love”, “Atlanta”, “Harry Wild”, “Halston”, “I Know This Much Is True”, “Vikings”, “Brittany Runs a Marathon”, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, “Fair City”, “Becoming Jane”, “Veronica Guerin.”  

Tyler Michaels King (Michael) is an actor, director, and is the Founding Artistic Director of Trademark Theater. He has worked and played with the Guthrie Theater, The Ordway, Theater Latté Da, Children’s Theater Company, Hennepin Theater Trust, History Theatre, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Illusion Theater, and Artistry, among many others. Tyler is also a founding member of The Bearded Company. Tyler is a McKnight Theater Artist Fellow, holds the 2014 Emerging Artist Ivey Award, the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Performance from the Kennedy Center National ACT Festival, and was named “Artist of the Year” by Minnesota’s City Pages. 

Doireann Mac Mahon (Christina) Asolo Rep Debut. Theatre credits include Corruption (Lincoln Centre Theatre), Ellis Island (Rattlestick Theatre), Peter and the Wolf (Irish National Concert Hall), Angela’s Ashes the Musical (Irish National Tour), and Wrong Turn at Lungfish (Viking Theatre/Civic Theatre, Dublin). Film: Shallow Water. MFA, Yale School of Drama. 

Maeve Moynihan (Rose) is very grateful to work on this beautiful play! This is her Asolo Repertory Theatre debut. Most recently, she played Ophelia in Hamlet at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. She also toured with the first national tour of To Kill a Mockingbird and played Scout Finch. Other regional theaters she’s worked for include The Guthrie Theater, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Park Square Theatre, Red Eye Theater, Theatre Latté Da, The Minnesota Opera, The Children’s Theatre Company, and Montana Shakespeare in the Parks.  

Clare O’Malley (Agnes) is an acclaimed Irish actor, singer, and songwriter, performing worldwide from Ireland’s National Theatre, The Abbey, to Eurovision in Azerbaijan. In New York, she starred Off-Broadway at The Irish Repertory Theatre in The Plough and the Stars, Pumpgirl, The Dead 1904, and Philadelphia, Here I Come!. U.S. highlights include Saint Joan (DTC), Private Lives (Walnut Street), Metamorphoses (The Arden), and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (PTC). Film/TV: Creed, Distemper, Benighted Entries. Her debut single The Collector is streaming now, with her EP set for release in May 2025. Listen on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube Music. 

Derdriu Ring (Maggie) is a graduate of The Gaiety School of Acting, Dublin. Memorable roles include; Slippy Helen/The Cripple of Inishmaan (The Geffen Playhouse), Catherine/A Long Day’s Journey into Night (Hartford Stage), Catherine/Proof (The Cleveland Playhouse), Josie/Moon for the Misbegotten (Great Lakes Theater), Pegeen Mike/The Playboy of the Western (The Irish Rep, NYC), Rosie Redmond/The Plough & The Stars (The Guthrie Theatre), Charlotte/Something Clean (Dobama Theatre). Derdriu has won best actress from The Cleveland Critics Circle & Pittsburgh Post Gazette four times. Television: Law & Order C.I., Hope & Faith.  

Collin Kelly-Sordelet (Gerry) First time working at Asolo Rep and thrilled to be a part of this wonderful cast & crew. Broadway credits: Young Gideon/Tom in Sting's The Last Ship, JJ Carney in The Ferryman. Off-Broadway: Second Stage's Somebody's Daughter, The Coast Starlight Film: Wildling, Radium Girls, Escaping Ohio. TV: Blue Bloods, Hulu's The Path. 

Rounding out the Cast are Moriel Behar (Understudy Kate/Maggie), Trent Dahlin (Understudy Gerry and Michael), Elle Miller (Understudy Agnes), Corrie Owens (Understudy Chris), Caitlin Rose (Understudy Rose), and Patrick Vest (Understudy Father Jack). 

PLAYWRIGHT 

BRAIN FRIEL wrote The Enemy Within (1962); Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1964); The Loves of Cass Maguire (1966); Lovers (1967); Crystal and Fox (1968); The Mundy Scene (1969); The Gentle Island (1971); The Freedom of the City (1973); Volunteers (1975); Living Quarters (1977); Aristocrats (1979); Faith Healer (1979); Translations (1980); a translation of Three Sisters (1981); The Communication Cord (1982); an adaptation of Turgenev’s Novel Fathers and Sons (1987); Making History (1988); Dancing at Lughnasa (1990); The London Vertigo (1991); an adaptation of A Month in the Country (1992); Wonderful Tennessee (1993); and Molly Sweeney (1994). Dancing at Lughnasa premiered at The Abbey Theatre, transferred to London’s West End, and then went on to Broadway, where it won three 1992 Tony Awards, including Best Play. The play has been performed around the world, including national tours in Ireland, England, and Australia. 

DIRECTOR 

Joe Dowling has been an actor, director, and teacher for over fifty years.  At age 29, he was appointed the youngest ever artistic director of The Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s national theatre. In 1987, he founded The Gaiety School of Acting, the first full-time acting training in Ireland.  In New York, he directed the Tony Award nominated Moliere’s Tartuffe and Dion Boucicault’s London Assurance. For Shakespeare in The Park, he directed Othello, with Raul Julia and Christopher Walken. In 1995, He was appointed artistic director and CEO of The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.  He was the driving force behind the relocation of the theatre from its original location to the banks of The Mississippi River in a new three-theatre complex. 

CREATIVE TEAM 

Joe Dowling (Director), John Lee Beatty (Scenic Design), David Covach (Costume Design), Sinéad McKenna (Lighting Design), Peter Morrow (Sound Design and Original Compositions), Michelle Hart (Hair, Makeup and Wig Design), Cat Brindisi (Movement Consultant), Murnane Casting, Chad Murnane, CSA, Amber Snead, CSA, Jacqueline Singleton (Production Stage Manager) and Sarah Nicholson (Assistant Stage Manager).   

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