Dark Open Casket Comedy A SHORT WAKE Opens As Part of 1st IRISH 2009 9/1-10/4

"A Short Wake," a new dark comedy by Derek Murphy set in a New York funeral parlor where two brothers pay some very questionable respects at their father's wake, receives its U.S. premiere during this year's 1st Irish Festival in New York. The two-character play features Peter Bradbury and BranDon Williams, and is directed by Ludovica Villar-Hauser. The New York-based production marks the play's second incarnation; originally it toured Ireland in the fall of 2007 after its world premiere at the Derry Playhouse. At the time, The Irish Times praised the Dublin-born and New York-based Murphy as "slick, witty and subversive."

Produced by Tweiss Productions, "A Short Wake" comes to life on Thursday September 10, playing 12 performances through Saturday September 26 at Manhattan Theatre Source, 177 MacDougal Street. Performances during the show's 3-week engagement are Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 8pm and Saturday at 3pm . Tickets, which are $18, are available via Theatermania.com, by phone at 212/352-3101 or online at www.theatermania.com

When two first-generation Irish-American brothers, who have become estranged since the suspicious death of their mother, are reacquainted many years later at the wake of their father, secrets meant for the grave are brought to light. Not that this open-casket affair is an open book. Far from it. It seems that the older brother, Teddy, (played by Peter=2 0Bradbury), a thief and a rogue, had been there for his father, caring for him in the last weeks of the old man's life. But to avoid unpleasant questions he spent those weeks pretending to be his younger brother Jimmy (BranDon Williams does the honors), a successful attorney who lives by himself and is protective of his privacy. What appears at first blush as an act of pure deception may have actually resurrected the truth about many things.

Ludovica Villar-Hauser, who produced and directed the long-running hit drama "The Countess," both Off-Broadway (634 performances) and on the West End, recently directed the U.S. premiere of British playwright Philip Ridley's "Leaves of Glass" at the Peter J. Sharp Theatre. In 2004 she directed the Off-Broadway world premiere of the drama "Duet." "A Short Wake's" production stage manager is Nick Tochelli.

The five-week-long 1st Irish 2009, New York's first and only all-Irish theatre festival, is presenting the work of 21 Irish playwrights from here and abroad, in 12 venues across New York City. The festival runs from September 1 through October 4. For festival information visit www.1stIrish.org

"A Short Wake," with 12 performances, runs from September 10 to 26 at Manhattan Theatre Source, 177 MacDougal Street. Tickets are $18, and are available by phone at 212/352-3101 or online at www.theatermania.com