Irish Arts Center Revives A NIGHT IN NOVEMBER for St. Patrick's Day

Following sell-out runs at the Tricycle Theatre in London, the Edinburgh Festival (Fringe First Award-winner), and Dublin's historic Gaiety Theatre and Liberty Hall Theatre, the Irish Arts Center in association with Georganne Aldrich Heller, presents the return of the smash hit comedy A NIGHT IN NOVEMBER, from award-winning author of the Tony-Nominated Stones in His Pockets, Marie Jones. A NIGHT IN NOVEMBER begins previews on Tuesday, March 14 for a limited engagement through Sunday, April 2. The performance schedule is Tuesday – Saturday at 8:00 PM; Sunday at 3:00 PM. Opening Night is Friday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day) at 8:00 PM. Performances take place at the Donaghy Theatre at the Irish Arts Center (553 West 51st Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues). Ticket prices range from $35 - $40 and are available by calling SmartTix at (212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.

Kenneth McAllister was a clerk in a welfare office. A Belfast Protestant who followed all the rules. He loved who he was supposed to love. He lived where he was expected to live. He fought who he was taught to fight. That is, until one night—a night in November—when he did the most exciting, outrageous, crazy, mad thing he'd ever done.

During its original Off Broadway engagement, the NY Times called the play "hilarious, poignant and perceptive," and A NIGHT IN NOVEMBER went on to be one of the biggest box office and critical success at the Irish Arts Center.

Marie Jones (playwright) is the internationally acclaimed playwright of the world-wide smash hit comedy Stones in His Pockets. Her recent plays include an adaptation of The Government Inspector, Women on the Verge of HRT and Eddie Bottom's Dream, all of which have toured extensively in Ireland and the UK. Her latest play, The Blind Fiddler, was a commercial and critical success at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Marie's best-known play Stones in His Pockets, won the Olivier Award for Best Play in London's West End and the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Production and was nominated for two Tony Awards for its Broadway production. A prolific writer of television and radio dramas, her work for BBC Radio, BBC TV and Channel Four include "Tribes," "The Hamster Wind," "Christmas Eve Can Kill You," "Weddin's, Wee'ins and Wakes," "The Woman in the Pink Silk Dressing Gown," "From Donegal with Love" and "The Wingnut and the Sprog."

Tim Byron Owen (director) is a founding member of The Celtic Arts Center Theater in Los Angeles and the co-founder (with Nick Cassavetes) and Artistic Director of The Sarah Fulton Group. For the Celtic Arts Center, he directed A Night in November, starring Marty Maguire, which transferred to Gary Marshall's Falcon Theater, initiating the "Gary Marshall Presents" series. The production went on the Tricycle Theater, London, the Edinburgh Fringe and Dublin's Gaiety Theatre and Liberty Hall Theatre. For The Sarah Fulton Group, he directed the play Runt, which won a Fringe First Award the 2001 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Most recently, he directed a new play, Fighting Words, based on Welsh boxing champion Johnny Owen's World Championship bout in Los Angeles. He is currently developing The Matchstick Man, a feature film about Johnny Owen, starring Jamie Bell (Billy Elliott).

Belfast native Marty Maguire (actor) most recently appeared in the award-winning Marie Jones play A Night in November which played the Celtic Arts Center and Falcon Theatre in Los Angeles, The Tricycle Theatre in London, The Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh and the Gaiety Theatre and Liberty Hall in Dublin. For his performance, he won the "Best Actor Award" at the 2002 International Edinburgh Fringe Festival and "Best Actor in a Lead Performance" awarded by the Los Angeles Dramalogue Critics Circle in 2003. Marty's numerous theatre credits include Grease, West Side Story, A Flag To Fly, Away Alone, Da., Orphans, Girls in the Big Picture, Hang All The Harper's, Wuthering Heights, Jack & The Beanstalk and A Taste of Ireland and A Grand Irish Variety Concert. He is a twelve-year member of the award winning "California Artists Radio Theatre" (C.A.R.T.) with more than twenty radio plays to his credit, ranging from Irish, English and American Classics to Shakespeare. His television appearances include "Rosanne," "JAG," and the BBC comedy "Pulling Moves." Marty's film credits include Wild Card, Orphan, The Grasscutter, Last of a Dyin' Race, and St. Patrick's Day.

Located in the heart of Hell's Kitchen, the Irish Arts Center was founded in1972 to celebrate the artistic expression of the Irish and Irish American Experience. For the past thirty-three years, the Irish Arts Center has been, and continues to be the leading non-profit Irish organization in New York. It has brought together all aspects of Irish culture -film, theatre, music, dance, history, language, fiction, and visual arts- under one roof, making them accessible to people of all backgrounds and ages.