ORIGIN'S 1ST IRISH 2013 Announces Nominees for Awards Monday

Nominations for the top awards of Origin's 1st Irish 2013 are being announced today for an Awards Ceremony hosted by Papillon Bistro & Bar, 22 East 54th Street on Monday September 30 at 7pm. In all eight plays were seen in competition during the month-long festival which began on September 2. The sixth annual edition of 1st Irish, the first and only festival in the world dedicated to Irish playwrights, welcomed two productions from Ireland, and six from the U.S. by contemporary Irish playwrights from Belfast, Dublin, Boston and New York. A total of six were world premieres.

NY 1 News personality Patrick Pacheco and Adrian Dunbar, currently appearing in the critically acclaimed drama "Brendan at the Chelsea," are among the presenters who will hand out awards in seven categories, including acting, directing, and design honors. The Festival's blue-ribbon jury consists of the actresses Sarah Rice and Geraldine Hughes and the journalists Andy Lefkowitz and Leslie (Hoban) Blake.

The list of nominees is as follows: Best actress - Olivia Horton ("The Compass Rose"); Sonya Kelly ("I Can See Clearly Now (The Wheelchair on my Face)"); Fiana Toibin ("A Lady is Waiting") and Carey Van Driest ("The International"). Best actor - Michael Mellamphy ("The Cure"), Ted Schneider ("The International"); Peter Cormican ("McGoldrick's Thread"); Dave McEntegart ("The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle"), and David Mitchell ("The Compass Rose"). Best Director - Kira Simring ("McGoldrick's Thread"); Dan Herd ("The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle"); David Sullivan ("The Compass Rose"); Christopher Scott ("The Morons"). Best Playwright - Conal Creedon "The Cure;" Sonya Kelly "I Can See Clearly Now;" Tim Ruddy "The International," and Ronan Noone "The Compass Rose."

The Awards Ceremony is coordinated by Ciaran Grant and Antonia Reilly. The event is free and open to the public.

Among the 14 Irish and American theatre and arts venues which presented or produced events at the festival this year are 59E59 Theaters; Theatre 80 St. Marks; The Cell; Ryan's Daughter Pub; The Lyric Theatre of Belfast; the New York Irish Center in Queens; WB Yeats Society; National Arts Club; the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts; Arlene's Grocery; NYU's Glucksman Ireland House; the American Irish Historical Society; The Irish Arts Centre, and ART New York.

Funding support for 1st Irish 2013 is generously provided by the Festival Sponsors: Mutual of America; McVicker & Higginbotham; the Arts Council of Northern Ireland; the Northern Ireland Bureau; Tourism Ireland; the American Ireland Fund; the Irish Consulate, New York; The Irish Examiner, and the NY State Council for the Arts.

Curated and coordinated by the New York-based Origin Theatre Company, George C. Heslin artistic director, Origin's 1st Irish, the only festival of its kind to focus exclusively on the work of Irish playwrights, is the city's only all-Irish theatre festival. Throughout the year, Origin, now in its eleventh season, produces the New York and American premieres of plays by emerging European playwrights. For festival information visit www.1stIrish.org