TCG Books Releases John Patrick Shanley's OUTSIDE MULLINGAR

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announced the publication of John Patrick Shanley's Outside Mullingar, a compassionate and delightful romantic comedy from the Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award and Oscar-winning author of Doubt. The play is currently enjoying its world premiere, helmed by the Tony Award-winning director, Doug Hughes, at Manhattan Theatre Club, starring Debra Messing and Brían F. O'Byrne.

Outside Mullingar tells the romance of Anthony and Rosemary, neighbors in rural Ireland who are nearing their middle years. It is by turns poetic, uplifting, dark and funny as hell. Anthony is an introverted farmer and Rosemary is the woman who vows to have him at all costs. When Anthony's father threatens to disinherit his son, Rosemary steps into the middle of a land feud and family eccentricities beyond what one might imagine. On the brink of romantic catastrophe, this one-of-a-kind Irish heroine fights against time and mortality in hopes of securing her dream of love.

John Patrick Shanley's plays include Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Savage in Limbo and Dirty Story. His trilogy Church and State began with Doubt, followed by Defiance and Storefront Church. For his play Doubt, the playwright received both the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. He has nine films to his credit, including the five-time Oscar-nominated Doubt with Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis. Other films include Five Corners, Alive, Joe Versus The Volcano and Live From Baghdad for HBO (Emmy nomination). For Moonstruck, he received both the Writers Guild Award and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The Writers Guild of America awarded Mr. Shanley the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award in Writing.

For over 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is North America's largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 12 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. www.tcg.org.