Tangent Theatre in Tivoli Company Presents THE GOOD FATHER, 5/3-26

Tangent Theatre Company has announced its exciting Spring show, the first American production of the award-winning Irish play The Good Father, by Christian O'Reilly. This poignant, comedic and touching play will see its first staging in the U.S. thanks to Tangent Theatre Company's keen interest in bringing this compelling story to an American stage.

The Good Father will premiere at Tangent's Carpenter Shop Theater in the heart of Tivoli's historic Hudson Valley village, with an extended four- week run (May 3 – 26, 2012). The production will feature Tangent's artistic director and actor Michael Rhodes and Noni Stapleton, an actress here from Dublin whose talents Rhodes admired when doing a reading together in Ireland in 2010. New York City-based Greg Skura, a Tangent ensemble member since 2002, will take the director's chair. Lighting design will be by Vin Roca (technical director at Bard College's Fisher Center for the Performing Arts) and wardrobe design by veteran costumer Adrienne Westmore; Andrea Rhodes produces.

The Good Father had its world premiere at the Galway Theater Festival in 2002, by the famed Druid Theatre Company, directed by Tony-award winning Garry Hynes. Garnering prestigious awards, the play has been produced in Europe and Canada thus far. After its publishing in an anthology of contemporary Irish plays, the piece caught the eye of Tangent's Michael Rhodes. "I've always been most passionate about bringing newer works to the stage with Tangent, and for our next show the time felt particularly right. Christian's play is perfect for us, a very 'Tangential' study, offering an emotionally truthful look at two very human characters, where love isn't a storybook, and hopes and fears are obstacles in a struggle to connect. It's a gorgeous and gutty play that I think will really resonate with audiences," says Rhodes.

Christian O'Reilly writes for theater, film, television and radio. His plays have been produced by the Druid Theatre Company, and appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe and 50th Dublin Theatre Festivals. His plays and film scripts have received national playwright and screenwriting awards in Ireland and in Europe. Tangent's director Greg Skura reflects, "I'm really excited about this project for the chance to uncover and explore with two fine actors the universal truths at the heart of this brilliant script, and the opportunity to stretch boundaries of the beautifully intimate Carpenter Shop Theater."

Tangent, founded in New York City in 2000, is known for their productions of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, Edward Albee's The Zoo Story, their NEWvember New Plays Festival and their popular pub-readings. Having an affinity for Ireland and its writers, Tangent's passion for Irish plays is a part of their make-up (and inspires their pub-theater series). Other notable Irish plays they've read or produced include Oscar-winning Martin McDonagh's The Lonesome West, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and A Skull in Connemara; and the classic Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.

Info: The Good Father at The Carpenter Shop Theater (60 Broadway, Tivoli), May 3 – 26, 2012, Thurs. – Sat. 8pm; Sun. 3pm (closes on a Sat.); tickets $20; for more info: tangent-arts.org or (845) 230-7020.