Jerry Finnegan's Sister at Actors Studio Theatre

Jerry Finnegan's Sister, written and directed by Jack Neary, makes you wonder how romance ever works. Brian Dowd is 23 years old, and has had a mammoth crush on his best friend's sister for most of his life. He has just heard that Beth is going to be married. He tells his friends - the audience - that before the evening is out, he will finally, finally tell Beth how he feels about her. The actors play the characters as children, adolescents, teens, and young adults, and as the culminating moment in the play approaches, audience members find themselves so involved in Brian's plight that they invariably roar with delight at the curtain call. Featuring Ashley Risteen and Matt Crawford.

"... a rich and endearing story of a young man’s infatuation...There is not one false note in Neary’s voice as playwright...Search your experience. This story could go anywhere, right? It does. It comes back to a simple question, though. Will Brian ever ask Beth out? The play’s ending is, hands-down, the best I’ve seen in such comedies. JERRY FINNEGAN’S SISTER makes you wonder how romance ever works. Then you believe there is little else." Larry Parnass, Daily Hampshire Gazette, Northampton, Massachusetts

"Only a small number of people have been fortunate enough to escape the anguish, embarrassment and self-recrimination involved with unrequited love. These few people may sympathize, but will not empathize with the rest of us who have. Those who have suffered this affliction need to see Jack Neary’s play, JERRY FINNEGAN’S SISTER, in order to relive that experience in the company of kin and kind for a catharsis of laughter and tears." Times Herald-Record, Stony Point, NY