THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN to Open at the Long Beach Playhouse This Month

Inishmaan is a small rocky island off the Irish coast whose residents are painfully impoverished farmers and fishermen and their families. They spend their time and energy picking at one another to cope with cruelly indifferent realities of their island. In 1996, playwright Martin McDonagh, created a tragi-comic yarn woven from their sad dissatisfactions.

The play is set in 1934, as a ray of hope spreads over Inishmaan when Hollywood director Robert Flaherty sets up shop on neighboring island to film his latest project. Inishmaan is abuzz with anticipation, but no one is more excited than Cripple Billy Claven, an unloved boy whose chief occupation has been watching cows and fantasizing about a girl who wants no part of him. His dream of getting away from the island of Inishmaan seems to come true when he gets the chance to audition.

McDonagh, who brought us The Lieutenant of Inishmore and the 2017 Oscar-nominated film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, is known for his dark comedy and characters who balance on his famous tightrope of cruelty, kindness, human and vulnerability. The Cripple of Inishmaan is considered McDonagh's contemporary comic masterpiece with his eccentric island characters trading stories as Billy Claven tries to make sense of who he is.

"McDonagh's characters are complex, certainly damaged. Billy isn't the only cripple in the play," said Sean Gray, Artistic Director for the Playhouse. "These are people who live in a barren, unforgiving island. The cruelty of their landscape has taken root in their lives.

The Cripple of Inishmaan is a counterpoint to romanticized versions of Irish life historically depicted in plays and movies. This masterful script shatters the stereotypes. Our cast and director are finding all the right notes to make this a show our audience will love."

Executive Director, Madison Mooney, said, "We did McDonagh's Lieutenant of Inishmore in 2011 to great audience acclaim. I'm certain The Cripple of Inishmaan will be just as popular. I'm really impressed with what the actors and director are doing. It will be a great show."

The show's director, Susan Boulanger, comes to the Playhouse with many years of experience directing, acting and teaching theater arts. Boulanger says Billy's certainty "every fella takes his heart in his hands and make a try for something, even though he knows it's a one in a million chance of him getting it," is the pivot point for this wickedly brilliant play. Further, she says, "We can follow Billy's example and, in spite of the hard times we've come out of, and the absurdities and cruelties of the world around us, we can find that thing that has a one in a million chance of coming through and go for it anyway."

The nine-member cast is a mix of debuting and returning actors. Making their first appearances at the Playhouse are: Dylan La Rocque, Mary Price Moore, Makena Margoli, Ronan Walsh, and Floyd Harden. Returning actors are: Carmen Tunis, Karl Schott, Patrick Peterson, and Kip Hogan

Mooney said, "This is a great show, a great cast, a great director and a great way to spend a summer evening."

SPECIAL EVENTS FOR THIS PLAY:

Pay what you can Preview Thursday, July 21 - community can see this production for whatever they can afford
Two for One Preview Friday July 22 - Tickets are $10.00
Opening Night Champagne Reception with cast on July 23 - Tickets are $27.00

TICKET PRICES

Friday: Adults are $20.00, Seniors $18.00, and Students $14.00

Saturday and Sunday: Adults are $24.00, Seniors $21.00, and Students $14.00.

Tickets are available at www.lbplayhouse.org, or by calling 562-494-1014, option 1.

Long Beach Playhouse is located at 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, CA, 90804, right across from the Long Beach Recreation golf course. The Playhouse is community-supported theatre with programs and events that cut across age, gender, ethnic, and cultural boundaries.

Performances are 8 p.m. Friday, and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. The box office is open Wednesday-Saturday from 3:00-8:00 pm and Sundays from 1:00-2:00 pm on scheduled matinees.

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