Irish Arts Center Unveils Fall 2024 Season Featuring Theatre, Music, Dance & More

Irish Arts Center has revealed their Fall 2024 season. Honoring exploration, innovation, and new approaches to and applications of tradition, the season offers unique theatrical, literary, musical, dance, and visual arts experiences. 
 
IAC continues to welcome Ireland’s most exhilarating contemporary theater to the United States in its flexible performance space: works from Enda Walsh, Mikel Murfi, Dead Centre, THISISPOPBABY, and Lyric Theatre, Belfast, have, since the recently-dedicated JL Greene Theatre’s opening in 2021, shown the scope of groundbreaking performance emerging from Ireland’s visionary minds and companies. This season, IAC brings Dublin theatre collective Malaprop’s HOTHOUSE, winner of the Best Ensemble and Best Production Design awards at Dublin Fringe Festival 2023, to New York audiences, October 23–November 17. The “deadly serious and wildly funny” (The Irish Times) play is a familial, cross-generational journey into the disquieting uncertainties of life on a warming planet, written by Carys D. Coburn with Malaprop, with director Claire O’Reilly harnessing a “smorgasbord of talents into a heady confection” (The Irish Independent). 
 
While presenting some of the boldest work to have premiered in Ireland, IAC likewise draws on its history as a hub for artistic exploration and the development of inventive new work to launch the Activating Archive Residency, a collaboration with Luail, Ireland’s National Dance Company, in partnership with National Dance Archive of Ireland. The inaugural residency, for which a dance artist immerses themselves in various dance archives across genres, takes place November 4–10, with a resident artist to-be-announced. It teams esteemed organizations on either side of the Atlantic, bringing IAC back into collaboration with Liz Roche (Luail’s Artistic Director) following their presentation of Liz Roche Company’s Yes and Yes in 2023.
 
Drawing on the historic importance of literature in Ireland, and the endurance of this vital legacy in contemporary Ireland and Irish America, IAC has long been a place where breathtaking writing can be encountered in-person, and enjoyed among others. This season, IAC’s PoetryFest turns 15, and brings on a new curatorial force—Vona Groarke, author of 14 books of poetry—to organize the weekend-long festival of “literary revelry” (The New Yorker) with Nick Laird, November 22–24. Belfast author Jan Carson’s new short story collection Quickly, While They Still Have Horses will celebrate its U.S. launch with an evening of reading and conversation in the IAC library (September 17), following its publication to acclaim in Ireland. On October 1, All Souls author Michael Patrick MacDonald comes to IAC to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his pivotal Southie-set memoir.

A variety show bridging literature and music, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon’s Muldoon’s Picnic has, for a decade, been a beloved staple of IAC programming—a feast of storytelling and song that is, reliably, never at all the same as any previous iteration. This season, the series celebrates its 10th anniversary with a special four days assembling accomplished artists who’ve participated over the years, along with a few new guests: Patrick Radden Keefe, Steve Earle, and Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh (October 10), Jean Hanff Korelitz, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, and Kevin Young (October 11), and Billy Collins, Min Jin Lee, and Stew (October 12); on October 9, Muldoon will screen Laoithe ’s Liricí (A Life in Lyrics), the musical documentary film by Alan Gilsenan.
 
Whether in a large-scale classical concert in IAC’s theatre or intimate acoustic sets in its Devlin Café, Fall 2024 fills the new Irish Arts Center with music that challenges, excites, and comforts. IAC will present the New York premiere of Donnacha Dennehy’s composition Land of Winter, inspired by light and time across seasons in Ireland, performed by 16 musicians from Alarm Will Sound, the chamber orchestra “merging styles, erasing boundaries, championing experimentation and obviously having fun along the way” (The Denver Post) (December 11–12). This concert reunites Dennehy with IAC, following their co-presentation of The Last Hotel, his collaboration with Enda Walsh at St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2016.
 
The Devlin Café continues to grow into a frequent site of transportive music shared in the homey spirit of Irish hospitality. On October 18, IAC will present Ryan McAuley, Alannah Thornburgh, and Fiachra Meek of Dublin trio Alfi in their Café Concert Series.
 
The café will buzz with song for anyone to enjoy, with free Traditional Irish Sessions (September 27, October 4, and December 6) and Niall Connolly’s free songwriting and performance series Big City Folk Song Club (October 17, November 11, and December 13).
 
Artists Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon’s twenty-one-feet wide and fifteen-feet high collaborative textile sculpture installation The Map—imagining and reimagining the legacy of Mary Magdalene—will kick off and set the stage for the season of innovative work, in the JL Greene Theatre (September 6–29). Their work in site-specific drawings, murals, and textiles will be on view in the building-wide exhibition Untying the Knots (September 6–January 15) throughout the season.
 
Fall 2024 Programming
 
[VISUAL ARTS]

Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon
The Map and Untying the Knots

The Map theatre installation: September 6–29
Untying the Knots building-wide exhibition: September 6–January 15
Artist talk & reception: September 6
 
The Map is a monumental textile sculpture that imagines and re-imagines the life, legacy, and mythology of Mary Magdalene and her impact on women’s lives. Sewn, hand-embroidered, and painted over a three-year period, the artists Alice Maher and Rachel Fallon approached the subject through the lens of the medieval Mappa Mundi, using elements of the cartographer’s practice as a device for their exploration. The Map addresses false narratives of the Magdalene, charting the social, political, and psychic changes that have loosened the knots of history in their own country, and traces an historical, mythological, and future cosmology that is fluid and full of possibility.
 
The Map will be installed in the JL Greene Theatre at Irish Arts Center through September 29 concurrently with Untying the Knots, a building-wide exhibition of site-specific drawings, prints, and installations, including a new collaborative textile work titled The Mantle, all of which expand on ideas of bodily repression, social control, colonialism, language, and citizenship. Untying the Knots will run through January 15, 2025.
 
The Map was originally commissioned and curated by Maolíosa Boyle for The Magdalene Series at Dublin’s Rua Red. The theatre installation will be accompanied by “We Are The Map,” a text/sound scape by Sinéad Gleason and Stephen Shannon. Presented as part of New York Textile Month.
 
[LITERATURE]

Jan Carson

In Conversation
Tuesday, September 17
 
IAC hosts the U.S. launch celebration for Quickly, While They Still Have Horses, Belfast author Jan Carson’s new short story collection that takes a fresh, irreverent look at life in post-conflict Northern Ireland. From first loves to strained relationships, the thrills and terrors of growing up to the dangers and challenges of parenthood, Carson infuses all her stories with empathy, dark wit, and a surreal edge. The evening’s reading and conversation will be held in the intimate setting of the Irish Arts Center library.
 
[MUSIC]

Traditional Irish Sessions

Sep 27, Oct 4, Dec 6
Live in the Devlin Café
 
Irish Arts Center hosts local trad musicians and audience members alike at our popular session nights! Admission is free, and select events will kick off with a slow session for beginners led by IAC fiddle teacher James Cleveland.
 
[LITERATURE]

Michael Patrick MacDonald

25th Anniversary of All Souls
Tuesday, October 1
 
A breakaway bestseller when first published in 1999, the American Book Award-winning memoir All Souls takes us deep into artist, educator, and activist Michael Patrick MacDonald’s Southie, the proudly insular Boston neighborhood that held the highest concentration of white poverty in America. We celebrate the 25th anniversary of this landmark story with a conversation, reading, and after-party with the author.
 
[LITERATURE/HUMANITIES]

Muldoon’s Picnic

10th Anniversary Extravaganza
Oct 9–12
 
Wednesday, October 9
Paul Muldoon: Laoithe ’s Liricí (A Life in Lyrics)
 
Thursday, October 10
Steve Earle
Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh
Patrick Radden Keefe
 
Friday, October 11
Jean Hanff Korelitz
Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Kevin Young
 
Saturday, October 12
Billy Collins
Min Jin Lee
Stew
For the past decade, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and songwriter Paul Muldoon has brought together renowned guests from the worlds of arts and letters for his beloved feast of music and storytelling. This season, we’re throwing a special 10th anniversary engagement over four nights, including a documentary film screening and conversation with Paul and director Alan Gilsenan, and three nights of Picnics featuring house band Rogue Oliphant and a selection of notable guest artists from across the years.

[MUSIC]

Big City Folk Song Club

Oct 17, Nov 11, Dec 13
Live in the Devlin Café
 
Niall Connolly’s songwriting and performance series is in residence at Irish Arts Center for another season! Join us each month for a free concert featuring a rotating roster of NYC artists.
 
[MUSIC]

Café Concert Series

Friday, October 18
Live in the Devlin Café
 
A night of Irish traditional and American old-time music with Ryan McAuley, Alannah Thornburgh, and Fiachra Meek of Dublin trio Alfi.
 
[FAMILY AND COMMUNITY]

Oíche Shamhna / An Irish Halloween

Sunday, October 20
 
Did you know, carving pumpkins (originally turnips!), dressing up, and other age-old Halloween traditions began in Ireland? Come celebrate the Irish roots of the holiday at IAC! This year, we’ll be watching a spooky puppet show, making “turnip” jack-o’-lanterns, and casting spells through Irish music and dance with artists from Dublin trio Alfi, Darrah Carr Dance, and WonderSpark Puppets. All ages are welcome.
 
[THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE]

Malaprop
HOTHOUSE

October 23–November 17
 
Winner, Best Production & Best Design Ensemble, Dublin Fringe Festival 2023
 
Malaprop, one of Ireland’s most talked-about emerging theatre companies, makes its U.S. debut with Hothouse. Awarded Best Production at the 2023 Dublin Fringe Festival, this zany, poignant story of love, loss, and legacy is set on an Arctic cruise ship that takes you— the passenger—on a journey to bid farewell to the ice caps. Sail through an intergenerational tale complete with horny songbirds, a mad captain, Rachel Carson, and wanting to change, but not knowing how.
 
[DANCE]

Luail—Ireland’s National Dance Company

Activating Archive Residency
November 4–10
 
We are delighted to be partnering with Luail, Ireland’s new National Dance Company, for a multi-faceted residency opportunity for a dance artist to spend time immersed in various dance archives across genres.
 
The inaugural residency will take place in the U.S. in November, at Irish Arts Center, and in Ireland in December, in partnership with the National Dance Archive of Ireland.
 
Presented in association with Our Steps in New York, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and Solas Nua, in Washington, D.C.
 
[LITERATURE]

15th Annual Irish Arts Center PoetryFest

Co-Curated by Vona Groarke and Nick Laird
November 22–24
 
2024 Festival Lineup
Nuar Alsadir
Henri Cole
Leontia Flynn
Vona Groarke
Ishion Hutchinson
John Kelly
Fran Lock
Shane McCrae
Maggie Millner
Declan Ryan
 
Our annual “literary revelry” (New Yorker) returns with Vona Groarke joining Nick Laird as co-curator of this year’s program. In an intimately reconfigured setup for our flexible theatre and tucked away from the cacophony of the city and our online lives. PoetryFest bridges contemporary work from both sides of the Atlantic with a free weekend of readings and conversations with leading Irish, Northern Irish, and North American writers.
 
[MUSIC]
Donnacha Dennehy x Alarm Will Sound
Land of Winter
New York premiere
December 17–18
 
The 16-person chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound performs Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy’s newest evening length work, in which Dennehy explores the interplay of light and time across Ireland’s mercurial seasons of the year.
 
Join us for a special midwinter evening in our beautifully lit JL Greene Theatre for this magical and immersive orchestral performance.
 

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