Irish Rep Announces Extension Of THE O'CASEY CYCLE And May Events For The Sean O'Casey Season
By: Stephi Wild Apr. 17, 2019
Irish Repertory Theatre (Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director and Ciar n O'Reilly, Producing Director) announced today special events and programming for the month of May as part of The Sean O'Casey Season, celebrating 30 years of Irish Repertory Theatre. May's events will include a screening of the biographical film Under the Colored Cap by Sean O'Casey's daughter, Shivaun O'Casey; an original concert of songs from O'Casey's plays; and two free scholar-led panels about O'Casey's life that will be livestreamed on Facebook.
Additionally, Irish Rep also announced that due to popular demand, The O'Casey Cycle, which features O'Casey's three most renowned works, The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, and The Plough and the Stars, presented in repertory as part of The Sean O'Casey Season, will run for an additional four weeks, now concluding on Saturday, June 22, 2019.
The performance schedule for May 28-June 22 is as follows:
The Shadow of a Gunman: Wednesday May 29 at 3pm; Saturday June 1 at 3pm; Wednesday June 5 at 3pm; Thursday June 6 at 7pm; Saturday June 8 at 8pm; Thursday June 13 at 7pm; Wednesday June 19 at 8pm.
Juno and the Paycock: Tuesday May 28 at 7pm; Friday May 31 at 8pm; Wednesday June 5 at 8pm; Saturday June 8 at 3pm; Wednesday June 12 at 3pm; Friday June 14 at 8pm; Tuesday June 18 at 7pm; Friday June 21 at 8pm.
The Plough and the Stars: Wednesday May 29 at 8pm; Thursday May 30 at 7pm; Saturday June 1 at 8pm; Sunday June 2 at 3pm; Tuesday June 4 at 7pm; Friday June 7 at 8pm; Sunday June 9 at 3pm; Tuesday June 11 at 7pm; Wednesday June 12 at 8pm; Wednesday June 19 at 3pm; Thursday June 20 at 7pm.
DUBLIN SATURDAYS: On Saturday June 15 and Saturday June 22 all three plays will be performed in one day and will be presented in order of their historical settings. Dublin Saturdays will begin with The Plough and the Stars (1916 The Easter Rising) at 11am, followed by The Shadow of a Gunman (1921 The Irish War of Independence) at 3:30pm, and will conclude with Juno and the Paycock, (1922 the Irish Civil War) at 8pm.
FILM SCREENING & DISCUSSION:
Under a Colored Cap with Shivaun O'Casey
Directed by May Beth Yarrow and Shivaun O'Casey
Narrated by Shivaun O'Casey
The Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage
Monday, May 13 at 7pm
Under a Colored Cap is a documentary film exploring the life and work of the great Irish playwright Sean O'Casey by his daughter, Shivaun O'Casey. Born in 1880 and raised in the slums of Dublin, O'Casey's life was deeply shaped by the troubled and turbulent times of the 1913 Lock-Out and Strike, in which O'Casey was directly involved; and the 1916 Easter Rising, the Anglo-Irish War and the Civil War. These formative events inspired his famed Dublin Trilogy, written over three years when O'Casey was in his 40s.
The success of these works made O'Casey a world-wide figure and changed his life dramatically. He soon moved to London where he met and married Eileen Carey, later moving to Devon, where he remained until his death. He had three children, Niall, Breon, and Shivaun. Niall tragically died of Leukemia at age 21, eight years before his father's death at age 84.
This intimate documentary illustrates O'Casey's personality through privileged personal insight from interviews with O'Casey himself, his son Breon, and his wife, Eileen. Actor John Kavanagh reads from O'Casey's autobiography and letters, and the film features rare and fascinating archival footage and scenes, revealing O'Casey as a diverse and innovative artist, and optimistic humanist.
After the film, Shivaun O'Casey will take the stage for a discussion and brief audience Q&A.
MUSICAL TRIBUTE:
Sean, Women, and Song
Lyrics by Sean O'Casey
Written and Directed by Stephen Kennedy Murphy
The W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre
Saturday, May 4 at 8pm & Sunday, May 5 at 3pm
Sean, Women, and Song is a musical celebration of the women who sing the traditional, popular, and classical melodies to which O'Casey wrote lyrics in his plays.
They are powerful women who wage war with prudish clergy, corrupt capitalists, and an array of atrophied patriarchs with their youthful spirit and rebel feminism.
They will give clarion voice to O'Casey's love of liberty in this concert of songs woven together with a narration written by Stephen Kennedy Murphy, who has arranged music for The O'Casey Reading Series, to which Sean, Women, and Song will offer a lovely, lyrical finale.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS:
O'Casey and His Place in World Theatre
Moderated by Maureen O'Rourke Murphy
PANELISTS: Stephen Butler, Robert Lowery and Maureen O'Rourke Murphy
The Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage
Thursday, May 9 at 4pm
Regarded as one of the great Irish playwrights, Sean O'Casey's reach extended far beyond his homeland beginning with his first published works, the Dublin Trilogy, now in repertory on the Irish Rep mainstage.
Explore O'Casey's impact with a free panel discussion by three leading O'Casey scholars: Stephen Butler, Robert Lowery, and Maureen O'Rourke Murphy. The panel will begin with the Dublin plays and their place in world theater and then expand to cover the global reception of O'Casey's later work, particularly in Russia and Eastern Europe. The event will conclude with an open discussion between the panelists; audience questions are welcome.
O'Casey, Lady Gregory, and Yeats: The Friendship and the Feud
Moderated by James Pethica
The Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage
Thursday, May 23 at 4pm
Explore the tumultuous and significant relationship between Sean O'Casey and Abbey Theatre founders Lady Gregory and WB Yeats in a free panel led by James Pethica, a Professor of Irish Studies, Drama and Modernism at Williams College.
In 1923, Dublin had been a battleground since the Easter Rising of 1916 was followed by the Irish War for Independence, and finally, a bitter Civil War. In this fraught context, the future of The Abbey Theatre, founded by William Butler Years, Lady Gregory, and Edward Martyn twenty years previously, was uncertain. Just in time, WB Yeats and Lady Gregory accepted Sean O'Casey's The Shadow of a Gunman (1923), and its immediate commercial success, followed by Juno and the Paycock (1924) and The Plough and the Stars (1926), saved the Abbey from bankruptcy.
For this brief period, O'Casey enjoyed a close collaborative relationship with the Abbey founders. However, when they rejected his fourth play, The Silver Tassie, a very public spat began between Yeats and O'Casey as quarreling letters were published in The Irish Times for several weeks, ultimately severing their relationship. O'Casey lived and worked in England from that point forward.
This free discussion will explore the relationship between these three Irish luminaries and their effect on Irish theatrical history, from their earliest friendship to their public falling-out.
IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE, co-founded by Producing Director Ciar n O'Reilly and Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, is now celebrating its 30th season after first opening its doors in September 1988 with Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars. Irish Rep is currently the only year-round theatre company in New York City devoted to bringing Irish and Irish American works to the stage. Recognized with the Jujamcyn Theatres Award, a special Drama Desk Award for Excellence in Presenting Distinguished Irish Drama, an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Achievement, and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, Irish Rep celebrates the very best in Irish theatre, from the masters to the new generation of Irish and Irish American writers who are transforming the stage. Nearly 50,000 audience members annually attend productions at our theatre located in the heart of New York's Off Broadway community. Once here, they witness Irish Rep's engaging perspective on the Irish and their unique contributions to the world of drama.
For more information about Irish Repertory Theatre visit www.irishrep.org.
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