Irish Rep Announces LITTLE GEM and LOVE, NOËL in Summer Season

Irish Repertory Theatre announces two new productions for summer 2019. On the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage will be Little Gem by Elaine Murphy (Shush) and directed by Marc Atkinson Borrull (Outlying Islands). Performances begin on July 17, 2019, with an opening night set for July 25, for a limited run through September 1, 2019. Irish Rep will also present Love, Noël: The Letters and Songs of Noël Coward, devised by Barry Day (The World of Raymond Chandler), directed by Charlotte Moore (The Plough and the Stars), and starring acclaimed cabaret performers Steve Ross and KT Sullivan. Love, Noël begins performances in theW. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre on July 26, 2019, with opening night set for August 1, for a limited run through August 25, 2019.

One year can bring extraordinary change; just ask Amber, Lorraine and Kay, three generations of North Dublin women who find themselves suddenly facing the unexpected in Elaine Murphy's Little Gem. Young Amber's case of indigestion - or perhaps it's a brutal hangover? - grows into something more, while her mother Lorraine discovers salsa dancing after an incident at work leads to therapist-suggested self-care. Grandmother Kay, "on the wrong side of sixty, but not dead yet," struggles to take care of a personal itch while adjusting to life as a caretaker for her beloved Gem. As the year moves forward, the women confront their individual challenges with courage and humor, finding strength in one another and discovering the beauty and complexity of family.

Hilarious and poignant, Irish playwright Elaine Murphy's debut play Little Gem premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2008 where it won the Fishamble New Writing Award. It then transferred to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it won the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award. Little Gem made its acclaimed US premiere in January 2010 at The Flea Theater.

Casting and creative team for Little Gem will be announced at a later date.

Get to know the life and times of one of the 20th century's most dynamic creative icons - Noël Coward - through Love, Noël: The Letters and Songs of Noël Coward. In this intimate performance, cabaret legends Steve Ross and KT Sullivan transform into some of the many characters that made up Coward's unique life...Gertrude Lawrence, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Elaine Stritch, Lynn Fontanne, Virginia Woolf, Edna Ferber, the Queen Mother, and, of course, The Master himself, Noël Coward. Through Coward's songs, stories, and personal letters, Ross and Sullivan will summon up timeless memories of an era that may be gone but is never to be forgotten.

This is the New York Premiere of Love, Noël: The Letters and Songs of Noël Coward, an original entertainment devised by Barry Day. A previous version of the play was published by Samuel French in 2016 and premiered at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles, CA in February 2014. This revised version starring Ross and Sullivan premiered in February 2019 at the Kravis Center in Palm Beach, FL.

The creative team for Love, Noël will be announced at a later date.

The performance schedule for Little Gem and Love, Noël will be as follows: Wednesdays at 3pm and 8pm; Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm; and Sundays at 3pm.

Tickets to Little Gem range from $45.00 - $70.00, with tickets to Love, Noël range from $45.00 - $50.00. Tickets to both productions are available now for Irish Rep members only. Single tickets will go on sale to the general public on Thursday May 23, 2019 at 1pm and will be available through Irish Rep's box office at 212-727-2737 or online at www.irishrep.org.

Currently in performances on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage is The O'Casey Cycle, which features Sean 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, running now through Saturday, June 22, 2019.

Next up on the W. Scott McLucas Studio Stage is the world premiere of Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom. Adapted for the stage by Aedín Moloney (The Dead, 1904) and Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin) from the novel Ulysses by James Joyce, Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom will be directed by Kira Simring (Crackskull Row), with music by Paddy Moloney (The Chieftains), and is presented in association with Gabriel Byrne. Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom begins performances on June 7, 2019 with an opening night set for June 13 and will run through July 7, 2019.

IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE, co-founded by Producing Director Ciarán 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.

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