Irish Repertory Theatre Reveals Plays & Cast Members for NEW WORKS FALL FESTIVAL

Irish Repertory Theatre has revealed the plays and casting for the New Works Fall Festival, featuring four readings spotlighting the work of Northern Irish artists. The Festival will run November 4-18, 2024 on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage at Irish Repertory Theatre.

The 2024 New Works Fall Festival will include plays by Michael Patrick & Oisín Kearney, Leo McGann, Clare McMahon and Meghan Tyler. The readings will be directed by Nicola Murphy Dubey, Keelie Sheridan and Matt Torney.
 
Rebecca Ballinger (The Moors), Lise Bruneau (The Cherry Orchard), Patricia Buckley (Love/Sick), Ciaran Byrne (Philadelphia Here I Come!), Orlagh Cassidy (Dancing at Lughnasa), Úna Clancy (The O’Casey Cycle), Susan Davey (Aristocrats), Samuel Dolman (Julius Caesar), Sean Gormley (Two by Synge), Jonathan Holmes (“Anne with an E”), Johnny Hopkins (The Home Place), Hamish Allan-Headley (Pumpgirl), John Keating (Molly Sweeney), Elise Kibler (The Heidi Chronicles), Katherine Laheen (“The Gilded Age”), Aida Leventaki (Belfast Girls), Kevin Oliver Lynch (Purgatory, After Yeats), Deirdre Madigan (Philadelphia, Here I Come!), Kieran Mulcare (The Mousetrap), Nicola Murphy Dubey (Da), Clare O’Malley (Philadelphia, Here I Come!), Tim Palmer (The Land of Promises), Sarah Street (Molly Sweeney), and Naren Weiss (Grief Hotel) will all be featured across the four readings.
 
Irish Repertory Theatre’s New Play Development Program includes table reads, staged readings, workshops and commissions from voices that fulfill Irish Rep’s mission and tell stories of Irish and Irish-American people of all ethnicities, genders, abilities, and orientations. The New Works Festival returns this November with four new play readings spotlighting voices from the North of Ireland. This program enables Irish Rep to hear new work aloud with an audience and discover new plays and musicals for possible future production. The choice to spotlight writers from Northern Ireland was borne out of a desire to give space to voices that have a unique view of both contemporary Ireland and its history. In this series audiences will hear stories that delve into that complicated past, explore the present, and imagine alternative futures.
 
Each reading will begin at 7pm. Tickets to all readings are $15 and are available at irishrep.org/show/2024-2025-season/new-works-fall-festival-2024.
 
The schedule is as follows:
 
MONDAY NOVEMBER 4

The Alternative

by Michael Patrick & Oisín Kearney
Directed by Nicola Dubey Murphy
 
What if Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom? What if Home Rule had passed? What if there was no War of Independence? No Civil War? No partition? What if the island had only one soccer team? The year is 2019 and it is the eve of the Referendum. British Prime Minister Ursula Lysaght is returning to her hometown of Dublin to convince voters to Remain. With the threat of chaos in the streets, and personal conflict behind the scenes, the final debate is set to begin at BBC Dublin: Should Ireland leave the UK?
 
The cast of The Alternative will feature Úna Clancy, Samuel Dolman, Sean Gormley, Hamish Allan-Headley, Johnny Hopkins, Elise Kibler, Kevin Oliver Lynch and Clare O’Malley.

The Alternative was the winner of Fishamble’s A Play For Ireland initiative.
 
MONDAY NOVEMBER 11

The Honey Trap

By Leo McGann
Directed by Matt Torney
 
When two off-duty British soldiers go for a drink on the outskirts of Belfast in 1979, they meet two local girls. What seems like a typical night at the pub turns into something much darker. Decades later, reliving that night for an American oral history project, Dave reopens old wounds that send him back to Belfast in search of answers and revenge.
 
The cast of The Honey Trap will feature Rebecca Ballinger, Lise Bruneau, Susan Davey, Samuel Dolman, Matt Engle, Jonathan Holmes, Aida Leventaki and Tim Palmer.
 
"Smoking hot...a riveting world premiere...the production shouts the talent of up-and-coming playwright Leo McGann" - The Washington Post
 
 
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 12

The Gap Year

By Clare McMahon
Directed by Nicola Murphy Dubey
 
Newly widowed Kate, childminder-in-chief Roisin and their best friend Oonagh have decided enough is enough. Life is too short – they’re going to follow in their children’s footsteps and take a Gap Year. Thailand? Europe? Down Under? No, they're visiting every county in Ireland, sure there’s a few they’ve never even heard of! It's time for castles, coffee and craic as three women in their 60s go on the adventure of a lifetime.
 
The cast of The Gap Year will include Patricia Buckley, Ciaran Byrne, Orlagh Cassidy, Samuel Dolman, Katherine Laheen, Deirdre Madigan and Kieran Mulcare.
 
“The Gap Year will have you laughing and crying in equal measure, but the writing genius of McMahon adds a sparkle of light through the production’s dark themes.” – Belfast Media
 
 
MONDAY NOVEMBER 18

Crocodile Fever

By Meghan Tyler
Directed by Keelie Sheridan
 
Northern Ireland, 1989. A farmhouse window smashes, and rebellious Fianna Devlin crashes back into the life of her pious sister Alannah. Together in the unlovely family home for the first time in years, the sisters are back at each other’s throats in seconds. And when they are forced to confront their tyrannical father’s hideous legacy, all hell breaks loose. Fueled by Taytos, gin, 80s tunes and a chainsaw, it’s the Devlin sisters versus the world. It can’t end happily, but it can end gloriously. Like Thelma and Louise’s punk daughter, Meghan Tyler’s surreal Crocodile Fever is a grotesque black comedy celebrating sisterhood whilst reminding us that the pressure cooker of The Troubles is closer than we imagine. 
 
The cast of Crocodile Fever will feature Samuel Dolman, Nicola Murphy Dubey, John Keating, Sarah Street and Naren Weiss.

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