Irish Repertory Theatre and Fishamble: The New Play Company Launch Transatlantic Residency

Irish Repertory Theatre and Fishamble: The New Play Company are launching the Transatlantic Residency, a follow-up to last year's Transatlantic Commissions Program. The program supported the creation of four short plays under the mentorship of Obie Award-winning playwright and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Dael Orlandersmith. The Transatlantic Residency, supported by The Arts Council of Ireland, reunites Irish Rep and Fishamble with writers CN Smith, Felispeaks, Jade Jordan, and Kwaku Fortune as they expand their works into full-length plays, which will be presented as staged readings in New York in June 2024 and Dublin in July 2024.
 
The writers have been working with dramaturgs Gavin Kostick and Nicola Murphy Dubey since February 2024 to expand on their plays ahead of the readings this summer, which will be directed by Jim Culleton and Dubey.
 
The New York readings will take place at Irish Repertory Theatre on Monday June 17 and Tuesday June 18, 2024 at 7pm. Tickets to the readings are $15 and are on sale now. For tickets and more information visit irishrep.org. Additional readings will take place in Dublin at AXIS Theatre on Wednesday July 3 and Thursday July 4, 2024. 
 

MONDAY JUNE 17

The Black Wolfe Tone

by Kwaku Fortune
 
The Black Wolfe Tone is about muddled identity, and how trauma can be passed down from generation to generation. It’s about a culture of silence and raging against the machine. About the mind, and how young men deal, or don’t deal, with the darkness. At its heart, it’s about a young boy seeking forgiveness, the inner child wanting only to be loved.
 

BENT!

by Felispeaks
 
Bent is a modern day Black Irish story of a young woman, Shayo, on the road to self-acceptance. Shayo battles whether to listen to the voice within herself or to listen to the trusted voices of her parents, we watch their struggle over the Christmas holidays. Her journey to finding balance within herself is dotted with inspiration from Yoruba mythology and is juxtaposed with hints of Christian theology. Who will Shayo listen to by the new year? Herself or her family?
 

TUESDAY JUNE 18

89

by Jade Jordan

89 is a Dublin story inspired by the life of Christine Buckley, an Irish activist and campaigner, who served as the director of the Aislinn support and education group for survivors of Industrial Schools in Ireland. An honest portrayal of industrial abuse, abandonment, identity and seeking answers, 89 is ultimately a story of survival.
 

Corktown

by CN Smith
 
Corktown is a story about Dublin, set outside Dublin; about the present, but set in the past. One night, in an all-white neighborhood in Corktown, Detroit, an Irish immigrant answers a knock at her door. The black woman on her doorstep insists she is due to move into the spare room upstairs. After a small struggle, she comes inside. Now what?
 
 
The Transatlantic Commissions Program was founded in 2022 with the endeavor to address head-on the historical inequalities in representation that have existed in the theatrical canon. Together, Fishamble and Irish Rep commissioned four Black Irish artists and writers of color to work with Dael Orlandersmith as a mentor to create new works that were workshopped and presented in public readings by Fishamble in Dublin, Ireland and Irish Rep in New York City.
 
Fishamble and Irish Rep are proud to foster a supportive creative environment for this cohort, and to promote and celebrate under-represented voices in Irish theatre. The readings in 2023 were supported by Culture Ireland, and the 2024 Residency is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.
 

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