St. Ann's Warehouse and Irish Arts Center to Present Two New Works by Enda Walsh

St. Ann's Warehouse and Irish Arts Center (IAC) join forces to introduce New York audiences to two new works by the Tony Award-winning Irish playwright-director Enda Walsh.

St. Ann's Warehouse, which has provided a home for Walsh's work for nearly a decade, will present the American Premiere of his acclaimed new play Arlington, a large-scale production in which Walsh "embraces a new form of category-defying theatre in a story of love and oppression that echoes Orwell's 1984" (The Guardian).

Concurrently, as a companion to Arlington, Irish Arts Center will offer Walsh's theatrical installation Rooms at the former tire shop that is the site of the Center's future home. Both works find Walsh exploding theatrical form and exploring new directions-collaborating with choreographer Emma Martin and composer Teho Teardo to express the inexpressible in Arlington, and rendering richly drawn characters using meticulously designed sets and recorded audio monologues in Rooms.

Under the banner Enda Walsh in NYC, St. Ann's and IAC will present these works in concert with each other, May 3-28, making for a season of Walsh works in New York City, supported in part by Culture Ireland.

While both Arlington and Rooms have well-wrought scripts that showcase Walsh's singularity as a writer, they also experiment with elements including movement, music and imagery to create an emotional experience, a technique Walsh employed masterfully in his film Hunger, which had only one conversation amounting to a mere 20 minutes of dialogue. Discussing Arlington and Rooms with Ireland's RTÉ Radio, Walsh explained his interest in making work that is "more about emotion and rhythm and musicality," and said, "I'm trying to get into how does it make you feel, and bypass the head."

Arlington, a Landmark Productions / Galway International Arts Festival production, is simultaneously Walsh's most personal and most politically inspired work to date. He told The Independent that the play is about "love enduring an oppressive, collapsing world." In a new world order, Isla sits and waits in a waiting room. A man watches her, documents her every move, and pulls her dreams from her. Today someone will die, and everything will be different from now on. Against this terrifying backdrop, Arlington dares to imagine that the individual might somehow survive-and that there is still a place for love.

Directed by Walsh, Arlington stars Charlie Murphy (BBC One's "Happy Valley") as Isla, Hugh O'Conor (My Left Foot) as the young man, and award-winning dance artist Oona Doherty as the young woman. The production reunites the world-class creative team behind Walsh's Misterman and Ballyturk (both starring Cillian Murphy) and his first opera, The Last Hotel. The production features choreography by Emma Martin; original music by Teho Teardo, celebrated Italian soundtrack composer for Paolo Sorrentino and other filmmakers, and for Walsh's Ballyturk; set and costume design by Jamie Vartan; lighting design by Adam Silverman; sound design by Helen Atkinson; and video design by Jack Phelan.

Teardo will release a recording of his Arlington score via iTunes on just before the play's American Premiere at St. Ann's Warehouse.

Prior to its engagement at St. Ann's Warehouse, Arlington had its Dublin Premiere at the Abbey Theatre in February.

Since their relationship began with the American Premiere of The Walworth Farce in 2008, St. Ann's Warehouse has brought numerous Enda Walsh works to New York City and American audiences, including the Druid productions of The New Electric Ballroom (2009) and Penelope (2010), as well as Misterman (2011), written and directed by Walsh, starring Cillian Murphy and produced by Landmark Productions and the Galway International Arts Festival. St. Ann's collaborated once again with Walsh and Landmark Productions for the American Premiere of Walsh's first opera, The Last Hotel, a co-production with Wide Open Opera that was part of the PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now festival in 2016. Over the course of these years, Walsh has entered the ranks of New York's-and the world's-most beloved theater-makers, winning a Tony Award for his book to the Broadway musical Once in 2012, among many other accolades.

Arlington marks the third Enda Walsh co-production for Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival. Following a sold-out run at Galway International Arts Festival in 2011, Misterman went on to play to great acclaim in London (at The National Theatre of Great Britain) as well as New York (at St. Ann's Warehouse), where Cillian Murphy won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. Ballyturk premiered at Galway International Arts Festival 2014 and was followed by an Irish tour in Dublin and Cork prior to a five-week, sold-out run in London at the National Theatre. Ballyturk won The Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Production in 2014.

Watch a trailer for Arlington below!

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With the American Premiere of the site-specific Rooms, a Galway International Arts Festival production described by The Guardian as a work of "haunting power," Irish Arts Center activates Cybert Tire, the future site of IAC's $62 million, state-of-the-art permanent home, on which IAC begins construction later this year.

Rooms is a series of short works, each lasting approximately 15 minutes, presented as installations in the rugged, former tire repair shop. Each individual room, designed by Galway International Arts Festival Artistic Director Paul Fahy, is contained within a 15' x 15' white cube. Audiences of six people at a time are invited to step inside and explore these spaces for two minutes before the recorded audio, through which a character is introduced and a short story is told, begins. In Room 303 (American Premiere), set within the musty bedroom of an old seaside boarding house, an old man voiced by Niall Buggy lies alone, waiting, as his time nears an end. A Girl's Bedroom (New York Premiere) features the voice of Charlie Murphy as a six-year-old girl who leaves her bedroom and family home and walks, never stopping...until now. And in Kitchen (U.S. premiere), set within a long and narrow galley kitchenette, a wife (Eileen Walsh), standing by her sink, wills her own implosion.

These three short works premiered at the Galway International Arts Festival under the collective title Rooms in July 2016. A Girl's Bedroom has also toured to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Watch a trailer for Rooms below!

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St. Ann's Warehouse presents the American Premiere of ArlingtonMay 3-28. Critics are welcome as of May 6 at 3pm for an official opening May 8 at 8pm. Performances will take place May 3-6, 9-13, 16-20 and 23-27 at 8pm; May 7 at 7pm; May 6, 13, 20 and 27 at 3pm; and May 14, 21 and 28 at 2pm. Tickets are $45-60 and can be purchased at www.stannswarehouse.org, 718.254.8779 or 866.811.4111. St. Ann's Warehouse is located at 45 Water Street in in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Irish Arts Center presents the American Premiere of RoomsMay 3-28 at Cybert Tire (726 11th Avenue). Rooms will run Wednesdays - Fridays at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm; Saturdays at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm and 7pm; and Sundays at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm and 5pm. Critics are welcome as of May 4 at 7pm for an official opening May 8 at 8pm. Tickets are $20 ($16 for Irish Arts Center members) and can be purchased by visiting www.IrishArtsCenter.org/Rooms or calling 866.811.4111.

Enda Walsh is a multi-award-winning Irish playwright and director. His work has been translated into over 20 languages and has been performed internationally since 1998.

His recent plays include The Same, which was produced by Corcadorca in February 2017 at the Old Cork Prison; Lazarus, with David Bowie, which recently finished a run at the Kings Cross Theatre in London, following a premiere at New York Theatre Workshop; Arlington, produced by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival (2016-2017); A Girl's Bedroom, shown at the Galway International Arts Festival (2015); The Twits at the Royal Court; the opera The Last Hotel for Landmark Productions and Wide Open Opera (Edinburgh International Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Royal Opera House, London, St Ann's Warehouse, Les Théâtres de la Ville, Luxembourg, and St. Ann's Warehouse, 2015-2017), Ballyturk, produced by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival (Galway, Dublin, Cork and London, 2014); Room 303, shown at the Galway International Arts Festival (2014); Misterman,produced by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival in Ireland, London and New York (2011-2012); and several plays for Druid Theatre Company, including Penelope, which has been presented in Ireland, America (first at St. Ann's Warehouse) and London, from 2010-2011, The New Electric Ballroom, which played Ireland, Australia, Edinburgh, London, St. Ann's Warehouse and Los Angeles from 2008-2009, and The Walworth Farce, which played Ireland, Edinburgh and London, made its American Premiere at St. Ann's Warehouse, and toured America and Australia 2007-2010.

Walsh won a Tony Award for writing the book for the musical Once in 2012. The musical played for three years on Broadway and two years in the West End, and is due to return to the Olympia Theatre in Dublin in July/August 2017.

Walsh's other plays include Delirium (Theatre O/Barbican), which played Dublin and a British tour in 2008; Chatroom (National Theatre), which played at the NT and on tour in Britain and Asia (2006-2007); and The Small Things (Paines Plough), which played London and Galway Arts Festival (2005). His early plays include Bedbound (Dublin Theatre Festival) and Disco Pigs (Corcadorca).

Walsh's film work includes Disco Pigs (Temple Films/Renaissance) and Hunger (Blast/FILM4). He received an honorary doctorate from NUI Galway in 2014.

Landmark Productions is one of Ireland's leading theatre producers. Led by Anne Clarke, the company produces wide-ranging and ambitious work in Ireland and tours Irish work abroad.

The company's recent work includes several productions by Enda Walsh: The Walworth Farce, starring Brendan Gleeson, Brian Gleeson and Domhnall Gleeson; the world premiere of The Last Hotel, an opera by Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh, in a co-production with Wide Open Opera; and the multi award-winning musical Once.

Its award-winning co-productions with Galway International Arts Festival include the world premieres of Walsh's Arlington, Ballyturk and Misterman. Misterman and Ballyturk played at the National Theatre in London, and Misterman toured to St Ann's Warehouse in New York. Landmark receivedthe Judges' Special Award in The Irish Times Theatre Awards for 2011, in recognition of its 'sustained excellence in programming and for developing imaginative partnerships to bring quality theatre to the Irish and international stage. Anne Clarke received The Irish Times Special Tribute Award in 2015, in recognition of her "extraordinary work as a producer of world-class theatre in the independent sector in Ireland." Visit www.landmarkproductions.ie for more.

Founded in 1978 Galway International Arts Festival is a major cultural organization, which produces one of Europe's leading international arts festivals; develops and produces new work that tours nationally and internationally; and presents a major discussion platform, First Thought.

The Festival takes place each July in Galway, Ireland with an annual attendance of 200,000. The 40th Galway International Arts Festival takes place from 17-30 July 2017.

Since 2014, Galway International Arts Festival has co-produced 11 productions that between them have won numerous awards and toured nationally and internationally to London, New York, Edinburgh, Chicago, Adelaide and Sydney. The Festival productions A Girl's Bedroom by Enda Walsh and riverun by Olwen Fouéré toured to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington as part of the Ireland 100 Celebrating a Century of Irish Arts & Culture 2016. Its award-winning co-productions with Landmark Productions include the world premieres of Walsh's Arlington, Ballyturk and Misterman. Both Misterman and Ballyturk played at the National Theatre in London, while Misterman toured to St Ann's Warehouse in New York. Arlington and Ballyturk have just completed a successful run at the Abbey, Ireland's National Theatre as opening shows of its 2017 season.

GIAF's Chief Executive is John Crumlish and its Artistic Director is Paul Fahy. Go to www.giaf.ie for more information.

St. Ann's Warehouse plays a vital role on the global cultural landscape as an American artistic home for international companies of distinction, American avant-garde masters and talented emerging artists ready to work on a grand scale. St. Ann's signature flexible, open space allows artists to stretch, both literally and imaginatively, enabling them to approach work with unfettered creativity, knowing that the theater can be adapted in multiple configurations to suit their needs.

In the heart of Brooklyn Bridge Park, St. Ann's Warehouse has designed an award-winning, spectacular waterfront theater that opened in October 2015. The new theater offers St. Ann's signature versatility and grandeur on an amplified scale while respecting the walls of an original 1860's Tobacco Warehouse. In addition to the flexible Steinberg Theater, the building complex includes a second space, a Studio, for St. Ann's Puppet Lab, smaller-scale events and community uses, and The Max Family Garden, designed by landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates and open to Brooklyn Bridge Park visitors during Park hours.

Susan Feldman founded Arts at St. Ann's (now St. Ann's Warehouse) in 1980 as part of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, to help save the National Historic Landmark Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity on Montague Street in B­rooklyn Heights. For twenty-one years, St. Ann's presented a decidedly eclectic array of concert and theater performances in the church sanctuary.

From Fall 2001 through the 2014-15 season, the organization activated found spaces in DUMBO with the world's most imaginative theater- and music-makers, helping to make the burgeoning neighborhood a destination for New Yorkers and tourists alike. After 12 years (2001-2012) in a warehouse that was located at 38 Water Street, St. Ann's transformed another raw space at 29 Jay Street, turning it into an interim home for three years (2012-2015) while the organization adapted the then-roofless Tobacco Warehouse at 45 Water Street in Brooklyn Bridge Park into the new St. Ann's Warehouse.

The Inaugural Season, November 2015 - June 2016, featured signature international presentations that continually demonstrated the flexibility of the new St. Ann's Warehouse. The season began with the Donmar Warehouse all-female Henry IV, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and starring Harriet Walter, and continued with The Last Hotel, a new opera from Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh; Nice Fish, written by Mark Rylance and prose poet Louis Jenkins after Jenkins' prose poems, and performed by a cast led by Rylance; the Young Vic's immensely acclaimed production of A Streetcar Named Desire,directed by Benedict Andrews, with an explosive cast led by Gillian Anderson, Ben Foster, Vanessa Kirby and Corey Johnson; and Bianco, from the Cardiff-based international contemporary circus company NoFitState, which St. Ann's presented in a flying-saucer shaped tent erected under the Brooklyn Bridge in May 2016.

Almost four decades of consistently acclaimed landmark productions that found their American home at St. Ann's include Lou Reed's and John Cale's Songs for 'Drella; Marianne Faithfull's Seven Deadly Sins; Artistic Director Susan Feldman's Band in Berlin; Charlie Kaufman and the Coen Brothers' Theater of the New Ear; The Royal Court and TR Warszawa productions of Sarah Kane's 4:48 Psychosis; The Globe Theatre of London's Measure for Measure with Mark Rylance; Druid Company's The Walworth Farce, The New Electric Ballroom and Penelope by Enda Walsh and Walsh's Misterman, featuring Cillian Murphy; Lou Reed's Berlin; the National Theater of Scotland's Black Watch; Kneehigh Theatre's Brief Encounter and Tristan & Yseult; Yael Farber's Mies Julie; Dmitry Krymov Lab's Opus No. 7; the Donmar Warehouse all-female Julius Caesar and Henry IV; Kate Tempest's Brand New Ancients; Tricycle Theatre's Red Velvet and, most recently, the National Theatre of Scotland's Let the Right One In. St. Ann's has championed such artists as The Wooster Group, Mabou Mines, Jeff Buckley, Cynthia Hopkins, Emma Rice and Daniel Kitson, and presented an historic David Bowie concert in 2002.

The new St. Ann's Warehouse retains the best of its past homes: the sense of sacred space of the organization's original home in the Church, and the vastness and endless capacity for reconfiguration artists have harnessed in St. Ann's temporary warehouses in DUMBO. Visit www.stannswarehouse.org.

Founded in 1972, Irish Arts Center is a New York-based arts and cultural center dedicated to projecting a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America for the 21st century, building community with artists and audiences of all backgrounds, forging and strengthening cross-cultural partnerships, and preserving the evolving stories and traditions of Irish culture for generations to come. Our multi-disciplinary programming is centered around three core areas: Performance - including live music, dance, theatre, film, literature, and the humanities; Exhibition - including visual arts presentations and cultural exhibitions that tell the evolving Irish story; and Education - with dozens of classes per week in Irish language, history, music, and dance.

Located in New York City, a global capital of arts and culture, Irish Arts Center serves as a dynamic platform for top emerging and established artists. Irish Arts Center is currently developing plans to construct a new facility to serve our multi-disciplinary program and will be the strongest possible gateway for artists to reach into our cultural community and nourish their work, to connect with our partner institutions who help them innovate, and to become visible in the New York City media market which enhances their ability to achieve U.S and further international success.

The New Irish Arts Center will contain a purpose-built, state-of-the-art contemporary performance space for music, dance and theatre seating up to 160; industry-standard back of house and support facilities to allow artists to achieve their vision; a second, intimate performance space - the renovated historic Irish Arts Center theatre - optimized for live music, literature, film, talks, large classes and special events; classrooms and studio space for community education programs in Irish music, dance, language, history, and the humanities, and for master classes and workshops by visiting and resident artists; technology capability to project the Irish Arts Center experience on the digital platform; an avenue-facing café lobby to engage with the neighborhood and provide a social setting for conversation and interaction between artists and audiences; a beautiful new courtyard entrance on 51st Street where the historic Irish Arts Center building and the new facility meet. Go to irishartscenter.org.

Images: Charlie Murphy in "Arlington" by Patrick Redmond & "Kitchen" by Colm Hogan.