Inis Nua Theatre Company to Present 10 DATES WITH MAD MARY as Part of Pop-Up Play in a Pub

Inis Nua Theatre Company will open its 19th season with the American premiere of 10 Dates With Mad Mary, written by Irish-Pakistani playwright Yasmine Akram. This comedy play tells the story of Mary McArdle, an antisocial young woman trying to find a date for her best friend's wedding. This raucous one-woman show marks the return of Inis Nua's Pop-Up Play in a Pub, a popular event with Inis Nua regulars and newcomers alike. 10 Dates will be directed by Kathryn MacMillan and stars Anna Faye Lieberman as Mad Mary. Tickets include a pie made by Stargazy on East Passyunk and a cold pint from the team behind the bar at Fergie's Pub. The show runs from October 26, 2022 until November 6, for a total of eight performances. All performances will take place upstairs at Fergie's Pub, 1214 Sansom Street in Philadelphia. Tickets are on sale now for $30 by calling (215) 454-9776 or visiting inisnuatheatre.org.

"I first read 10 Dates for Mad Mary on a train and had to quiet myself from laughing, so I wouldn't disturb the other passengers," said Inis Nua's Interim Artistic Director Charlotte Northeast. "Mad Mary isn't someone you necessarily want to hang out with, but once she starts talking you can't look away. And she has a really deep core."

Once known as the best fighter in her hometown of Drogheda, 'Mad Mary' has emerged from prison slightly older and wiser-she's the ripe old age of 25. She finds herself needing a date to her best friend's wedding and enlists the help of a speed dating service to find one. At times foul-mouthed and aggressively funny, Mary embarks on a journey to find a date - and perhaps herself. Mary is one of those girls with a talent for ruining whatever good things come her way, which lends the play its big laughs, unexpected moments, and powerful emotional turns. Fans of Inis Nua's past solo plays such as Finding Fassbender, How To Be Brave, and A Hundred Words for Snow, will find much to enjoy in this intimately told comic monologue.

"Everything I love about solo shows is wrapped up in 10 Dates with Mad Mary," says director Kathryn MacMillan, "Mary forms a real connection with the audience, there are sharp comic turns, and several characters for the actor to play. Solo work is a meaty challenge for an actor, and I'm thrilled to be working with Anna, a former student of mine and one of Philadelphia's most thrilling young performers. She captures Mary's energy with such a playful, impish spirit."

Inis Nua's A Pop-Up Play in a Pub is a popular event with regulars and new-comers alike. Beer and a British-style hand pie, included in the ticket price, accompany what is always a good time upstairs at Fergie's Pub. Audiences can expect a hilarious, sometimes shocking night at the pub while also being surprised at just how much heart Mary really has. Coupled with drinks and good food, it's a great way to welcome the colder nights of late fall.

10 Dates with Mad Mary was first produced by Calipo Theatre Company, Ireland, and premiered at the Droichead Arts Centre in 2009. The play was adapted for the screen in 2016 by Darren and Colin Thornton for Element productions (and titled A Date For Mad Mary).

The Edinburgh Reporter called the play's original production, "Fast-paced and riveting. This is a show you do not want to forget about." British Theatre Review says, "There is not one false note in the play or production." With its solo performance nature "Akram's narration doesn't attempt many games with language," says the Irish times about the plays writer, "she knows her way around a good gag and how to ration out narrative, when to conceal or divulge."

Playwright Yasmine Akram is known as a writer, director and actor and is perhaps most well known for her role as Janine Hawkins in the third series of BBC's Sherlock.

Director Kathryn MacMillan returns to Inis Nua after having directed Little Gem, the first Inis Nua play helmed by an artist other than the company's Founder Tom Reing. A veteran director of more than 50 shows in the Philadelphia region, off-Broadway and beyond, MacMillan has been a frequent director of solo plays, including one-person shows for Delaware Theatre Company, InterAct, Lantern Theater Company, Theatre Horizon, and Tiny Dynamite.

Star Anna Faye Lieberman (she/they) is a scrappy, orange, queer, theatre artist bopping between NYC and Philly. Passionate about the development of new works and the subversion of classics, they are a grounded storyteller with deep roots, who helps shape characters with her expansive, wacky imagination and love for deep investigation of the human experience. They are intent on bringing out your inner weirdo. Regional appearances include Rapunzel/Milky White/Cinderella's Mother in Into the Woods (Arden Theatre Co.); Carroll County Fix (Azuka Theatre); Understudy in Mr. Burns (Wilma Theatre); Peaceable Kingdom (Orbiter 3); Cowboy Bob, Marie In Tomorrow Land (Polyphone Festival); The Wild Party (University of the Arts). Film: Help Me Mary (Black Radish Films). Anna Faye Lieberman holds a BFA in Musical Theatre Class of 2020 (University of the Arts). @annaliebz www.annafayelieberman.com

Assistant Director Paige Whitman (they/them) is a Philly based theatre artist and actor. Recent theatre credits include Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream with The Farm Hill Players, Crash in Carroll County Fix with Azuka Theatre, assistant to director Tom Reing with Inis Nua for A Holy Show. Paige serves as Assistant Director for this production. Stage managing the show is Eilis Skamarakas (she/her) has worked in stage management at Hedgerow, Azuka, Swarthmore Players Club, and has studied technical theatre at Rutgers University. Anna Sorrentino (she/her), a Philadelphia-based costume designer, stage manager, performer, and theatre artist, is designing the costumes for this production. Nick Seymour (he/him), general manager of Inis Nua Theatre Company who's technical theatre credits include productions with the Mask and Wig Club and the Swarthmore Player Club, is the sound designer.

Aileen & Leo Conway provide support for this production as Executive Producers and the Abstract Company provides support at the Producer level.

The show opens October 26 for eight performances through November 5, 2022. Wednesday and Thursday shows start at 6pm; Saturday and Sunday shows start at 2pm. All tickets come with a meat or veggie pie provided by Stargazy Pies. Please note: this venue requires the use of stairs. Patrons are asked to arrive at 6pm/2pm for your pie and pint and the performance will start at 6:30pm/2:30pm.Tickets are $30 each or can be purchased as part of a 2022-2023 season scription package including our two mainstage plays for a total of $75. Tickets and subscriptions can be purchased by visiting https://inisnuatheatre.org/box-office or calling 215-454-9776.

This production will be held privately upstairs at Fergie's Pub and will follow the requirements of State and Local Health officials rules for bars and restaurants as well as any additional precautions enforced by management of Fergie's Pub. Though we hope you have received recommended vaccinations and boosters, we will not be requiring proof of vaccination for this production. Food and drink will be served but we strongly recommend audiences to wear masks when not actively eating or drinking.

Next, Inis Nua will open it's Queer Connections Reading Series with Love Song to Lavender Menace at 7:00 PM on November 14th. From playwright James Ley, This play centers on the final night of existence of the beloved Edinburgh Lesbian and Gay bookstore, The Lavender Menace. Through two soon-to-be-ex employees, we celebrate and examine life in Edinburgh in the stolid 1980's. This reading series, which includes How to Keep an Alien on March 13th and Offside on May 15th will present staged readings of three stories spanning the past four decades, from the 1980's to today. All Readings are performed at the Proscenium Theatre at the Drake and are free to attend.

The season then continues with a Mainstage production of Meet Me At Dawn by Zinnie Harris and directed by Sam Tower. It will run from February 15 to March 5 at the Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake and single tickets of season subscriptions can be purchased by visiting https://inisnuatheatre.org/box-office

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Yasmine Akram (she/her) is an Irish-Pakistani actor, writer and director. As a writer, she co-wrote and starred in two series of Irish Micks And Legends for BBC Radio 4 and #GODSWORK for BBC Radio 4 starring Rowan Atkinson. She began screenwriting in 2010 on the BBC Northern Ireland sketch show LOL. She wrote her first short film, War Paint, in 2017, which was funded by the BFI/Creative England. She was an additional material writer on the TV series FLACK (W/Pop) for Hattrick Productions. Yasmine has numerous TV and film projects currently in development including a pilot based on her upbringing in Ireland called WE, KHAN for Sky, produced by Witchery. As an actress she has appeared in Sherlock (Hartswood/BBC), The Reluctant Landlord (What Larks!/CPL/Sky), Humans (Kudos/C4) and There She Goes (Merman/BBC) among others. Yasmine trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she now lives.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Kathryn MacMillan (she/her) is a theater director and arts leader who has been working in the Philadelphia region for more than 20 years. KC has directed more than 50 productions in Philadelphia and beyond; recent productions include Unraveled (off-Broadway); Grounded and The Niceties (InterAct); Betrayal and Mrs. Warren's Profession at Lantern Theater Company, where she was the Associate Artistic Director for eight seasons; and Athena at Theatre Horizon, where she served as Guest Artistic Director for the 2017/18 season. KC's accolades include recent Barrymore Award nominations for directing The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged (Tiny Dynamite; also co-writer) and The Revolutionists (Theatre Horizon); Doubt (named one of the Best Plays of 2015 by the Philadelphia Daily News); the critically acclaimed The Beauty Queen of Leenane (named Best Production of the 2013 season & Best Director by Philadelphia Weekly, who called her "sensationally gifted"), and I Am My Own Wife (Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Production of a Play, and winner of the Virginia Brown Martin Philadelphia Award). In 2015, KC was named one of Billy Penn's Who's Next: 16 Young Philadelphians Shaping the Arts Scene. KC is the Producing Artistic Director of indie Philadelphia theater company, Tiny Dynamite, a position she has held since 2017.

ABOUT INIS NUA THEATRE COMPANY

Inis Nua's mission is to produce contemporary, provocative plays from Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales which reflect those cultures' new identities in today's world. Inis Nua also seeks to cultivate and produce contemporary, provocative work from American Playwrights who deal with the Irish-American, Welsh-American, Scottish-American and Anglo-American experiences.

In its nineteen-year history, the company has been the recipient of 6 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre including the prestigious June and Steve Wolfson Award for an Evolving Theatre Company (2014) and has been nominated for an additional 28 Barrymore Awards.

To date, Inis Nua has produced one world premiere, twenty-five American premieres, and fifteen Philadelphia premieres, and had eleven playwrights visit during production of their shows. Inis Nua Theatre Company has been the recipient of grants from the William Penn Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, the Independence Foundation, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Charlotte Cushman Foundation, MKM Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Virginia Brown Martin Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, the Connelly Foundation, the Free 2 Be Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, and the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme.

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