Irish Heritage Theatre Announces Fall Production BY THE BOG OF CATS

It is with great excitement that the Irish Heritage Theatre announces our Fall 2017 production of By the Bog of Cats by Marina Carr. After a highly successful and critically acclaimed season last year featuring Molly Sweeney (several critics' awards including Best Actor (Female) Phindie Critics' Awards and D.C. Metro's Best Ensemble) and Making History, we turn to a season dedicated to the women of Ireland. This Fall and next Spring, we will be producing plays including Carr's masterpiece, By the Bog of Cats, as well as dramas by John Millington Synge (Riders to the Sea) and Yeats and Lady Gregory (Cathleen Ni Houlihan) all of which center around strong Irish female characters, richly drawn by some of the world's greatest Irish playwrights.

The Irish Heritage Theatre is Philadelphia's only professional company dedicated to preserving and acquainting new audiences with the poetry and power of classical and contemporary Irish and Irish American theatre. We are also happy to return to the Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5, where we produced Molly Sweeney as well as Philadelphia Here I Come!

Set in the harsh landscape of Midland Ireland, By the Bog of Cats follows Hester Swane, an Irish traveler who is on the verge of losing everything she holds dear: her lover, her home, and even her daughter. Carr's daring and contemporary Irish take on the Medea story features an array of eccentric, at times comic, and often, menacing characters, all of whom threaten Hester's very existence. Heartbreaking and brutal, By the Bog of Cats is a story about the human need for belonging, the cruelty of exclusion and the spiral of betrayal leading to terrible, murderous revenge.

The Irish Heritage Theatre is taking a risky move this year with Carr's brutal and beautiful By the Bog of Cats. This show will be unlike any other we have done up to this point because of its contemporary edge, dark subject matter and controversial content. Characters range in age from 7-80, and each and every one of them has an integral and oftentimes terrible secret to tell. Whether it is the prophetic Catwoman, the enigmatic Ghost Fancier, the mercenary farmer Xavier Cassidy, his naive daughter Caroline, Hester's ill-fated lover, Carthage Kilbride, her fiesty daughter Josie, Carthage's controlling mother, Elsie, or any of the other characters that inhabit Carr's world, they are all compelling, all striking, and all part of Hester's inevitable unraveling.

Directed by Peggy Mecham, and featuring an original score by the multi-award winning Zachary McKenna, lighting design by Rachel Krupnick, fight choreography by Barrymore nominee Arlen Hancock, costuming by Peggy Mecham and the cast, and set design by Lee Lewis of Delaware Theatre Company, this Barrymore eligible production will feature some of the finest acting talent in Philadelphia, and will be our most daring production to date. Some returning favorites of IHT such as Kirsten Quinn, Ethan Lipkin, John Cannon, Jim Guckin, Mark Knight and Mary Pat Walsh will be joined by newcomers Arlen Hancock, Jenna Kuerzi, Tina Brock, Keri Doheny, and Susan Giddings.

The show will run November 2-18th. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2:30pm. Tickets are $25 for general admission; $20 for seniors; and $15 for students, theatre industry members, and groups of ten or more. Also check for us on Funsavers for certain performances. For production information and to purchase tickets go to: www.irishheritagetheatre.org.

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