Irish Heritage Theatre & Plays & Players to Present JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK

After highly successful productions of Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come, A Night with Lady G ( three short plays by Lady Augusta Gregory), and last Spring's The Shadow of a Gunman, The Irish Heritage Theatre in a landmark collaboration with Plays and Players Theatre is turning its attention to Sean O'Casey's second play in his Dublin Trilogy, Juno and the Paycock. The Irish Heritage Theatre is Philadelphia's only professional company dedicated to preserving and acquainting new audiences with the poetry and power of classic Irish theatre and its rich legacy in America, and O'Casey is hands down one of Ireland's, and the world's, greatest 20th century playwrights. So it seemed like a natural choice for the Irish Heritage Theatre to produce three of O'Casey's greatest works, and this, his second in the trio, is perhaps his most personal, as it centers around the dysfunctional Boyle family and their great hopes and even greater misfortunes.

Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock is set in the Dublin tenements during the Irish Civil War. Juno is mother to Johnny, a traumatized, disabled veteran and Mary, a flirty, naive, and rebellious girl. Juno's husband is the notorious Captain Jack Boyle, a drunkard and slacker. As the only working member of the family, the fiesty Juno struggles to put food on the table and keep the family in one piece while her husband Jack gallivants about the town like a Paycock with his drinking buddy Joxer. The Trade Unions are on Strike and violence is happening all around the tenants of Dublin. When a young man courting Mary brings great news to the family, they are thrilled that their luck is about to change, but nothing is what it seems and soon life takes an even more tragic turn as the family's future hangs in the balance.

The play was originally produced to wide acclaim in 1924 at the Abbey Theatre. InJuno, the second of the trilogy, O'Casey continues his anti-war message by exploring the effects that the war has on the Boyle family. It is a complex, vibrant play with incredibly varied characters, and rich language, Juno and the Paycock touches on issues relevant today, such as: loss, single parenthood, poverty, union strikes, PTSD, the fall-out of war, teen pregnancy, addiction, enabling, personal accountability, idealism, and public disgrace.

In the spring, the Irish Heritage Theatre will finish the Dublin Trilogy with O'Casey's most controversial work, The Plough and the Stars, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Easter Uprising.

Juno and the Paycock, directed by Peggy Mecham, will feature an exceptional cast of returning stars and talented professional calibre actors new to the Irish Heritage Theatre stage including: Kirsten Quinn, Ethan Lipkin, John Cannon, Gina Martino, Dexter Anderson, Kevin Rodden, Angelique Bouffiou, Jim Guckin, Jackie Cohen, Thomas Robert Irvin, Carlos Forbes, and David Kuong. IHT is fortunate enough to have as its co-producer, Plays and Players Theatre.

The show will run October 16-31 at Plays and Players Theatre (preview on October 15). Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $25, general admission; $20 for seniors; and $15 for students. DISCOUNTS ARE AVAILABLE. For production information and to purchase tickets:www.irishheritagetheatre.org.

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