OUTSIDE MULLINGAR Comes to Saint Michael's Playhouse Tonight

Producing Artistic Director Chuck Tobin recently announced the area premiere of John Patrick Shanley's new Irish comedy Outside Mullingar, which had its world premiere on Broadway last year.

Shanley is one of our country's most celebrated playwrights, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for his play Doubt, and an Academy Award for his film Moonstruck. Todd Lawson and Lena Kaminsky play Anthony Reilly and Rosemary Muldoon, neighbors living in adjacent farms in rural Ireland. Directed by Kathryn Markey, the play also features Kenneth Kimmins as Tony Reilly and Darrie Lawrence as Aoife Muldoon.

Performances begin on the Playhouse stage tonight, July 15. Performances are Wednesday - Saturday evenings, July 15 - July 18, Tuesday - Saturday, July 21 - 25 (8pm curtain), and Saturday matinees, July 18 and July 25 (2pm curtain).

Outside Mullingar was commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club and premiered on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on January 23, 2014. MTC describes the play as "A kind of an Irish Moonstruck. Anthony has spent his entire life on a cattle farm in rural Ireland, a state of affairs that-due to his painful shyness-suits him well. Rosemary lives right next door, determined to have him, watching the years slip away. With Anthony's father threatening to disinherit him and a land feud simmering between their families, Rosemary has every reason to fear romantic catastrophe. But then, in this very Irish story with a surprising depth of poetic passion, these yearning, eccentric souls fight their way towards solid ground and some kind of happiness. Their journey is heartbreaking, funny as hell, and ultimately deeply moving."

Outside Mullingar was nominated for the 2014 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play. The play received the 2014 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Play and the 2014 Tony Award nomination for Best Play.

THE CAST:

Todd Lawson (Anthony) Broadway: Summer and Smoke. Off-Broadway: Abundance, One Arm, Levittown. National Tour: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Regional: Philadelphia Story (Pioneer Theatre Co.), Dusk Rings a Bell (Merrimack Rep), Stones in His Pockets (Baltimore Center Stage), Torch Song Trilogy (Studio Theatre), It's a Wonderful Life (Playmakers Rep), Stone My Heart, You Can't Take it With You (Cincinnati Playhouse), Secret Oder, The Shape of Things (St. Louis Rep), Mary's Wedding (Portland Stage), Three Days of Rain, King Lear (Vermont Stage), Plaza Suite, Barefoot in the Park (John W. Engeman), The Vertical Hour, Red-Blooded All-American Man (The Human Race Theatre Co.), Film: Top Floor (SXSW 2013), Sides, and Guests of a Nation.

Lena Kaminsky (Rosemary) Credits include: In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play (Syracuse Stage), To Kill a Mockingbird (The Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), Frankie & Jonny in the Claire de Lune (Virginia Stage Company), Black Pearl Sings! (Portland Center Stage), A Carol for Cleveland (Cleveland Playhouse), Doubt and God of Carnage (Northern Stage), Love and Communication (Passage Theatre), Love, Janis (Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Trying (Hartford TheaterWorks), The Pillowman (George Street Playhouse), The Weir (Palm Beach Dramaworks), as well as work with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, McCarter Theatre, and others. Most recently at The Kitchen Theatre Company in Adam Bock's Swimming in the Shallows. TV: Law & Order.

Kenneth Kimmins (Tony) Broadway: The Music Man, Company (also in London), Status Quo Vadis, The Magic Show and The Fig Leaves Are Falling. Off-Broadway, Ken appeared in The Fantasticks, Adaptation/Next, The Sum of Our Parts, Nasty Rumors and Final Remarks as well as many others. In Los Angeles, he played in Twelve Angry Men and The Normal Heart. Ken has been seen in hundreds of television shows, most notably as a series regular for nine years on the ABC hit comedy Coach. Kenneth can currently be seen in the film Bridge and Tunnel. In the fall, Ken will appear in Pieces of Pinter.

Darrie Lawrence (Aoife) Broadway: Dead Accounts, Steel Magnolias, Buried Child. National tours: Doubt, Great Expectations, Quilters. NY premieres: Tales from Red Vienna, The Other Side, Portraits, Long Island Sound. Darrie has just appeared in the world premiere of Appoggiatura (by James Still) at the Denver Center Theatre. She has also worked around the country in many regional theatres. Favorite roles in: On Golden Pond, Grapes of Wrath, Noises Off, Driving Miss Daisy, Mousetrap, Winter's Tale, Three Tall Women, Retreat from Moscow, Last Night of Ballyhoo, Importance of Being Earnest. Film/TV: untitled Seth Rogan project; Hitch; August Rush; Kettle of Fish.

THE PLAYWRIGHT - John Patrick Shanley (Playwright) is the author of Doubt: A Parable (Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Four Dogs and a Bone, Dirty Story, Defiance and Storefront Church, among many others. He wrote the teleplay for Live from Baghdad (Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special), and the screenplays for Doubt (Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay), Five Corners (Special Jury Prize, Barcelona Film Festival), Alive, Joe Versus the Volcano, and Moonstruck (Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay).

THE DIRECTOR - Kathryn Markey (Director) Directing credits include: Fiddler on the Roof, Fox On The Fairway, Over The Pub, Boeing, Boeing and Around the World in 80 Days (Saint Michael's Playhouse), Deathtrap (Mason Street Warehouse), Into The Woods (Ocean State Theatre) South Pacific and Carousel (New London Barn), Ragtime (WPPAC), David & Goliath (Merkin Hall.). Onstage she has appeared in Young Frankenstein, Nunsense, The Drowsy Chaperone, the Brighton Beach trilogy, Pirates of Penzance, (Saint Michael's Playhouse), Holidays with The Chalks (Alliance Theatre), A Christmas Story (Engeman), American Family in 3 Chords (Bay Street), Over The Tavern (Penguin Rep), God of Carnage, Dancing at Lughnasa (Northern Stage), Selected Shorts (NPR), Moonlight & Love Songs (GayfestNYC), Separation (English Theatre of Stockholm.) On-screen: SVU, Law and Order, Premium Blend, All My Children, Filmic Achievement, DutchWestTV, CollegeHumor and Amateur Hour. Kathryn appeared on Broadway in 3 From Brooklyn and is a featured artist at In Your Face New York, and the Broadway Playhouse series in NYC.

The creative team, lead by director Kathryn Markey, includes Tim Case (scenic design), Janet Sussman (costume design), Ben Fichthorn (lighting design), Zachary Williamson (sound design), Theresa Pierce (property design).

Saint Michael's Playhouse is an Actors' Equity Association theater company operating as an auxiliary enterprise of Saint Michael's College. The Playhouse produces its productions with theater artists from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theater nationwide, along with Vermont-based professional actors, directors and designers. Actors' Equity Association is the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Tobin adds "We rehearse our shows right here in our theater and design and build our scenery, costumes and props on location with our crew of approximately 70 professional theater artists."

This season marks Producing Artistic Director Chuck Tobin's thirtieth year with the professional theater company. Tobin first worked at the Playhouse in 1986 as an actor appearing in numerous productions and soon after became Associate Producer. In 1997 he became Managing Director and in 2007 assumed full leadership as the theater's first Producing Artistic Director.

"For the past three decades it has been an honor to entertain, educate and enrich Northern Vermont with dynamic and vibrant professional theater." Tobin continued "Twelve years ago I became the theater's Producing Artistic Director and during that time have had the extraordinary experience of seeing the Playhouse blossom into "One of the best regional theaters in America" (NYC Drama League) while continuing its historic role as one of the oldest professional theater companies in Northern Vermont."

Following Outside Mullingar on the Playhouse stage is Woody Guthrie's American Song. Single tickets range from $34 to $44. The Playhouse is located at McCarthy Arts Center on the campus of Saint Michael's College, Route 15, Colchester, Vermont. Tickets may be purchased at the Playhouse box office, by calling 802-654-2281, or online at saintmichaelsplayouse.org.

Photo Credit: Brian MacDonald

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