Gerard Mannix Flynn

 A theater scholar and maker, Nakase lived in Ireland for ten years before moving to Portland in 2019. She received her PhD in race and Irish performance at the National University of Ireland, Galway and currently teaches at Portland State University. She is also the co‑editor of the two‑volume edited collection The Golden Thread: Irish Women Playwrights, 1716-2016, published by Liverpool University Press.

Corrib Theatre presents the West Coast Premiere of Gerard Mannix Flynn's James X, directed by Corrib Artistic Director Gemma Whelan. James X exposes this appalling, Ireland-specific story of institutional abuse and neglect that offers shockingly relevant parallels to the current U.S. child welfare, incarceration and immigration systems practices of turning a blind eye to justice for the nation's most powerless people under its care. The limited run dates for James X are February 13 through March 1, at New Expressive Works, 810 SE Belmont St., in Portland, Oregon.

For its seventh year of offering plays by contemporary Irish playwrights to Portland audiences, Corrib Theatre announces a three-show season: Eclipsed by Patricia Burke Brogan, James X by Gerard Mannix Flynn, and Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue. All three 2019-20 productions will be held at New Expressive Works, 810 SE Belmont St., Portland.

Gerard Mannix Flynn's James X is a searing indictment of neglect; both of the individual and of the institutions whose responsibility is to protect and inspire its citizens.

'I cannot recount a time when a critic decided that seeing a play was ‘a necessity of life' said Culture Project's Allan Buchman, but that is exactly what Finton O'Toole suggested in the Irish Times regarding James X. Gerard Mannix Flynn's play is a searing indictment of neglect; both of the individual and of the institutions whose responsibility is to protect and inspire its citizens. Directed by Gabriel Byrne, James X begins performances on December 6th, and opens on Friday, December 9th at 7:30pm at 45 Bleecker Street. Produced by Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson and Culture Project, James X, a Farcry Production, features Gerard Mannix Flynn, who also starred in the production when it premiered in Dublin in 2009.