HUE AND CRY Plays 1st Irish 2010 9/21-10/3

The U.S. premiere of "Hue and Cry," Deirdre Kinahan's full-throated shout-of-a-play runs from September 21 to October 3 at the Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd Street, as part of 1st Irish 2010. Directed by David Horan, "Hue and Cry," which opened in Dublin in 2007 and has been seen in a number of European cities, including Paris, marks Kinahan's American coming out. The production travels from Navan, Ireland (County Meath) where Kinahan serves as artistic director of Tall Tales Theatre Company, a resident arts group of the Solstice Arts Centre.

In "Hue and Cry" two Dublin cousins - Damian, a recovering drug addict, and Kevin, a choreographer -- are reunited on the eve of a family funeral in a highly charged encounter full of denial, disillusion and dark laughter. As each responds in their own starkly different ways to the circumstances that brought them here, a strange dance of co-dependence draws them closer while pushing them centrifugally, with building force, to The Edge.

Featured in the two-character play (which clocks in at a muscular 40 minutes) are Paul Roe (as the emotionally inarticulate Damian) and Will O'Connell (as the sensitive Kevin), both of whom have received high praise for their performances as directed by Horan. Horan was previously a staff director for The Abbey Theatre, and is the artistic director of Bewley's Café Theatre in Dublin.

A winner of the Tony Doyle Award with BBC Northern Ireland in 2009, Kinahan is currently under commission to the National Theatre of Ireland (Abbey Theatre). Among her recent plays, "Moment" transfers to The Bush Theatre in London in February 2011, while her latest, "Bogboy," is being showered with praise since opening this summer.

According to The Irish Times "Deirdre Kinahan is one of Ireland's most exciting new playwrights exploring the big themes through small ordinary lives. Kinahan writes comedy and tragedy in a minor key, it is not unusual to find high drama smuggled into her plays... a striking writer." Writing about "Hue and Cry," The Scotsman praises its "off the wall originality," calling it "a wonderfully lively piece of writing and performance."

"Hue and Cry" plays 12 times at the Irish Repertory Theatre, 132 West 22nd Street, from September 21 through October 3, on the following dates: Tuesday to Friday September 21, 22, 23, 24 at 8pm; Saturday September 25 at 3pm & 8pm; Sunday September 26 at 3pm; Tuesday to Friday September 28, 29, 30, October 1 at 8pm; Saturday October 2 at 3pm & 8pm, and Sunday October 3 at 3pm. Tickets, which are $25 are available via SmartTix, by phone at (212) 868-4444, or online at www.smarttix.com. For more information visit www.1stirish.org

Coordinated by the New York-based Origin Theatre Company, 1st Irish 2010 (the 3rd annual edition), New York's only all-Irish theatre festival, runs from September 7 to October 4, and features plays by 16 mostly contemporary, living Irish playwrights in venues across New York. The festival concludes on Monday October 4 with an awards ceremony at which the festival's jury will honor the outstanding performances and productions, and a new Audience Choice Award for Best Play will be inaugurated.

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