Irish Rep Reading Series To Present Gary Duggan's SPOTLESS

Irish Repertory Theatre begins its 13th season of the Irish Rep Reading Series with a staged reading of Gary Duggan's play Spotless. Directed by Irish Rep Literary Manager Kara Manning, the reading will take place on Friday, December 7, 2018 at 3:00pm at Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage. Tickets to the reading are free and open to the public. Seating is limited. RSVP through Irish Rep's box office by calling 212-727-2737.

The cast for Spotless will include Aoife Kelly* (Two by Friel) and Rachel Pickup* (The Home Place).

The lives of two very different women start to mirror each other when they unknowingly both become involved with an elusive young man. Genevieve has relocated from an affluent suburb and is getting to grips with her new, less salubrious home which backs onto a grim block of flats. Jenny, an inhabitant of those flats, is looking for a way out but is cynical about finding it now as she finishes high school. Genevieve is clinging to her final chance at having children while Jenny is doing her best to avoid any distraction and unwanted attention from the opposite sex. Their paths intersect in the shape of Dean, an attractive but unreliable local lad that neither can ever be sure of. In Spotless, a darkly humorous and disturbing suburban thriller, neither woman's life will ever be the same again.

Gary Duggan is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and director. His first play, Monged (Fishamble, Dublin, also Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), won the Stewart Parker Trust Award. A film adaptation premiered at the 2015 Galway Film Fleadh. Other plays include: Dedalus Lounge (Pageant Wagon, Dublin, Royal Family Productions, New York), Mission (Origin, 59E59, New York & Theatre Upstairs, Dublin), Trans-Euro Express (Pageant Wagon, Dublin; Fundamental Theater Company/ Irish Arts Centre, New York), Neuropolis (Dublin Fringe Festival 2010) and It's a Wonderful Bleeding Life (Theatre Upstairs & Bewley's Café Theatre). Shibari (Abbey Theatre, Dublin) premiered at the 2012 Dublin Theatre Festival. Run/Don't Run (Bigger Picture Projects) had an Irish national tour in 2015. His most recent play, Stop/Over (On The Quays, New York), premiered at 2018 Dublin Fringe Festival. Several of his plays are published by Oberon Books and Nick Hern Books. Gary's next play, Spotless, will premier in 2019. He has participated in devised work with Anu, Theatre Upstairs and the Gaiety School in Dublin and work-shopped plays with The Irish Arts Centre and The Irish Rep in New York. Gary also works in film and TV, he recently directed the short films "Shoebox" and "Inner Child", and "Costigan," a crime drama pilot for RTE's Storyland, which is currently being developed into a full series. Gary co-wrote the much talked about primetime drama, "Amber," which premiered on RTE and BBC4 in 2014. The mini-series sold to multiple territories throughout the world. Gary has been commissioned three times by The Abbey Theatre (National Theatre of Ireland) and currently has two features in development with Screen Ireland along with several other film and TV projects attached to Irish and international production companies.

Gary Duggan will be attending the reading with travel support from Culture Ireland, www.cultureireland.ie.

Irish Repertory Theatre continues its 13th season of the Irish Rep Reading Series, which encourages the development of works focusing on the Irish and Irish American experience, and produces works of other cultures interpreted through the lens of an Irish sensibility. The 2018-19 Irish Rep Reading Series is underwritten in part by members of Irish Rep's Patron's Circle.

Tickets to the reading are free and open to the public. Seating is limited. RSVP through Irish Rep's box office by calling 212-727-2737.

*The Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

For more information about Irish Repertory Theatre visit www.irishrep.org.