Irish Repertory Theatre to Present New Works Fall Festival Featuring Five New Play Readings

Irish Repertory Theatre will present New Works Fall Festival, featuring five new play readings spotlighting female voices. The Festival will run Thursday November 2 - Thursday November 16, 2023 in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre at Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd St).
 
Irish Repertory Theatre’s New Play Development Program includes table reads, staged readings, workshops and commissions from voices that fulfill Irish Rep’s mission and tell stories of Irish and Irish-American people of all ethnicities, genders, abilities, and orientations. Following the success of the inaugural New Works Summer Festival spotlighting LGBTQ+ voices in June 2023, the New Works Festival returns this November with five new play readings spotlighting female voices. This program enables us to hear new work aloud with an audience and discover new plays and musicals for possible future production.
 
The choice to spotlight Irish female voices in particular this November was intended to coincide with a gender equality referendum proposed to take place in Ireland. This referendum centers on Articles 40 and 41 of the Irish Constitution, which contain discriminatory language referring to a woman's “life within the home” and mothers' “duties within the home”. It has now been postponed to 2024.
 
The 2023 New Works Fall Festival, curated by Nicola Murphy Dubey, will include plays by Katie Holly, Nancy Harris, Deirdre Kinahan, Meadhbh McHugh and Ursula Rani Sarma. Directors and casting will be announced at a later date.
 
All readings are free to attend with advance registration required. Registration is now open to Irish Rep members at irishrep.org/newworksfest and will open to the public on October 6. 
 
The schedule is as follows:
 

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 2 at 7PM

Helen and I
by Meadhbh McHugh
80 minutes, no interval
 
With their father dying, Lynn and her older sister, Helen, return to their childhood home. Uninvited comes Lynn's husband, Tony, and intentionally summoned is Helen's teenage daughter, Evvy. The weather is hot, the past is sticky and the relationships tangle into an intractable mess.
 

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 7 at 7PM

A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Ursula Rani Sarma
Based on the book by Khaled Hosseini
2 hours and 30 minutes, including an interval
 
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss, and by fate. As they endure the ever-escalating dangers around them–in their home, as well as in the streets of Kabul–they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, playwright Ursula Rani Sarma reimagines Hosseini’s novel to show how a woman’s love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.
 

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 9 at 7PM

Her Hand on the Trellis
by Katie Holly
90 minutes, no interval
 
Bernie happily cares for her ailing mother Bridge in a ramshackle house, slightly outside the community, both geographically and mentally. Forces outside the house attempt to control her choices and her future, while she desires to retain her childish status quo. The question becomes, is it easier to submit? Or to rail against the powers-that-be, no matter how futile the attempt at autonomy may be?
 

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 14 at 7PM

The Beacon
by Nancy Harris
2 hours and 30 minutes, including an interval
 
Beiv, a celebrated artist, has moved from suburban Dublin to her holiday cottage on an island off the coast of West Cork. But a dark shadow from the past hangs over her. When her estranged son and his new young wife arrive to stay, she is faced with some difficult questions.
 

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 16 at 7PM

Rathmines Road
by Deirdre Kinahan
80 minutes, no interval
 
Set over one evening, Rathmines Road is a play that rages in a tiny room, challenging the cultural response to accusations of sexual assault.
 

ABOUT IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE

 
IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE, co-founded by Producing Director Ciarán O'Reilly and Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, is now in its 33rd season after first opening its doors in September 1988 with Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars. Irish Rep is currently the only year-round theatre company in New York City devoted to bringing Irish and Irish American works to the stage. Recognized with the Jujamcyn Theatres Award, a special Drama Desk Award for “Excellence in Presenting Distinguished Irish Drama,” an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Achievement, and the Lucille Lortel Award for “Outstanding Body of Work,” Irish Rep celebrates the very best in Irish theatre, from the masters to the new generation of Irish and Irish American writers who are transforming the stage. Nearly 50,000 audience members annually attend productions at Irish Rep’s theatre located in the heart of New York’s Off-Broadway community. Once here, they witness Irish Rep’s engaging perspective on the Irish and their unique contributions to the world of drama.
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT
IrishRep.org
 

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