JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK & A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT Set for Irish Rep this Fall

Off-Broadway's award-winning Irish Repertory Theatre launches its 26th season with a revival of Sean O'Casey's JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, directed by Irish Rep Artistic Director Charlotte Moore. With a cast that features, among others, J. Smith-Cameron as Juno Boyle, Ciarán O'Reilly as "Captain" Jack Boyle, and John Keating as Joxer Daly, JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK will begin performances on Wednesday, October 9, 2013 at the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street).

On October 16th, the company continues its 2013-14 Season with the New York premiere A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT, a presentation of three of Samuel Beckett's short plays, with direction and puppet design by Bob Flanagan.

Following are details about Irish Repertory Theatre's Fall 2013 lineup:

JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK
By Sean O'Casey
Directed by Charlotte Moore

With J. Smith-Cameron, Ciarán O'Reilly, John Keating, Ed Malone, Mary Mallen, Ciarán Byrne, Terry Donnelly, Laurence Lowry, Kern McFadden, David O'Hara, James Russell, and Fiana Toibin.

October 9 - December 8
Opens October 20 on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage.
Performs Wednesdays at 3pm and 8pm; Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm; and Sundays at 3pm.
Tickets: $55 -$65.

JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK is Sean O'Casey's extravagant portrait of the poetically comic and tragic world of Dublin torn apart by the chaos of the Irish Civil War. The gestures of life are often broad, and the speech torrential, as Jack Boyle and sidekick Joxer Daly's drinking and posturing rise to comic heights! When the news of an unexpected inheritance arrives, the Boyle family sees a flame of hope as the heroic Juno dreams of taking war-crippled son, Johnny, and his sister, young Mary, out of their squalid surroundings into a better life. However, hopes are dashed and reality returns as a twist of fate brings their dreams crashing down around them.

One of the great plays of the twentieth century, JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK was first staged at the Abby Theater in Dublin in 1924, the second of Sean O'Casey's Dublin Trilogy -- the other two being THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN (1923) and THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS (1926). In 1930, Alfred Hitchcock directed the English film adaptation of the play known in America as "The Shame of Mary Boyle." The play has been adapted for television three times--1938, 1920, and 1980. JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK was last seen on Broadway in 1988.

The cast of JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK features J. Smith-Cameron as Juno Boyle, Ciarán O'Reilly as "Captain" Jack Boyle, Ed Malone as Johnny Boyle, Mary Mallen as Mary Boyle, John Keating as Joxer Daly, as well as Ciarán Byrne, Terry Donnelly, Laurence Lowry, Kern McFadden, David O'Hara, James Russell, and Fiana Toibin.

JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK has set design by James Noone, costume design by David Toser, lighting design by Brian Nason, and sound design by M. Florian Staab. The Production Stage Manager is Pamela Brusoski and the Assistant Stage Manager is Rebecca C. Monroe.

Director Charlotte Moore's recent staging credits include DONNYBROOK!, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY, NEW GIRL IN TOWN, Brian Friel's DANCING AT LUGHNASA and MOLLY SWEENEY, A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES, THE IRISH... AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY, and ERNEST IN LOVE. She has also directed The Irish Repertory Theatre's concert productions of OLIVER, OLIVER!!, CAMELOT and BRIGADOON on Broadway. Ms. Moore was a finalist for the 2011-2012 Joseph A. Callaway Award for excellence in the craft of directing for her work on DANCING AT LUGHNASA.

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A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT
Direction and puppet design by Bob Flanagan
New York Premiere
October 16 - December 1
Opens October 22 in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre.
Performs Wednesdays at 3pm and 8pm; Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm; and Sundays at 3pm.
Tickets: $45.

A presentation of three of Samuel Beckett's short plays . . . In Beckett's absurdist, minimal style, Mr. Flanagan explores the frustrating trials and tribulations of Everyman who seems stranded on a desert island in Act Without Words (a mime, presented here with Bunraku style puppetry); Breath, perhaps the world's shortest play, a thought-provoking statement on human life itself; and finally, Play, a study in how our choices in life bind us together forever as we visit three people who are trapped and isolated, due to an unexceptional affair.

Nobel Prize-winning author Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989) was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French. Widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century, Beckett's classic plays include WAITING FOR GODOT, ENDGAME, and Happy Days.

Bob Flanagan is founder of Den Design Studio, a puppet, prop and special effects studio. For 27 seasons, he has been designing puppets, specialty props, costumes and effects for "Saturday Night Live. "Mr. Flanagan is also responsible for the 64 puppets used on "Crank Yankers," which ran four seasons on Comedy Central. Mr. Flanagan's recent theatrical endeavors include the design and construction of the 40-foot Time Dragon Puppet which resides on the proscenium of the Tony Award winning musical WICKED, as well as the production's Wonderful Wizard of Oz head and lion cub puppet. Off Broadway, Bob designed and directed RAFFERTY RESCUES THE MOON and Oscar Wilde's THE HAPPY PRINCE (produced in relation with Irish Rep). His design work on Irish Rep's THE HAIRY APE earned a 2007 Henry Hewes Design Award nomination, and he also earned a Drama Desk nomination for his work with masks and puppets in The Irish Rep's 2010 production of Eugene O'Neil's THE EMPORER JONES, starring John Douglas Thompson. Before founding Den Design Studio, Mr. Flanagan worked for five and a half years as a designer for the Muppet Workshop and Jim Henson Productions. He won an Emmy Award in 1986 for outstanding achievement in costume design for his work on "Sesame Street."

A Christmas show, to be presented in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre, is to be announced.