MOLLY SWEENEY Opens at Irish Repertory Theatre, 1/30

Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) continues its 23rd Season with the first major revival of Tony Award-winning playwright Brian Friel's MOLLY SWEENEY – the story of a blind woman who undergoes an operation to try to restore her sight – set to begin previews on the company's Francis J. Greenburger mainstage on January 19, prior to its official press opening January 30. 

Charlotte Moore, who helmed the company's recent productions of A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES, THE IRISH…AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY, ERNEST IN LOVE, and WHITE WOMAN STREET, directs.

In MOLLY SWEENEY, Ireland's master storyteller Brian Friel (DANCING AT LUGHNASA, TRANSLATIONS, PHILADELPHIA, HERE I COME!) has devised a riveting contemporary drama about the terrible consequences of a medical miracle. Molly has sat in happy, capable, independent darkness since she was ten months old. When her husband, a restless, unemployed enthusiast makes her blindness his latest cause, he consults a once famous star surgeon who, despite being half drowned in Irish whiskey agrees to attempt to restore Molly's sight. 

When the bandages come off, remarkable revelations ensue. The privacy of blindness is assaulted. Can one "learn to see"? Or will the shock of realization overwhelm a beautiful woman who has never seen her face! Mr. Friel's fascinating journey plunges deeply into the secrets and hearts of three extraordinary characters who lower the veil and allow us into their very private lives.

MOLLY SWEENEY co-stars Tony Award nominee Jonathan Hogan (AS IS, BURN THIS, FIFTH OF JULY, HOT L BALTIMORE); Geraldine Hughes (seen on Broadway in Brian Friel's TRANSLATIONS, BELFAST BLUES); and Ciarán O'Reilly (last seen Off-Broadway in Irish Repertory's revivals of CANDIDA and Brian Friel's ARISTOCRATS). 

Playwright Brian Friel is best known for his Tony Award-winning play DANCING AT LUGHNASA, TRANSLATIONS, and Tony Award-nominated play PHILADELPHIA, HERE I COME! which was revived at Irish Repertory Theatre in 2005. His plays ARISTOCRATS and MAKING HISTORY were presented at Irish Rep. in 1991 and 2009, respectively, directed by Ms. Moore. Mr. Friel's other plays include FAITH HEALER, WONDERFUL TENNESSEE, THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY, THE MUNDY SCHEME and among others, the Tony Award-nominated LOVERS. MOLLY SWEENEY opened at the Gate Theatre in 1994, and transferred to The Almeida Theatre in London prior to its original Off-Broadway production in 1996, which garnered Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics' awards for best play.

MOLLY SWEENEY has set design by Jim Morgan; costume design by Linda Fisher; lighting design by Richard Pilbrow and Michael Gottlieb; and sound design by Zach Williamson.

About the Irish Repertory Theatre

Co-founded by Producing Director Ciarán O'Reilly and Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, The Irish Repertory Theatre opened its doors in September 1988 with Sean O'Casey's THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS. The mission of the theatre was and remains to bring works by Irish and Irish American masters and contemporary playwrights to American audiences; to provide a context for understanding the contemporary Irish American experience; and to encourage the development of new works focusing on the Irish and Irish American experience, as well as a range of other cultures.

Currently at the Irish Repertory Theatre, through January 2, is a limited run of Dylan Thomas's holiday classic A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES, adapted and directed by Charlotte Moore. 

Performances of MOLLY SWEENEY run January 19-March 13 at The Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues): Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm; plus 3pm matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $55 and $65, and are available by calling 212-727-2737 or online at www.irishrep.org.