Origin Theatre Company Announces New Playwriting Program Led By Sarah Street And Produced In Association With Irish Arts Center

Origin Theatre Company announces Scéal Nua, a collaborative playwriting program led by Irish writer and actor Sarah Street and produced in Association with Irish Arts Center, initiative running January - April 24, 2024, aims to develop emerging Irish theatrical voices.

This winter, Origin Theatre Company launches Scéal Nua, a new playwriting program led by accomplished Irish writer and actor Sarah Street and produced in association with Irish Arts Center. The program, which runs January - April 2024, is designed to nurture and elevate emerging voices within the Irish and Irish-diaspora communities in New York.

Scéal Nua, meaning "New Story" in Irish, aims to address a gap in the New York Irish theater community by providing a platform for Irish writers based in the city. The program will consist of weekly sessions where eight selected playwrights will come together to read their work, receive constructive feedback, and collaborate with their peers. The program will provide a vital platform for Irish writers to develop and showcase their work, feeding into both Origin's 1st Irish Festival and its live readings series, Plays in May. Submissions for Scéal Nua are open now and can be made here.

Scéal Nua is the brainchild of Cork native Sarah Street, whose own work as a writer helped her identify a need she saw in the New York theater community. “ I wanted something like this to exist to assist me as a writer, and it didn't, so I thought I should create it myself. I will be developing my own work alongside the selected writers, and we will be helping each other. Given Ireland's outsize influence in the worlds of theatre and literature, and the robust Irish theatre community  here in New York, I believe Scéal Nua and its development of bold, new, modern Irish and Irish-diaspora voices can have a transformative impact, both locally and internationally.

Playwrights will be selected by a committee including playwright/producer Deirdre Kinahan (The Saviour); playwright, poet, and author Jaki McCarrick (The Naturalists); and playwright Honor Molloy (Crackskull Row).

As Origin Artistic Director Mick Mellamphy puts it, “Scéal Nua is further confirmation of Origin's commitment to nurturing the very best of emerging Irish theatre here in New York City.”

Sarah Street is an actor, writer, director, and producer from Cork City working in film, TV, theatre, and voiceover. She will play Alice in Brian Friel's Aristocrats, which begins previews on Jan 11, 2024, at the Irish Repertory Theatre. Recent theater credits include Good Vibrations U/S, directed by Des Kennedy, at Irish Arts Center; Intelligence, directed by Jess Chayes and produced by Dutch Kills Theater Co. at the Edinburgh Fringe; Belfast Girls, directed by Nicola Murphy Dubey, at Irish Rep; and Afterwards, written and directed by Enda Walsh for Irish Arts Center.

Recent TV credits include Inside Amy Schumer, Ray Donovan, and Law & Order: SVU. Street was just nominated for “Outstanding Actress in a Film” at the 2023 Nice International Film Festival. Her first feature film, The Mustache Ride, is currently in development.

Since its inception in 2002, Origin has been devoted to discovering, nurturing, and introducing new exciting voices from Europe, whose work provides unique perspectives on national identity, cross-cultural relations, and global understanding. Since the global pandemic, Origin has shifted its focus to supporting playwrights who produce work that reflects the experiences of the global Irish diaspora.

Through both its mainstage productions and theater festivals, Origin is proud to offer these artists an important gateway to America. For more information, please visit www.origintheatre.org.

Irish Arts Center, founded in 1972 and based in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, is a home for artists and audiences of all backgrounds who share a passion or appreciation for the evolving arts and culture of contemporary Ireland and Irish America. We present, develop, and celebrate work from established and emerging artists and cultural practitioners, providing audiences with emotionally and intellectually engaging experiences—fueled by collaboration, innovation, adventurousness, authenticity, and the celebration of our common humanity, in an environment of Irish hospitality. Steeped in grassroots traditions, we also provide community education programs and access to the arts for people of all ages and ethnic, racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. In an historic partnership of the people of Ireland and New York, Irish Arts Center recently opened a state-of-the-art new facility to support this mission for the 21st century.

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