Photos: Saoirse-Monica Jackson and More in IRISHTOWN at Irish Repertory Theatre

Irish Repertory Theatre is presenting Irishtown, a new play by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth, directed by Nicola Murphy Dubey. Irishtown began previews April 2, 2025, with an opening night set for April 13, for a limited run through May 25, 2025, on Irish Rep’s Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage.

“We could just devise an Irish play… How hard could it be?” The Irishtown Players, a celebrated Dublin-based theatre company, have just started rehearsals for their new play. After the astounding success of their last production, the company are scheduled to open on Broadway, with the same visionary playwright at the helm. However, trouble arises when the actors decide she’s going too dark, too experimental, and… not Irish enough? Taking matters into their own hands, the company fights to restore the Hibernian flair. Irishtown is a hilarious, searing new comedy that explores the commercialization of a culture and invites audiences to experience the fragile creative process and the potential collapse of a collective.
 
Irishtown features Emmy and Tony Award nominee Kate Burton, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Kevin Oliver Lynch, Brenda Meaney, and Angela Reed, with voiceover work by Roger Clark.
 
Irishtown features set & lighting design by Colm McNally (The Beacon), costume design by Orla Long (The Beacon), sound design by Caroline Eng (Yellow Face), and properties by Nicole Rozanski (The Beacon). Michael Palmer (The Dead, 1904) is the Production Stage Manager and Jade Doina (The Dead, 1904) is the Assistant Stage Manager. Casting is by Katja Zarolinski (KZ Casting).
 
Irishtown was first presented in 2023 as part of Irish Rep’s New Works Summer Festival in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre and was further developed in a workshop in Summer 2024 at Irish Rep.

Photo credit: Carol Rosegg