Terry Donnelly and Colin Lane in Honor Molloy’s “Crackskull Row” when it ran at the Workshop Theatre. It begins a new six-week run tonight at the Irish Rep. PHOTO BY MICHAEL BONASIO
By Orla O’Sullivan
The Echo has checked in with some Irish female playwrights to hear what we might expect from them in 2017.
One of them, Brona Crehan, is impressively productive, with two plays in the works—on top of a day job and raising sons. First up is a short piece, “The Right Thing,” running in the Poor Mouth Theatre Company's annual short play festival in late March/early April. It will take place in the Poor Mouth’s favored venue, An Béal Bocht Café in the Bronx.
And on the play itself, Crehan said: “Mike and Joan haven't seen each other for 20 years. Will their chance encounter finally allow them to put their regrets and animosity over a failed relationship behind them?”
Lisa Tierney-Keogh.
Crehan has written several plays, including, “Pillow on the Stairs,” an absorbing work, which was first read at the Irish Arts Center in 2014 and went on to have a three-week run at the Cell in the spring of 2015. It’s based on the true story of Crehan’s dad having a secret family down the road from where her own lived in Finglas, Dublin, which she discovered only after his death.
Besides “The Right Thing,” Crehan said, “I have another piece I'm working on, called ‘One Night.’ It's almost finished and I hope to do something with it in the fall—maybe sooner if I can raise the funds.
“A short description of it would be: a joyous occasion is the violent catalyst for a lifetime of hurt and compromise,” she said.
Brona Crehan.
On a lighter note, she gladly observed that this year’s short-play festival by Poor Mouth is different in that it showcases women writers only. “It's called ‘Puttin’ On Her Shorts,’” Crehan, said. “Kudos to Poor Mouth for recognizing that women in general are underrepresented in theater.”
Honor Molloy is riding high on some long-awaited recognition of her plays. Her gothic drama, “Crackskull Row,” a hit of Origin’s 1st Irish 2016 festival, and a New York Times Critic’s Pick, just opened a run at The Irish Repertory Theatre. (See more on Page 26).
“There is indeed a premiere afoot,” Molloy said, when asked what we might expect next, but she wasn’t at liberty to elaborate, she added, because she’s still in discussions with the producing venue.
She also expects to revisit “Voices Carry,” readings from Irish women writers of the 20th century, which ran for one night in December at the Irish Arts Center. Actors will perform works by Molloy and, among others, Eavan Boland, Maeve Brennan and Sinead O'Connor.
Laoisa Sexton, whose quirky and endearing latest play, “The Pigeon in the Taj Mahal,” just concluded a long run at the Rep, has written what she said may be her last play.
Sexton is working to have that play, her sixth, produced. The actor and writer, who recently moved back to Ireland, said she’s not sure yet whether “Ave Maria; blessed art thou amongst women,” will open in Ireland or the U.S.
“The play is full of great female roles [one of them the Virgin Mary],” Sexton said. “It’s about a narcissistic man surrounded by women.”
Sexton has written six plays and two of three produced, “For Love” and “The Last Days of Cleopatra,” were selected as New York Times’ Critics' Picks. Cleopatra, which ran in Canada and Milwaukee, winning awards in the 2016 Irish Play Festival, makes its European debut, in Temple Bar, Dublin, on March 20.
Honor Molloy.
Despite her stage success, Sexton said recently she may henceforth “focus on film” because it’s so hard to get plays produced.
Similarly, Lisa Tierney-Keogh, who has written several plays for radio and the stage, said she has been “transitioning into television and film” and so does not have any upcoming theatre productions.
Tierney-Keogh, who comes from a big theatre family in Ireland, began her playwriting career by winning a prestigious Stuart Parker award with her first play. In 2014, she staged, her play, “Four Last Things” in Manhattan, and, last year, she founded the U.S. branch of the Irish artists’ movement, Waking the Feminists.
Her latest work couldn’t be more topical. “I'm working on a half-hour dramedy about undocumented immigrants in New York,” Tierney-Keogh said.
“It’s fictional, but I know a few people who are here illegally,” she added.
Tierney-Keogh also just completed a screenplay and started a new play that, she said, “stemmed from my experience over the past year working for gender equality.”
Laoisa Sexton.
