Two daring new works — Dylan Coburn Gray’s “Boys and Girls” and the groundbreaking production of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in Yiddish — open the 7th annual Origin’s 1st Irish Festival on September 3 and 4. In all four US premieres and seven world premieres will be seen in the month-long festival running through September 28.
Curated and coordinated by the New York-based Origin Theatre Company, the 2014 edition of Origin’s 1st Irish features plays and productions in a stimulating array of styles from Belfast, Dublin, Los Angeles and New York. The world’s only theatre festival dedicated to Irish playwrights, Origin’s 1st Irish takes place in a number of New York venues; the Mainstage shows will be presented at the Barrow Street Theatre, 59E59 Theaters, The Irish Rep at DR2 Theatre, The Cell, and the Times Square Arts Center. (For tickets and schedule visit www.1stIrish.org
after Aug 10.)
The Festival’s popular 1st Irish Next Generation Series — consisting of workshop productions of plays that are small enough to allow for continued experimentation and development — introduces a new play by Anto Nolan, and an evening of short plays by the five winners of a new playwriting competition created jointly by Origin and Dublin’s The Attic Studio.
The Next Generation shows are vying — with the Festival’s larger-scale Mainstage productions, for jury-voted awards honoring the outstanding performances and productions. The festival concludes with an Awards Ceremony on Monday September 29.
The 4 American productions include:
A special performance by the Emerald Footprints Drama Group, a budding ensemble of budding thespians, ages 7 to 12, in “Between Lands & Legends,” by Jane McCarter. September 21 at the NY Irish Center. 10-40 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City.
Talking Feet presents “The Mercy of Trees” an immersive theatrical experience mixing dance, music, storytelling in the majestic halls of the Jefferson Market Library and Garden, under the direction of Russell Patrick Brown. September 27, Jefferson Market Library, 425 Avenue of the Americas.
Origin’s 1st Irish on Film: