Fishamble's artistic director Jim Culleton. PHOTO BY PATRICK REDMOND
By Irish Echo Staff
What Ireland’s President Higgins has called a “brilliant project” and “really wonderful” will hit the New York stage at the Irish Arts Center on Thursday, May 26, in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.
Fishamble’s “Tiny Plays for Ireland and America” will also be performed on the two previous evenings in Washington as part of the three-week festival IRELAND 100: Celebrating a Century of Irish Arts & Culture, which begins next Tuesday.
The script-in-hand presentations are directed by Jim Culleton and star Steve Blount, Sorcha Fox, Emmet Kirwan, Ronan Leahy, and Mary Murray.
In 2011, Fishamble: The New Play Company invited the citizens of Ireland to submit tiny plays capturing the challenges and joys of contemporary life. Over 1,700 plays were submitted to the company, and Fishamble produced 50 of them in Tiny Plays for Ireland, selling out Dublin's Project Arts Centre in 2012 and 2013, and receiving great audience and critical acclaim.
The 20 plays in the New York and Washington production will be accompanied by six new tiny American plays selected from an open call for submissions to honor President John F. Kennedy’s life and legacy.
Each selected play represents one of six age groups/categories ranging from age 11 and up and will be read alongside plays by Irish writers like the late Maeve Binchy, Colum McCann and Joseph O’Connor.
IRELAND 100: Celebrating a Century of Irish Arts & Culture at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is curated by Vice President for International Programming Alicia Adams, and supported by Irish Ambassador Anne Anderson and the Department of Foreign Affairs. It will run through June 5.
America’s ‘Tiny” winners
Over 500 budding playwrights from across the country answered the Kennedy Center’s call for original "tiny plays" and the winners were announced earlier this month. They are:
Age 11-13 “Getting to the Polls” by Daniel Covino (Rockville, Md.) On Election Day in 1960, a happenstance meeting between a young boy and his elderly neighbor offers a heartening answer to an oft-asked question: Can one person truly make a difference?
Age 14-17: “Questions” by Paige A. Colvin (Corte Madera, Calif.) President Kennedy's famous words, "Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country," find fresh meaning through the lens of contemporary issues in this probing riff on the state of our Union.
Age 18-26 “No More Excuses” by Yael C. McCue (Oakland, Calif.) After the sudden loss of her dear friend and assistant, a young scientist searches for a reason to continue her work. With help from her lovable roommate—and a stale loaf of French bread—she discovers the importance of carrying on her late friend's legacy.
Age 27-59: “A Nation of Immigrants” by Keya Guimarães (Silver Spring, Md.) Two Mexican teens prepare to take the ultimate risk for an uncertain future at the southern border of the United States. Meanwhile, far from the border patrol and its searing searchlights, a young girl practices a strikingly parallel speech by the late President Kennedy.
Keya Guimarães: "A Nation of Immigrants."
Age 60 and over: “No Irish Need Apply” by Monica E. Bauer (Tuscon, Ariz.) A "now hiring" sign at a Detroit dollar store sparks an impromptu interview between two people from wildly different backgrounds. In an era filled with polarized views and the potential for prejudice, the unlikely pairing finds more common values than one might expect.
Monica E. Bauer: "No Irish Need Apply."
Kennedy Center staff: “Malaika” by Scott C. Bushnell (Arlington, Va.) Before departing for his home back in Louisiana, a Peace Corps volunteer and a Kenyan villager share a brief farewell with a lasting impact. As polite small talk branches into a discussion of experiences and aspirations, each reveals that there is much to be learned from the other.
