The Craic Fest is joining forces with the St. Pats for All to present LGBT Session tomorrow night, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m. The New York Irish Center is the venue once again for a Craic event, but the MC is new.
Craic Festival Director Terence Mulligan said, “We are excited to have Martin Warde over from Ireland as our special guest MC this year. He’s very funny and a great storyteller.”
And Warde told the Echo, “I am really looking forward to going to New York and having a bit of craic with everyone on the night.”
Mulligan added, “It’s an eclectic lineup of LGBT Irish performers from comedy, music and spoken word.”
They include Mary Courtney, Yumi Kay and Honor Molloy.
Warde said, “I have never performed in the U.S. before so I am eager to see how my humor and MC style lands.”
Martin Beanz Warde, a member of the Irish Traveller community, is a stand-up comedian/writer, theatre-maker, and podcaster “with a passion for telling stories from the margins.”
He has “spoken on multiple platforms about the lack of representation of his community within Irish media, particularly in positions of power and decision making.”
Warde has a degree in Sociology and Politics from National University of Ireland Galway and an MA in journalism from University of Limerick. His first play first play, “The Dead House”, is currently a work in progress and was programmed at the Writers Week at Listowel in 2022. (For more about him and his work, see Twitter/Instagram, @martinbeanz and Facebook, @Beanzcomedy.)
Mulligan said the event is funded by the DCA (Department of Cultural Affairs) and the Cultural Immigrant Initiative (CM Krishnan). “Also, we are excited to be collaborating with St. Pats for All on this program,” he added.
Tickets are available at thecraicfest.com. The New York Irish Center is at 10-40 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, beside the Vernon Ave./Jackson Ave. 7 train station, just one stop from Grand Central Terminal.
