Workshops / Readings
NEWvember
Great Plays Gang
Winner: Bairbre Dowling Spirit of the Festival Award
2021 New York Origin 1st Irish Festival
"A canny reflection of the global concerns of the contemporary health crisis, as well as the interconnectedness of life in the globalised world … AboutFACE Theatre's eight new three-minute plays, streamable on YouTube, explore a refreshing diversity of subject matter and tone … a touching surprise … an interesting slice of life across the globe, both in its thematic preoccupations and its digital theatrical form."
- Business Post
"An inspired idea"
- Irish Independent
If you missed the Live Premiere on June 6th, you can now watch recordings of each of the 8 plays, plus the post-show Q&A, on our Youtube Channel.
What do you do during a lockdown, when your big June show has been cancelled? Well, put on a live digital international production spanning 5,000 km with over 20 artists of course!
We're bringing together theatre artists from America and Ireland to create and perform eight new 3-minute plays – each set on a Zoom call, to be developed in May and performed via online video the first week of June. We'll be pairing 8 of our Irish-based actors (the cast of our cancelled show) with 8 of our favourite US-based actors, plus 8 writers who've been featured in the past at our NEWvember Festival. We can't wait!
As featured on RTÉ Culture Website
WATCH LIVE ARTISTS DRAW
TRANSATLANTIC TALES 2020
Zooming For Home
Amie Tedesco & Kathleen Warner Yeates in a play by Seamus Scanlon
A mother and daughter, both actresses, both rivals, catch up …
Amie Tedesco
Amie Tedesco has performed regionally in Circle Mirror Transformation and her Off-Broadway credits include Lemon Sky and an all female production of Julius Caesar.
Kathleen Warner Yeates
Kathleen Warner Yeates has worked in film, TV and theatre Off-Broadway and in the "regions" as far as Dublin, including roles such as Babe in Crimes of the Heart, Polly Peachum in Threepenny Opera, and Gertrude in Hamlet.
Seamus Scanlon
Seamus Scanlon is a Galway author who works at New York's City College Downtown and writes fiction, drama and film scripts. Recent credits include Echoes of Calling (Tokyo/Galway), The Butterfly Love Song (Ireland/USA) and The McGowan Trilogy (2018 in Tokyo, Hyogo and Aichi).
Kilkenny, KY
Brandon Jones & Helena White in a play by Emily Bohannon
A guy in Kentucky and a girl in Kilkenny make plans for new beginnings …
Brandon Jones' Off-Broadway and regional theatre credits include Bouyant Billions, Quartermaine's Terms and the world premiere of Angelica Cheri's The Sting of White Roses.
Helena White
Helena White's theatre credits include The Gods of the Ozarks, The Laramie Project and Boys and Girls.
Emily Bohannon
Emily Bohannon is a playwright, screenwriter, and actress originally from Sandersville, Georgia. She is a 2014 graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwrighting Program at the Juilliard School under the direction of Chris Durang and Marsha Norman. Her play, Water on the Moon, was selected for Playwrights Week at the Lark Play Development Center and was produced at the American Academy of Dramatic Art.
The Rogue Om
Kevin Collins & Darina Gallagher in a play by Matthew Cole Kelly
A distanced couple share some surprising news over a glass of wine …
Kevin Collins' film credits include Munich, Baby Mama and Infinite Justice.
Darina Gallagher
Darina Gallagher's recent theatre credits include The Vaults, The Gods of the Ozarks and performing Songs of Joyce with Sinead Murphy around the world, most recently in Shanghai.
Matthew Cole Kelly
Matthew Cole Kelly is a playwright, librettist, and screenwriter whose work has been nominated for over 20 awards. Recent credits include The Gods of the Ozarks (AboutFACE) and Ami&Tami (Teatro Coccia Italy).
From a Distance
Orlagh Cassidy & Mark Tankersley in a play by Krystal Sweedman
A brother and sister deal with the competing demands of family and career …
Orlagh Cassidy
Orlagh Cassidy works in theatre, TV and film, and has narrated many commercials and over 100 audiobooks. Her latest project was playing Nancy Pelosi in the one woman play The Adult In The Room.
Mark Tankersley
Mark Tankersley's stage and film credits include the title role in Macbeth, The Gods of the Ozarks, and playing Warden Barnes in the feature film Lockout.
Krystal Sweedman
Krystal Sweedman is an Australian writer and dramaturg, based in Dublin. 2020 will see Krystal's first radio play produced, as well as having a production as part of La Mama's 2020 season in Melbourne. In Ireland, she's presented work during The New Theatre's New Writing Week, The Provoke Festival, and Smock Alley's Scene and Heard Festival.
The Thin Veil (A Pandemic in Five Zoom Calls)
Erin Healani Chung, Michael Rhodes & David Ryan in a play by James McLindon
Two old friends (and a daughter) take their chances through changing times …
Erin Healani Chung
Erin Healani Chung is a Hawaii-born actor living in LA by way of NYC; recent credits include Katy Keene (The CW), and The Sinner (USA Network).
Michael Rhodes
Michael Rhodes' theatre credits include Constellations, The Good Father and Doubt.
David Ryan
David Ryan's theatre credits include Richard II and The Gods of the Ozarks, while his film credits includes the Oscar-nominated Detainment.
James McLindon
James McLindon's plays have been produced across the United States and around the world, including Ireland, England, Scotland, India, The Philippines, Luxembourg, Australia, Dubai, Luxembourg, and Estonia. He is a member of the Nylon Fusion Theater Company in New York and the Dramatists Guild.
John Keating & Megan Day in a play by Rachel White
A mother travelling in Ireland keeps in touch with her son in America, a healthcare worker …
John Keating
John Keating is a prominent New York stage actor who recently won the 2019 Callaway Award for Best Performance in a Classical Role On or Off Broadway (for The O'Casey Cycle at the Irish Rep).
Megan Day
Megan Day's recent theatre credits include The Gods of the Ozarks and The Love Electric, and film credit includes Supervized.
Rachel White
Rachel White's plays include Eyes in the Storm (Louisville Improvisors and The Bard's Town Theatre Single Shots Festival), Broken Wing (NEWvember New Play Festival), and Green River (The New School for Drama New Voices Festival).
If You are Dissatisfied with your Apocalypse …
Kate Grimes & Paul Nugent in a play by Neil Sharpson
A woman turns to her spiritual leader, worried about the end times …
Kate Grimes
Kate Grimes' recent TV work includes a recurring role on CBS's Bull, as well as playing Andy Garcia's wife in Amazon's Modern Love. Last year she was in the Off-Broadway 3-hander Williston with Bob LuPone.
Paul Nugent's Off-Broadway theatre credits include The Field, Ladies and Gents, and originating the role of Victor McGowan in The McGowan Trilogy.
Neil Sharpson
Neil Sharpson lives in Dublin with his wife and their two children. Having written for theatre since his teens, Neil transitioned to writing novels in 2017, adapting his own play The Caspian Sea into When The Sparrow Falls. He is a graduate of the Abbey Theatre's New Playwrights Programme, and was shortlisted for the Maguire International Playwrighting Award.
Richard Topol & Maureen O'Connell in a play by Mêlisa Annis
A New York baker and an eager young Irish girl discover what they have in common …
Richard Topol
Richard Topol has appeared on Broadway 9 times, including with Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Mark Ruffalo, and as Lemml in the Tony Award winning production of Indecent; on TV opposite Geoffrey Rush in Genius: Einstein and in film opposite Daniel Day Lewis in Spielberg's Lincoln.
Maureen O'Connell
Maureen O'Connell's most recent credits include The Gods of the Ozarks, feature film SPA Weekend and BBC1's Father Brown.
Mêlisa Annis
Mêlisa Annis is an award-winning playwright (Parity Commission Winner 2019), whose work has been developed and presented by Parity Productions, The Lark, Primary Stages among others. TV includes Jessy & Nessy (Amazon Studios). She is currently working on a new musical The King's Wife with Grammy Award Nominee Jamie Floyd.
Anna Nugent
Tara McKeever
Jenny Owens
Owen Day-Jones
Music Composed and Arranged by
Charlie Kranz
Yvonne Ussher
Eoin O'Sullivan
We at AboutFACE were excited to remount our World Premiere production of The Gods of the Ozarks this June at Dublin's Smock Alley – but like many plays and other live events, we had to cancel due to the pandemic. But we still want to provide a chance for our artists to create, share their talents and be of purpose, which we feel is deeply important at this time. Taking care of actors, giving them opportunities to play, develop and be in community, through programmes like our monthly Great Plays Gang, is a key part of our ethos.
We wanted it to be something that works digitally – fresh, short, inventive experiences, with global range – and that resonate with the present moment. Then we also thought of it as an opportunity – what would we not have thought to do before this crisis? And we hit on our transatlantic connection – that this could be an thrilling chance to pair our Ireland based actors … with some of our favourite New York based actors. And to tie in with another key part of our programming – our NEWvember New Plays Festival where we have developed plays by over 30 playwrights from Ireland and the US. And that started to sound like something that would not only engage artists we love, but also be new AboutFACE stories that audiences would be excited about too.
In May:
We will pair 16 actors (8 based in Ireland – the cast members of The Gods of the Ozarks – with 8 based in the States).
We will invite 8 playwrights who've been involved in NEWvember in the past to take part (including Matthew Cole Kelly, author of The Gods of the Ozarks), and provide them with headshots of their 2 actors, randomly chosen at our live draft broadcast!
Our playwrights will write a new 3-minute play. The only limit is that it has to be set on a Zoom call between Ireland and America.
Our casts will rehearse with our director via Zoom.
In the first week of June:
when we would have been performing The Gods of the Ozarks … we will release the 8 plays via our Youtube channel.
ARTISTS TAKING PART IN TRANSATLANTIC TALES 2020
US-based actors: Orlagh Cassidy, Erin Healani Chung, Kevin Collins, Kate Grimes, Brandon Jones, John Keating, Michael Rhodes, Amie Tedesco, Richard Topol.
Irish-based actors: Megan Day, Darina Gallagher, Paul Nugent, Maureen O'Connell, David Ryan, Mark Tankersley, Kathleen Warner Yeates, Helena White.
Playwrights: Melisa Annis, Emily Bohannon, Matthew Cole Kelly, James McLindon, Seamus Scanlon, Neil Sharpson, Krystal Sweedman, Rachel White.
Production Team: Anna Nugent (Director), Tara McKeever (Costume Designer), Jenny Owens (Set Designer), Owen Day-Jones (Music Composed and Arranged by), Charlie Kranz (Graphic Designer), Yvonne Ussher (Production Coordinator), Eoin O'Sullivan (Technical Stage Manager). US PR support from Andrea Rhodes at Tangent Theatre Company.
November 21, 2021 Web Admin
← Transatlantic Tales 2021
The Gods of the Ozarks →
AboutFACE Ireland Mailing List
Copyright © 2021 AboutFACE Theatre Company. All Rights Reserved