The Irish Cell: A Night of Irish One-Acts to Debut Off-Off-Broadway in March

The world premiere production of Seamus Scanlon’s Dancing At Lunacy along with Larry Kirwan’s Blood, directed by Kira Simring, will be presented as The Irish Cell, playing a limited Off-Off-Broadway engagement at the cell (338 West 23rd Street), March 1-17.

Kirwan’s Blood is based on the actual disappearance of James Connolly, trade union organizer and leader of the Irish Citizen Army, on January 19, 1916. He returned four days later, his only comment, “I have been through hell.” Connolly had been captured by the rival Irish Republican Brotherhood, led by Padraig Pearse and Sean McDermott. What happened in that small room changed the course of Irish history.

The play will star Ciaran Byrne (James Connolly), Paul Nugent (Patrick Pearse), and Jed Peterson (Sean MacDermott).

Sixty-eight years later in another room – a drinking club in Belfast – in the aftermath of the hunger strikes, the bombing of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet and the introduction of a more ruthless and disciplined Irish Republican Army cell structure, a no-less tense situation plays out. Scanlon’s Dancing at Lunacy is a fictionalized story set in 1984, Belfast, centering on an IRA internal security investigation.

It will star Brett Aresco (Barman), Mac Brydon (Ahern), Darrell Larson (Pender), Spencer Leopold-Cohen (Doyle/Drinking Customer), and Paul Nugent as (McGowan).

The production features scenic design by Joseph Croghan, costume design by Rachel Guilfoyle, sound design by Stephanie Riddle, and fight choreography by Tim Eliot.

For more information and tickets to The Irish Cell, click here.