The Irish Arts Center will present an 80th Birthday celebration for playwright Brian Friel on Friday, May 1 at 8pm. Actors Jeremy Bobb, Hannah Cabell, Orlagh Cassidy, Dashiell Eaves, Geraldine Hughes, Jan Maxwell, Peter Scanavino, and Fiona Walsh will join Tony Award-winning director Patrick Mason for the event, which will feature excerpts from such Friel plays as A Saucer of Larks, Philadelphia, Here I Come, Lovers, The Freedom of the City, Faith Healer, Translations, Dancing at Lughnasa, and The Home Place.

Meanwhile, Billy Elliot stars Trent Kowalik, David Bologna, and Heather Burns will join dancers Ashley Smith, Niall O'Leary, Darrah Carr, and Donny Golden for the annual Irish Arts Center Irish Dance Festival, which will kick off the Summer-on-the-Hudson Series at Riverside Park's Pier I on Sunday, May 3.

For more information, visit www.irishartscenter.org.