Season Past

SEASONS PAST
2002-2003 Season

The Lepers of Baile Baiste by Ronan Noone
November 2002
Directed by Carmel O'Reilly
World professional premiere
Cast: Chris Burke, Ciaran Crawford, Colin Hamell, Josef Hansen, Billy Meleady, John Morgan, Ed Peed, Derry Woodhouse
Design: J. Michael Griggs, Neil Anderson, Mary Linda and Rick Brenner

Billy Meleady, 2003 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actor, Small Company

Ronan Noone, 2002 IRNE Award for Best New Play

The Lepers of Baile Baiste was the 2002 winner of the National Student Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Daithi O’Neil returns to Baile Baiste (“Town of Rain”) "to bring up dirt that don't need risin'." The police want him locked up, the lads want him to shut up and the priest wants him to leave. But stirring up the past has tragic and violent consequences. A powerful, though often humorous, play about abuse and repressed guilt.

“Sharp dialogue makes the ghosts of guilt come alive in 'Lepers' …the give-and-take between the characters is wonderfully wrought, particularly the cruel camaraderie of the pub and the characters' confrontations with the priest. Noone may be the Boston area's most promising playwright. The Súgán production gives a solid indication of why he could be such an exciting presence locally, and perhaps nationally” – Ed Siegel, Boston Globe (full review)

“Clerical abuse …is both a stark reality and a metaphor for all the misery that the Irish have repressed over their long history. In the excellent Súgán Theatre production …this lashing drama clears a lot of air” – Jeffrey Gantz, Boston Phoenix (full review)

“The Súgán Theatre Company …has found the play's pulse with a brilliant company of actors. Noone has an ear for dialogue and the tension that can build beneath the everyday comings and goings of one small town” – Terry Byrne, Boston Herald (full review)

"This show is tightly scripted with many subtle twists and turns, leading to a devastating final confrontation between all the young men and their local priest ...The ensemble work is superb” – Will Stackman, Aisle Say (full review)

"Noone displays a flair for colorful dialog and desperate characters ...(his) script holds your attention with its tough observations on life for homosexuals in Ireland ....Noone is a playwright worth keeping an eye on”– Bill Marx, WBUR-NPR (full review, text and audio)

“fine new play...terrific production...Carmel O'Reilly's sure direction balances the comedy with a dramatic gravity that explodes with emotional force in the play's final scenes. Her ensemble is splendid ... clearly a playwright to watch”– Robert Nesti, Bay Windows (full review)

“Noone proves him(self) a writer with a marked skill for character development and dialogue. His characters bear the heavy load of the past as they trundle through the present.” – Liza Weisstuch, Digital City (full review)

Howie the Rookie by Mark O'Rowe
January-February 2003
Directed by Carmel O'Reilly
New England premiere
Cast: Billy Meleady, Kevin Steinberg
Design: J. Michael Griggs, Tess James and Sarah Chapman

Billy Meleady, 2003 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actor, Small Company

Howie Lee is dragged into a bizarre feud of honor involving a scabies-infested mattress against The Rookie Lee, which spirals out of control and ends in his own personal tragedy. The Rookie has problems of his own: massively in debt to a terrifying gangland figure for killing his prized Siamese fighting fish, he steels himself for a hideous revenge, until he is championed from a most unlikely quarter by his onetime enemy. Howie the Rookie is a white-knuckle ride through a nightmare Dublin, where enemies and allies are interchangeable, where the most brutal events take on a mythic significance.

Howie the Rookie, Mark O'Rowe's electrifying picture of gangland Dublin, has won numerous awards including the 2000 Irish Times New Play of the Year Award, the 1999 George Devine Award for Best New Play, the 1999 Rooney Award for Irish Literature and the 1999 Herald Angel Award for Best Production at the Edinburgh Fringe.

“dynamic drama … saturated with poetic jargon - "skullduggerous", "ha'penny dive" - that the ear wishes to linger on …hypnotizing and expertly presented” – Sally Cragin, Boston Globe (full review)

“the obscenity-filled language (has) a lyrical, sometimes comic, intensity …a fascinating verbal walk on the wild side …a compelling evening…Billy Meleady’s Rookie Lee is an epic portrait of craven narcissism” – Bill Marx, WBUR (NPR) (full review, text and audio)

“a non-stop horrifying ride through the mean streets of underclass Dublin …a powerful, sobering and provocative production …a play that will stick in your mind and soul, like it or not” – Jon Lehman, Patriot Ledger

“what makes O’Rowe’s monologues so compelling are the visual images he paints with stark clarity” – Terry Byrne, Boston Herald (full review)

“Fueled by a scabrous, staccato poetry, Mark O'Rowe's play takes us on a brute anything-but-joy ride across the underbelly of North Dublin ...lilting visceral language …coarsely compelling” – Carolyn Clay, Boston Phoenix (full review)

"The actors each pack a visceral punch, building on O'Rowe's lacerating script, as they vividly recount moments of anxiety, fear and frustration" – Liza Weisstuch, Digital City (full review)

"(one) of the most viscerally exciting performances on the Boston stage ...two extraordinary actors" – Vicki Sanders, Theater New England (full review)

On Raftery's Hill by Marina Carr
April 2003
Directed by Eric Engel
New England premiere
Cast: Ciaran Crawford, John Haag, Emily Knapp, Melinda Lopez, John Morgan, Carmel O'Reilly, Shawn Sturnick
Design: Susan Zeeman Rogers, Rafael Jaen, John Ambrosone, and Dewey Dellay

Three generations of the Rafterys live together in the rural midland of Ireland. It’s a closely knit farming community where hatred and rumors of incest, stillborn children and abused families seem more common than love and affection. Although On Raftery's Hill is punctuated with moments of hilarious invention, the tragedy of this tale is classical in scale.

Playwright Marina Carr is the leading Irish female playwright of her generation. She appears below with Artistic Director Carmel O'Reilly after a performance of On Raftery's Hill.

Read the Boston Globe article on On Raftery's Hill including interview with Marina Carr.

“The story of a rural Irish farming family is so horrible that it can be difficult to watch. Yet, the quality of this small production is so good that it's worth sitting in discomffort just to appreciate the excellent work. .... Do not expect to leave the story behind once you've left the theater. The haunting tale, though wonderfully told, is not for the faint of heart. Expect a disturbing, thought-provoking evening of theater. But do go." – Nick Dussault, Boston Metro

"The play is a rich distillation of ...the tyranny of place, guilt across the generations and lies repreated so often that even the tellers believe them ...director Eric Engel has staged the action with imagination and sensitivity... a superb ensemble" – Joseph J. Crawford, South End News

“exceptionally good, poetic writing that gives as much humanity and humor to the characters as possible ... superb performances and an evocative set” – David Brooke Andrews, Standard Times (New Bedford)

“Carr writes with power and clarity ... John Haag brilliantly captures Red's fading charisma and his macho menace and Carmel O'Reilly is out of this world as his mother.” – Ed Siegel, Boston Globe

"Carr peppers her script with sarcastic barbs and cleverly delivered ldoses of humor, but tragedy of a classical magnitude is what pervades" – Liza Weisstuch, DigitalCity.com