“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
A live digital international production spanning 5,000 km with over 20 artists!
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 in June. We’ll be pairing 8 Irish-based actors with 8 of our favourite US-based actors, plus 8 emerging Irish women playwrights. We can’t wait!
Watch the show as part of New York’s Origin 1st Irish Festival — tickets available January 17th – 31st 2022.
TRANSATLANTIC TALES 2021
Daniel
An estranged couple’s annual call can’t escape the past …
Mick Mellamphy & Anna Nugent in a play by Catherine Higgins-Moore
Mick Mellamphy
Michael Mellamphy is the Artistic Director of Origin Theatre Company in New York City. He is also the founder of The Pigeon Theatre Company and a company member of the famed Irish Repertory Theatre. He has appeared on numerous network TV series in the US and is the performance capture artist that plays Sean MacGuire in Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2.
Anna Nugent
Anna Nugent is Co-Artistic Director and a founding member of AboutFACE Theatre, her AF credits include directing Transatlantic Tales 2020 and playing Benny in Orson Welles’ Christmas Carol. For more: annanugent.com.
Catherine Higgins-Moore
Catherine Higgins-Moore is a Northern Irish writer. Her play The Maternity Monologues ran in New York, and was commended in BBC’s International Playwriting Award. She holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin and the University of Oxford. Catherine writes for The Times Literary Supplement.
A Customer Calls
A young woman calls customer service to report a strange occurrence …
Tatiana Ronderos & Esosa Ighodaro in a play by Jessie Doyle
Tatiana Ronderos
Tatiana Ronderos is an actor and producer whose Off-Broadway theatre credits include work at BAM and Urban Stages, while her TV/film credits include Mile 22, Acetone and Amongst Angels Demons and Those in Between.
Esosa Ighodaro
Esosa Ighodaro is a vocalist, screenwriter (and pretending to be an actor). Theatre credits include Private Lives and A Streetcar Named Desire at Dublin’s Gate Theatre and Oedipus at The Abbey Theatre.
Jessie Doyle
Jessie Doyle’s plays include These Lights (Dublin Fringe Festival – also adapted and produced for radio, winner of the CROAL Radio Ireland Achievement award 2019), and short Bird about Town (No Touching Theatre Festival 2020).
It’s Tough on the Worst of Us
Two Irish supervillains talk business …
Ciaran Byrne & Eoin O’Sullivan in a play by Alice Keane
Ciaran Byrne
Ciaran Byrne (he/him) made his U.S. television debut in TNT’s Edward Burns/Steven Spielberg produced Public Morals, he is a company member of New York City’s Irish Repertory Theatre, and his latest film DieRy is currently streaming on Apple TV/ITunes, Vimeo, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video.
Eoin O’Sullivan
Eoin O’Sullivan’s theatre credits include Pheromone and Barney Carey Gets His Wings, while film credits include the award-winning short-film Pernicio.
Alice Keane
Alice Keane is a Corkonian born playwright and performer. Recently she has worked on projects such as The Kinds of Sex You Might Have in College (Active Consent), Adventuretime as Gaeilge (Macalla Teoranta) and script consultation with Morgan Creative.
Moon Walk
A mother and a young man try to connect through dance, memory and Mario Kart …
Brenny Rabine & Emmanuel Okoye in a play by Roisin Kearney
Brenny Rabine
Brenny Rabine’s regional theatre credits include Hand to God and Other Desert Cities. She’s in the feature film, Kid Happy (2021 release).
Emmanuel Okoye
Emmanuel Okoye’s theatre credits include BENT, God of Carnage, and The Pillowman, all in the theatres of Trinity College Dublin.
Roisin Kearney
Roisin Kearney is an award-winning writer and director who has worked across theatre and film. Latest credits include Paddy, The Family Way, and No Dogs.
Devoured
A personal assistant needs to talk to his boss’s ex-wife – urgently!
Walker Hare & Helen Roche in a play by Saoirse Siné
Walker Hare
Walker Hare is a bi-coastal actor, writer and filmmaker. On TV, he’s recently had the chance to work with some great directors like Ben Stiller on Escape at Dannemora and Ava Duvernay in When They See Us.
Helen Roche
Helen Roche’s favourite stage roles include M’Lynn (Steel Magnolias), Nurse (Romeo & Juliet) and Mrs Hardcastle (She Stoops to Conquer).
Saoirse Siné
Saoirse Siné is a theatre artist based in Dublin with an MA in Theatre Practice creating work under the company name ‘Scream for Ireland’. She specialises in writing, directing, acting and comedy. She teaches Creative Drama for Irish stage school ITW and hosts/produces her own podcast Absurd Real History.
In Loving Memory of Dan O’Reilly
At an online memorial service, two siblings talk truth about their father …
Elena Zazanis & Charlie Kranz in a play by Gemma Creagh
Elena Zazanis
Elena Zazanis is an actor/director/creator whose favourite Off-Broadway and indie film credits include Recovery (Best Actress), The Red Gucci Bag (a Golden Door premiere) and the Oscar Wilde classic, A Woman of No Importance.
Charlie Kranz
Charlie Kranz is an AboutFACE Company Member. His theatre credits include A Cry From Heaven (Abbey Theatre), Woyzeck (Rough Magic Seeds 2) and The Laramie Project for AF. Upcoming film/tv credits include The History Channel’s The Titans Than Built America and Oorlagh George’s debut feature Stranger With a Camera.
Gemma Creagh
Gemma Creagh is a film journalist and writer whose credits include Spoiling Sunset (Jerome Hynes One Act Play Series) and RTÉ webseries Rental Boys. Along with Mo O’Connell, Gemma has co-written Fair Game, a feature script presently in development which was selected for the Screen Ireland Spotlight Scheme 2020.
Gilly and Claire
Claire checks in on the big news from Gilly’s romantic weekend away in New York …
Gina Costigan & Noni Stapleton in a play by Áine Ryan
Gina Costigan
Gina Costigan is a theatre, film and voice over artist. Amongst other productions, she has starred in the Broadway premiere of The Ferryman, Netflix’s Halston, HBO’s I Know This Much Is True and History Channel’s Vikings.
Noni Stapleton
Noni Stapleton’s most recent work includes Home, Part 1 with The Abbey Theatre. She played Gladys Murray in two seasons of Penny Dreadful for Showtime USA and her award winning one-woman show Charolais has toured nationally and internationally including to New York, Paris, Geneva, Australia and Finland.
Áine Ryan
Áine Ryan’s plays include Kitty in the Lane (Spotlites, Edinburgh Fringe), Up the Hill Jackie (Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe) and Paddy Goes to Petra (The Source Arts Centre).
Who’s Your Baby?
A man calls his mistress with bad news …
Amanda Brooke-Lerner & Ciaran McGlynn in a play by Alanna D. Merriman
Amanda Brooke-Lerner
Amanda Brooke Lerner is a multi-award-winning indie film actress best known for Awkwafina is Nora from Queens (Comedy Central), Power (Starz) and I am Rebel (NAT GEO). For more: amandabrookelerner.com
Ciaran McGlynn
Ciarán McGlynn’s recent theatre productions include The Lodge House and The Devil Himself. TV/Film roles include the award-winning films the short Life After Life and documentary Violet Gibson, along with the critically acclaimed international TV show Vikings and feature films Love Rosie and Muse.
Alanna D. Merriman
Alanna D. Merriman is a Dublin-based actor, playwright and 2020 graduate of the Technological University of Dublin’s BA in Drama and Performance. Her play The Bigger Picture made its online debut last December as part of Show Face Festival, and she is currently filming the first section of her 3-part series titled The Bus Stop Plays, to debut in the summer of 2021.
Production Team
Paul Nugent
Director
Yvonne Ussher
Production Coordinator
Krystal Sweedman
Dramaturg
Tara McKeever
Costume Designer
Mia Goodman
Rehearsal Stage Manager
Chiara Browne
Music Composed and Arranged by
Tara Perry
Technical Stage Manager
Sonia Haccius
Set Design
In the summer of 2020, we at AboutFACE were excited to remount our World Premiere production of The Gods of the Ozarks 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.
How?
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.
And this proved to be the case: Transatlantic Tales 2020 played to acclaim and great audience response with its Live Premiere in Jun 2020 online with The Civic theatre. And it then went on to win the Spirit of the Festival Award at the 2021 Origin 1stIrish Festival in New York!
So we decided to do it again in 2021, with an all-new Irish and American cast, but with a new twist: this year, the writers will all be emerging Irish women playwrights! Selected by an open call, we can’t wait to see what Transatlantic Tales these artists produce this year!
The Schedule
In May:
- We pair 16 actors (8 based in Ireland – with 8 based in the States).
- From the writing samples submitted through our open call, we select 8 playwrights and provide them with headshots of their 2 actors, randomly chosen at our live draft broadcast!
- Our playwrights 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 rehearse with our director via Zoom.
The weekend of June 11th -13th 2021:
- Watch the shows performed live online via The Civic theatre!
ARTISTS TAKING PART IN TRANSATLANTIC TALES 2021
US-based actors: Amanda Brooke Lerner, Ciaran Byrne, Gina Costigan, Walker Hare, Michael Mellamphy, Brenny Rabine, Tatiana Ronderos and Elena Zazanis.
Irish-based actors: Esosa Ighodaro, Charlie Kranz, Ciarán McGlynn, Anna Nugent, Emmanuel Okoye, Eoin O’Sullivan, Helen Roche and Noni Stapleton.
Playwrights: Gemma Creagh, Jessie Doyle, Catherine Higgins-Moore, Alice Keane, Roisin Kearney, Alanna D. Merriman, Áine Ryan and Saoirse Siné.
Production Team:
Paul Nugent
Director
Yvonne Ussher
Production Coordinator
Krystal Sweedman
Dramaturg
Tara McKeever
Costume Design
Sonia Haccius
Set Design
Mia Goodman
Rehearsal Stage Manager
Tara Perry
Technical Stage Manager
Chiara Browne