Dancing at Lughnasa
Five sisters, one Irish summer, and the boy who remembers it all.
Brian Friel’s “ravishing memory play” (The New York Times) about five unmarried sisters on the west coast of Ireland in 1936 won the 1992 Tony Award for Best New Play—and the hearts of audiences. Directed by Jessica Stone (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Absurd Person Singular), Dancing at Lughnasa promises to cast a warm and luminous theatrical spell with its portrait of love, hardship, and, above all else, family.
WATCH
Official Trailer
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
Under the insightful, confident direction of Jessica Stone, each member of the eight-person company find great, subtle depth in characters.
THE STAR LEDGER
It is theatre at its very best with stirring dialogue, the finest staging, and a remarkable cast. You will be swept away by this humorous and heartwarming production.
BROADWAY WORLD
Two River’s exceptional production will linger in memory.
SCENE ON STAGE
a play to capture the heart
OUT IN JERSEY
a gorgeous evening of theater
TRICITY NEWS
MEET THE ARTISTS
THE CAST
Megan Byrne
Megan Byrne is delighted to be making her Two River Theater debut. NY credits include: Arcadia, Serious Money (PTP/NYC), The Hatmaker’s Wife (The Playwrights Realm), The Netflix Plays (Ars Nova), Speak Truth to Power (Culture Project), No End of Blame (NYIT Award, Best Featured Actress), The Voice of the Turtle (Keen Company). Regional includes: The Wolves, Good People (CT Critics Circle nomination) (TheaterWorks Hartford); Sex with Strangers, Outside Mullingar (City Theatre); Dot (Humana Festival); Other Desert Cities (Theatre Aspen); Proof (Merrimack Rep); Noises Off, Absurd Person Singular, When Tang Met Laika (Ovation Award nomination), The Sweetest Swing in Baseball (Denver Center). Film: Landline, Julie & Julia, The Rebound, Ghost Town, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. TV includes: The Blacklist, Elementary, The Path, Younger, The Following, Madam Secretary, Person of Interest, The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie, Blue Bloods, and a recurring role on Law & Order. MFA: University of California, Irvine. BA: Middlebury College.
Michael Cumpsty
Michael Cumpsty has appeared in The Lion in Winter, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Absurd Person Singular, Present Laughter and Much Ado about Nothing at Two River Theater, where he also directed The Importance of being Earnest and Third. Broadway credits include Machinal, The Winslow Boy, End of the Rainbow (Tony nomination), Sunday in the Park with George, The Constant Wife, Democracy, Enchanted April, 42nd Street, Copenhagen, Electra, 1776, Racing Demon, The Heiress, Translations, Timon of Athens (Bayfield Award), La Bête and Artist Descending a Staircase. Off-Broadway credits include Hamlet (Obie Award), Richard II and Richard III (all for Classic Stage Company); Twelfth Night, Timon of Athens, All’s Well That Ends Well, Hamlet, Cymbeline and The Winter’s Tale (all for the New York Shakespeare Festival); The Body of an American (Primary Stages and Hartford Stage). He has appeared in many of America’s premiere regional theaters, and played Leontes in The Winter’s Tale for the Royal Shakespeare Company at their home in Stratford-upon-Avon. TV: recurring roles on Boardwalk Empire, Nurse Jackie and Star Trek: Voyager; L.A. Law (series regular); Red Oaks, The OA, Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, Law & Order and Elementary. Film: Eat Pray Love, Wall Street 2, Starting Out in the Evening, The Ex, Flags of our Fathers, The Visitor, The Ice Storm, Fatal Instinct, State of Grace, Downtown Express and Collateral Beauty.
Meredith Garretson
Meredith Garretson is thrilled to be making her Two River Theater debut. She has recently been seen on stage at The Old Globe Theater as Maid Marian in Ken Ludwig’s Robin Hood! and on TV in Elementary and The Good Fight. She graduated from NYU’s prestigious Graduate Acting MFA Program in May of 2017. Favorite productions at Grad Acting include: Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, Hypatia in Misalliance, Lyubov Andreyevna in The Cherry Orchard, Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Patty Ann Donovan in The Luck of the Irish, and Antony in Julius Caesar. Follow her on Instagram at @meredithgarretson or visit her website www.meredithgarretson.com.
Mylinda Hull
Mylinda Hull Broadway: The Nance, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Sweet Charity, 42nd Street. Off-Broadway: Road Show (Public Theater); I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Encores! at City Center: The New Yorkers, Merrily We Roll Along, Girl Crazy, Face the Music. PBS Great Performances: Tess in Crazy for You. Regional: Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls at North Shore (IRNE Award). Television: Rise, The Blacklist, Younger, The Big C, Inside Amy Schumer. Additional occupation: Brooklyn housewife and mother to Sullivan and Ida.
Cillian O’Sullivan
Cillian O’Sullivan is an actor who is pretty much fresh off the boat from Ireland to make a life here in the U.S. Born in NYC he began his acting career at the age of 5, kicking off his theater debut as Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol Off-Broadway. Moving back to Ireland with his family at the age of 9 he continued to perform growing up, in roles such as Gar in Brian Friel’s Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Michael in Frank McGuinness’s Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, and an award-winning performance as The Father in Enda Walsh’s Bedbound across some of the most prominent theaters in Ireland and England. His TV and film career began to take shape at the age of 17, landing roles like Conor in BBC’s 6Degrees, which was a smash hit in Ireland and the UK and ran for four successful years, leading to further roles such as Eirik in the History Channels Vikings and Bobby in Lionsgate’s UK & Ireland box-office hit Maze, which has just finished its cinematic run, to name a few.
Christa Scott-Reed
Christa Scott-Reed was most recently seen Off-Broadway in Church and State at New World Stages and starring opposite Richard Dreyfuss in Relativity at TheaterWorks. Broadway: The Pitmen Painters. National Tour: C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce. Off-Broadway: The Talls (Second Stage); The Freedom of the City (Irish Repertory Theatre); The Great Divorce (FPA); Celebration and The Room, The Bald Soprano and The Lesson (Atlantic Theater Company); Beasley’s Christmas Party, Pullman Car Hiawatha, and Museum (Keen Company); Deathbed (McGinn-Cazale); Marion Bridge (Urban Stages); The Voysey Inheritance (Mint Theater). Regional Theater: Bucks County Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, Paper Mill Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Pioneer Theatre, Barrington Stage, Denver Center Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House, and many more. Film & TV: 30 Rock, The Impossibilities, Eden, Gossip Girl, 666 Park Avenue, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Love Life, New Amsterdam, and As the World Turns. Christa recently directed the first New York revival of William Nicholson’s Shadowlands, starring Daniel Gerroll. Member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and SDC. christascottreed.com
Mandy Siegfried
Mandy Siegfried Broadway: Noises Off. Off-Broadway: Our House; Adam Rapp’s Blackbird; The Film Society; The Scariest; The Penetration Play; Frame 312; Refuge; The Mineola Twins (Outer Critics Circle nomination); Stupid Kids. Other productions of note include Completeness (South Coast Rep); Uncle Vanya (Bard SummerScape); Mauritius (Dorset Theatre Festival); The Hot L Baltimore (Williamstown); Curse of the Starving Class (Yale Rep). Television: Elementary, The Good Wife, The Following, Person of Interest, Hung, Bones, Eli Stone, Grey’s Anatomy, Studio 60. Film: That’s What She Said; Winter Passing; School of Rock; Liberty, Maine.
Harry Smith
Harry Smith is delighted to be making his Two River Theater debut. U.S. credits include: King Charles III on Broadway, and at the American Conservatory Theater, Seattle Rep and the Shakespeare Theatre of DC; The Body of an American, The Real Thing, and Rapture, Blister, Burn at The Wilma Theater; And Then There Were None, The Mousetrap, and An Ideal Husband at Walnut Street Theatre; The Explorers Club at Delaware Theatre Company; Pumpgirl, The Walworth Farce, and The Hand of Gaul at Inis Nua Theatre Company; Photograph 51 and Emma at Lantern Theater Company; and Pride & Prejudice at People’s Light. U.K. credits include: The Merchant of Venice at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh; Twelfth Night and Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Bristol Old Vic; Serious Money at Cambridge Arts Theatre; and Gorboduc at Shakespeare’s Globe. On-screen appearances include The Blacklist, The Good Wife, Crossbones, and the feature film Freedom. Harry trained at the University of Cambridge and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
THE CREATIVES
Author
Brian Friel
Brian Friel
Brian Friel (9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015), author of over 30 plays, is considered one of Ireland’s greatest dramatists. His plays have won numerous awards including the 1979 Evening Standard Award for Best Play and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play for Aristocrats, and Tony, New York Drama Critics Circle and Olivier Awards for Best Play for Dancing at Lughnasa. Other plays include Faith Healer, Fathers and Sons (after Turgenev), and Philadelphia, Here I Come! staged at the Donmar Warehouse in 2016, 2014 and 2012 respectively, and Hedda Gabler (after Ibsen), The Home Place, Performances, Three Plays After (Afterplay, The Bear, The Yalta Game), Uncle Vanya (after Chekhov), Give Me Your Answer Do!, Molly Sweeney, Wonderful Tennessee, A Month in the Country (after Turgenev), The London Vertigo (Charles Macklin), Making History, The Communication Cord, American Welcome, Three Sisters (after Chekhov), Translations, Living Quarters, Volunteers, The Freedom of the City, The Gentle Island, The Mundy Scheme, Crystal and Fox, Lovers: Winners and Losers and The Loves of Cass Maguire. Brian Friel was a member of Aosdana, the society of Irish Artists, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Companion of Literature, Royal Society of Literature and the Irish Academy of Letters. He was awarded the Ulysses Medal by University College, Dublin.
Director
Jessica Stone
Jessica Stone
Jessica Stone worked as an actress on and Off Broadway and in television and film for the last 30 years. Concurrently, she was an assistant/associate director on and Off Broadway to Nicholas Martin, Joe Mantello, David Warren, and Christopher Ashley. Ms. Stone’s directing career began in earnest with her all-male 2010 production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for Williamstown Theatre Festival. She directed A Funny Thing…. and Absurd Person Singular for Two River. Her directing credits also include Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates (Huntington), Ken Ludwig’s Robin Hood! (Old Globe), David Lindsay Abaire’s Ripcord (Huntington), Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews (George Street Playhouse), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Bucks County Playhouse), Arms and the Man (The Old Globe), Chris Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (The Old Globe, Huntington), Charlotte’s Web (Theatreworks USA), June Moon and Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Williamstown). Ms. Stone’s upcoming productions include Barefoot in the Park for The Old Globe and Kate Hamill’s Vanity Fair for Shakespeare Theatre Company and A.C.T. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
Choreographer
Connor Gallagher
Connor Gallagher
Connor Gallagher Recent: the first New York revival of The Robber Bridegroom for director Alex Timbers (Roundabout, Astaire winner and Calloway nominee), the National Tour of Elf, the world-premiere stage adaptation of Disney’s Tangled, Robert Schenkkan and Neil Berg’s The Twelve (Denver Center), Found (Philadelphia Theatre Company), Beauty and the Beast (Director, Disney Cruise Line), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Bucks County Playhouse), Skippyjon Jones Snow What (Lucille Lortel), The Fabulous Lipitones (Goodspeed), Bunnicula (DR2), Fat Camp (NYMF & Playhouse Square, Best Choreography Award), Spidermusical (The Mint), Perez Hilton (Fringe, Barrow Street Theatre, Joe’s Pub), Babes in Toyland (Lincoln Center), The York Theatre, Northern Stage, Sharon Playhouse, Revision Theatre, and numerous events for Broadway Cares. Connor has created choreography for Glidden Paint, Luxottica Eyewear, Hanky Panky Underwear, the Writers Guild Awards, and the HIFA Festival in Zimbabwe. Associate: Into the Woods (Public Theater), Beauty and the Beast National and International Tours. Connor is a graduate of The Cincinnati Conservatory and made his Broadway debut as a performer in Beauty and the Beast. Upcoming: The Magic School Bus, Beetlejuice. connorgallagher.com
Scenic Designer
Tobin Ost
Tobin Ost
Tobin Ost Broadway credits include: Newsies (Tony nomination for Best Set Design of a Musical); Disaster!; Jekyll & Hyde; Bonnie & Clyde; The Philanthropist (costume design) and Brooklyn – the Musical (costume design). Off Broadway credits include: Maurice Hines Is Tappin’ Thru Life; Nightingale; Grace; The Overwhelming (costume design) and Fighting Words. Selected regional credits include: Between the Lines (Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Ripcord (Huntington Theatre Company), Bye Bye Birdie (Goodspeed Opera House); Harmony (set and costume design – Ahmanson and Alliance Theaters); Emma and Himself and Nora (set design – Old Glove Theater); Freedom’s Song, Violet, The Civil War, and Shenandoah (set design – Ford’s Theatre) and Nightingale and Pippin (set design – Mark Taper Forum.) Tobin is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
Costume Designer
Gabriel Berry
Gabriel Berry
Gabriel Berry specializes in collaboration on new work. Notable productions include the world premieres of the works of Maria Irene Fornes, Richard Foreman, Charles Ludlam, Samuel Beckett, Philip Glass, John Guare, Christopher Durang, Mabou Mines, Peter Sellars, John Adams, Tito Puente, Yoshiko Chuma, Lucinda Childs, Ethyl Eichelberger, Nick Jones, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Osvaldo Golijov, Meredith Monk, and Ellen Stewart. Awards include Obies, Bessies and a silver medal from the Prague Quadrennial for her contribution to experimental theater. She previously designed Dancing at Lughnasa, Pericles and Absurd Person Singular at Two River Theater.
Lighting Designer
Jason Lyons
Jason Lyons
Jason Lyons Broadway: Hand to God, On the Town, Bronx Bombers, Let It Be, Bring It On: The Musical, Rock of Ages (as well as the Vegas, Toronto, Australia, London, and National Tours), The Threepenny Opera, Barefoot in the Park, and Good Vibrations. Recent: The Honeymooners (Paper Mill), Act of God (George Street), Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, The Musical (5th Ave), Robin Hood, Red Velvet, Macbeth and Love’s Labor’s Lost (The Old Globe), Born for This (Arena Stage), Kings, Dry Powder, Barbecue (The Public Theater), Crazy for You, Jesus Christ Superstar, La Cage aux Folles and West Side Story (Signature), Smart People, Murder for Two (2nd Stage), Heathers: The Musical (New World Stages), Linda, The Commons of Pensacola (Manhattan Theatre Club), All in the Timing (Primary Stages). Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design. jasonlyonsdesign.com
Sound Designer
Drew Levy
Drew Levy
Drew Levy (he/him) (Sound Design) Broadway: A Strange Loop (Tony nom.), Oklahoma! (Tony nom., Drama Desk nom.), Honeymoon in Vegas (Drama Desk nom.), Chaplin (Drama Desk Award), The Winslow Boy, The Importance of Being Earnest, Present Laughter. West End: A Strange Loop, Oklahoma! (Olivier nom.). Off-Broadway: Judgment Day (Park Avenue Armory), Oklahoma! (St. Ann’s), Cleopatra, One Day the Musical, The Weir, Why Torture is Wrong…, Emergence-See!, Rainbow Kiss, Dutchman (AUDELCO Viv nom.). Regional: The Old Globe, Heartbreak Hotel (Chicago), ART, Williamstown, Huntington, Westport Country Playhouse, Two River Theater, McCarter Theater, Arena Stage, Long Wharf. Other: Reconfiguration: An Evening with Other Lives at BAM; Drama Desk Awards 2014 & 2015; Metropolitan Opera 125th Anniversary Gala; annual holiday installations for Saks 5th Avenue, Cartier, and others.
Dialect
Blake Segal
Blake Segal
Blake Segal is an actor/dialect coach, and he is thrilled to be here for his first production with Two River Theater. NYC and regional coaching credits include productions for Berkshire Theatre Group, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Georges, The Araca Project, Fault Line Theatre, Cleveland Musical Theatre, Luna Stage, Passages Theatre, & Walkerspace at SoHo Rep. Educational theater coaching credits include productions for Yale School of Drama, Fordham, Columbia, Syracuse, Kean, and Stella Adler Conservatory. Blake currently serves on the faculty of Circle in the Square Theatre School. As an actor, he has performed on television, Off-Broadway, in major regional theaters across the country, and on the national of tour of Mary Poppins. MFA in Acting: Yale School of Drama. www.blakesegal.com
Hair Designer
Cookie Jordan
Cookie Jordan
Previously designed wigs for The Belle of Amherst, Dancing at Lughnasa, Pericles and Absurd Person Singular at Two River Theater. Broadway: Once on This Island, Sunday in the Park with George, In Transit, Eclipsed, Side Show, After Midnight, Fela, AView from the Bridge. Off-Broadway: In the Blood, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World(Signature Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream(Shakespeare in the Park). Tours: Fela (National Tour), Fela (European Tour), Dirty Dancing. Television: Emmy nominated for makeup design for NBC’s The Wiz Live.
Casting
Alaine Alldaffer & Lisa Donadio
Alaine Alldaffer & Lisa Donadio
Alaine Alldaffer & Lisa Donadio Alaine is the casting director for Playwrights Horizons while Lisa Donadio serves as the Associate Casting Director. Credits include Grey Gardens (also for Broadway), Clybourne Park (also for Broadway), Circle Mirror Transformation (Drama Desk and Obie Awards for Best Ensemble and an Artios Award for casting), and The Flick (Playwright Horizons and The Barrow Street Theater). Television credits include The Knights of Prosperity (aka Let’s Rob Mick Jagger) for ABC. Regional theaters include the Huntington Theatre in Boston, the Alley Theatre in Houston, Arena Stage DC and Studio Theater DC, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Seattle Rep, ACT and Berkeley Rep, People’s Theatre in Philly among others.
Production Stage Manager
Megan Smith
Megan Smith
MEGAN SMITH (she/her/hers) STAGE MANAGER is thrilled to return to Two River Theater for THE TEMPEST. Previous TRT credits include Radio Golf, Dancing at Lughnasa and The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Select NY credits include: Off-Broadway: Ordinary Days, Distracted (Roundabout Theatre Company); Fetch Clay, Make Man and Red Dog Howls (New York Theatre Workshop); The Scottsboro Boys (The Vineyard Theatre); Book of Days (Signature Theatre). Regional credits include: Westport Country Playhouse, Miami New Drama, Long Wharf Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, New York Stage and Film, Bard SummerScape and The Guthrie Theater.
