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Join us for a staged reading of An Irish Echo by John Dennis David Keane, an inaugural recipient of the Mark Plesent Commission Fund.
A subway train, a young man, and an unexpected visit that might just change his life. Would you continue down the path you are on even though it is destructive, or would you change routes with the time you have left? An Irish Echo is the thrilling tale of what happens when you finally realize your life is in your own hands. Racing against time and that final subway stop, our young man is asked to consider where his life goes next.
Featuring playwright:
John Dennis David Keane
Directed by:
Jackson Gay
Featuring:
Dan Butler, McCaleb Burnett, Neeta Thadani, Max Woertendyke
Stage Manager:
Katie Kennedy
June 2, 2022 at 6:00PM at Actors Theater Workshop
145 West 28th Street, 3F, New York, NY 10001
The reading of An Irish Echo runs approximately 1 hour. Tickets are free to reserve but RSVPs are strongly recommended.
This is an in-person event. To best protect everyone present for these gatherings, please be aware that all patrons 5 and older will be required to present proof of full vaccination upon entry. Additionally, all patrons must wear face masks in order to experience the production. For more information, please see our full COVID Safety Guidelines.
Actors and stage managers appear courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The Director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national labor union.
Special Thanks: Lucy Thurber, Robert Emmet Lunney, Jonathan Hopkins, Joe Roland, Joe White and all those who have generously supported the Mark Plesent Commission Fund.
The playwright would like to thank Joe Roland, his TheaterWorks! classmates and his wife Deanna for her support and encouragement.
John Dennis David Keane (Playwright) was born and raised in the Bronx NY and currently resides in Westchester county. He has been a member of 32BJ for nineteen years and works on the upper east side of Manhattan. John has had a lifelong interest in art, photography and writing. He has written four short 10-20 minute plays in the last four years. John is a first generation Irish-American and his writing is heavily influenced by the music, songs, stories and people he grew up around. John is currently enrolled at CUNY Hostos and is pursuing a degree in liberal arts.
Jackson Gay (Director) Upcoming: Wait Until Dark (Dorset Theatre Festival); Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl (People’s Light); The Mousetrap (Hartford Stage). Recent: Karen Hartman’s Goldie, Max & Milk (Volt Festival 59e59); Lucy Thurber’s Transfers for Audible, MCC, and New York Stage & Film; Lover Beloved with Suzanne Vega and Duncan Sheik (Alley Theater); God’s Ear and The Seagull (Juilliard); Kleptocracy by Kenneth Lin (Arena Stage); These Paper Bullets! by Rolin Jones with music by Billie Joe Armstrong (New Neighborhood, Atlantic, Geffen, Yale Rep – Critics Pick Time Out NY, Best Production and Adaptation LA Sage Awards, Time Out Los Angeles, Connecticut Critics Circle Award Best Production and Best Director). Jackson is a 2021 Guild Hall Artist-in-Residence and co-Producing Artistic Director of New Neighborhood https://www.newneighborhood.net
Dan Butler (Proinséas) A writer, poet, director, and producer, Dan’s many acting credits include – Broadway: Travesties & Twentieth Century (both at Roundabout); Biloxi Blues (Neil Simon); The Hothouse (Broadway); Off-Broadway/Regional: When Harry Met Rehab (Greenhouse Theatre in Chicago), Lessons in Survival (The Commissary/Vineyard); The Weir (Irish Rep, both on stage and virtual in 2020); WarholCapote (A.R.T.); The Insurgents (Labyrinth); Laughing Wild & Slow Food (both at Dorset), Toast (Public); Irish Curse (Soho Playhouse); Old Money (Lincoln Ctr.); The Only Thing Worse You Could’ve Told Me …(Actor’s Playhouse, Drama Desk/Outer Critics nominations); Beast, Emerald City (both at NYTW); Lisbon Traviata (MTC/Mark Taper); Widow Claire (Circle in the Square downtown); True West (Cherry Lane). Film: Crazy Stupid Love; Karl Rove, I Love You (co-writer/director); Pearl (adaptor/director); Enemy of the State; Fixing Frank; Long Walk Home; Silence of the Lambs. TV: Blonde; The Mist; Prayers for Bobby; Hey, Arnold; From the Earth to the Moon; and 7 seasons on Frasier (as
“Bulldog”) among many others.
McCaleb Burnett (Homeless Frank) is an actor and writer based in NY. Selected theater: The Normal Heart (Public), A Little Journey (Mint), Stay (Rattlestick, OBIE winner), Under The Blue Sky (Geffen). Selected Film: Justin Lin’s ANNAPOLIS, FINISHING THE GAME, and FAST AND FURIOUS. Also: THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS , THE REVENANT (Innaritu), IMMIGRATION TANGO, BEATBOX, MUTUAL FRIENDS, EASY LIVING, HOW WE GOT AWAY WITH IT (co-writer), etc. Upcoming: MIDDAY BLACK, MIDNIGHT BLUE and AIN’T IT THOUGH. TV: most networks and platforms, seen recently in THE GOOD FIGHT, DAREDEVIL, and the miniseries RELEASE (NETFLIX). Training: Brown University and NYU’s Grad Acting, where he was Gary Kalkin fellow. Company member of Rising Phoenix Rep and Forest of Arden.
Neeta Thadani (she/they) (Stage Directions) is a queer Desi-American actor, activist, writer, director, comedian, podcaster, and producer for theatre and film. They have produced and directed multiple plays and musicals and have also worked as a lighting and sound designer on other productions. Recently, they directed a short film in association with the Nine Muses Production Company created by Bryce Dallas Howard.
Max Woertendyke (Young Frank) Broadway: View from the Bridge. Off-Broadway: Wedding Band (TFANA), Bright Room Called Day, Illyria, and Romeo & Juliet (all at The Public). Regional: Kleptocracy (Arena), Invisible Hand(CPH), Oslo (Pioneer), Frankenstein (DCPA). TV credits include: “Succession” (HBO), “Longmire” (Netflix), “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” (Hulu). BRIGHTWOOD (Max’s first feature film as a producer/actor) will be released next year. Education/training: McGill University, Juilliard School of Drama.
Katie Kennedy (Stage Manager) is a West Virginia-raised turned Brooklyn-native stage manager. Her recent theater credits include: At The Wedding and Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up at Lincoln Center (LCT3), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, and for colored girls… at The Public Theater, Clyde’s (ASM sub – Second Stage), and Trouble In Mind (Roundabout) on Broadway. Other Off-Broadway credits include: Pedro Pan, Urinetown: The Musical, Latin History for Morons, RETREAT: A Radio Play, SKiNFoLK: An American Show, and Wickedest Woman.
Actors’ Equity Association (“Equity”), founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional Actors and Stage Managers. Equity fosters the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actors’ Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. #EquityWorks
Working Theater believes the transformative experience of live theater should not be a privilege, but a staple of everyday culture. A Drama Desk and AUDELCO award-winning off-Broadway company now in its 37th season, Working Theater continues its mission to produce theater for and about working people — the essential workers of any city or town — and to make play-going a regular part of our audiences’ cultural lives. By making productions relevant, accessible and affordable regardless of geography or socio-economic status, Working Theater strives to celebrate the city’s diversity while seeking to unite us in our common humanity. The Mark Plesent Commission Fund supports the commission and development of new plays by working people– in particular, those who have not had the privilege or the resources to self-identify or support themselves professionally as artists, but who have shown extraordinary talent, consistency of practice and a commitment to writing within the mission of Working Theater. To learn more about the Fund, please click here.
To learn more about the Mark Plesent Commission Fund, please click here.
Working Theater is supported in part by generous community members like you, and major gifts from: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New York Theater Program in partnership with the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York; The Howard Gilman Foundation; The Shubert Foundation; The Axe-Houghton Foundation; The Howard Bayne Fund; The Michael Tuch Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; Public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; An award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
SEASON SPONSORS: PLATINUM SPONSOR: MagnaCare.
GOLD SPONSORS: Cigna, EmblemHealth, Empire BlueCross BlueShield.
SILVER SPONSORS: CWA Local 1180, NYC Central Labor Council, Segal Consulting, United Federation of Teachers, Vision Screening Inc/DDS Inc