The Irish Heritage Center, which now occupies the old McKinley School on Eastern Avenue, houses the Irish American Theater Company, which is getting more ambitious with each new production.
For the last two weeks, Dancing at Lughnasa, by Brian Friel, a pitch perfect story set in the Irish countryside in the 1930s, has been playing. To accommodate the story and the actors, the stage has been built out. The dialogue in the story of the 5 Mundy sisters sounds just like my big Irish family. And their Uncle Jack, a priest back from years in Africa, one sister’s love child, and that child’s father round out the cast. A challenging play, and very well done!
Next stop for the production is Chicago. The last two years’ plays went on to Dublin at the Abbey Theatre.
Can’t wait to see what they’re going to be up to next!