I emerged Saturday night from the Dance Loft on 14th certain of several things. Firstly, that one of the most dangerous things in the world is a young, isolated, ideology-obsessed male. Secondly, that it’s a very good thing for DC that Solas Nua is producing theatre again. Thirdly, that Thomas Keegan is one hell of […]
Coolatully from Solas Nua (review)
Coolatully hits every single trope of a modern Irish story with an impeccable, though taciturn exactitude. Solas Nua is “the only organization in the United States dedicated exclusively to contemporary Irish work,” but here “contemporary” falls short of the “new light” they take their name from.
Once again, Ireland’s young men are leaving her shores. Solas Nua’s new play looks at love and loss in the small town of Coolatully
With St. Patrick’s Day only a week away, and “Danny Boy” heard in many a pub, Solas Nua, the DC based company dedicated to Irish arts, is presenting the American premiere of Fiona Doyle’s Coolatully, which tells the tale of other young men facing the need to leave home.
Thief and nun on the run in Little Thing, Big Thing (review)
You can almost feel the Fringe/touring roots of Little Thing, Big Thing from the mixture of story-telling with theatre, the acting challenges given the small cast, the clever blending of genres, and the ambitious themes. Irish playwright Donal O’Kelly has written an unusually dexterous work full of comedy and surprises that receives a smashing Solas Nua.
Time for a laugh. Rex Daugherty directs quirky Dublin comedy Little Thing, Big Thing
Little Thing, Big Thing, a dark comic crime thriller by Dublin playwright Donal O’Kelly follows a thief and a nun who are thrown into impossible circumstances with immense odds against them. “The plot is huge. It has gun fights and chase scenes and a heist gone awry,” Daugherty says. “It’s great to set up a huge challenge like […]
Solas Nua’s Wild Sky (review)
Good to have you back, Solas Nua. The U.S. premiere of Deirdre Kinahan’s Wild Sky marks the welcome return to full theatrical production of Irish-focused arts group, now under the artistic direction of longtime company member Rex Daugherty. As befits a company that has not had a full-scale production in five years, Wild Sky seems […]
Solas Nua returns to theatre producing with an inventive production of Wild Sky
Rex Daugherty, the new Artistic Director of Solas Nua’s theatrical productions, wanted to plan something original for his first season. Not only did he come up with a play that’s different, and became the first American theatre company to produce the Irish play, but the company is performing it in a way that’s fairly unique. […]
Stage Briefs: casting news, John Lahr’s visit, H Street festival, Rex Daugherty, and Georgetown kids theatre company
A roundup of some of this week’s theatrical news and notes from Solas Nua, Mosaic Theater, City Kids Theatre, Arena Stage, Constellation Theatre Company, and noted critic John Lahr. At the opening of Kathleen Akerley’s Night Falls on the Blue Planet, directed by Rex Daugherty, we had the chance to congratulate the actor/director on his […]
DC Theatre Scene celebrates its tenth year
Ten Years and Counting, DC Theatre Scene is Still Going Strong One June evening in 2005, a woman named Noelle Wilson walks into the Gunston Arts Center’s Theater II to watch a production of The American Century Theater’s The Emperor Jones. She watches ATC’s take on the seldom-produced O’Neill play, notes the performances of Bus […]
Swampoodle
If you’ve never felt goosebumps rise on your arms in 80 degree weather, you have a week left to seek out the experience. The powerfully haunting spectacle that is Swampoodle — hatched by Solas Nua in partnership with The Performance Corporation of Ireland — has been shrouded in mystery for weeks. The only real signs […]
Swampoodle resurrects DC historic Irish neighborhood
This month, for one week only, the boundaries of DC theatre will be transformed, thanks to the collaboration between DC’s own contemporary Irish arts organization, Solas Nua and the Ireland-based Performance Corporation. Together, the two companies present Swampoodle, an original performance experience written and developed specifically for the Uline Arena, located in the former Northeast […]
Project Brand New 2.0
Here and gone in the twinkling of an eye, Round Two of Solas Nua’sProject Brand New” opened and closed at Flashpoint’s Mead Theatre Lab in one weekend with a quartet of works-in-progress, direct from the always bubbling artistic cauldron of Dublin’s theatrical Fringe scene. More or less one-person shows, the featured works included excerpts from […]