
Ciaran O’Reilly
The Irish Repertory Theater Company, or the Irish Rep as it is more commonly known, is currently enjoying unprecedented success with two shows on offer, Yeats on Stage: The Plays, a special series of staged readings, and My Astonishing Self featuring Donal Donnelly as George Bernard Shaw.
The popularity of the Irish Rep is largely due to the enthusiasm and dedication of its two founding members, Ciaran O’Reilly and Charlotte Moore, who purchased their own theater in September, 1995.
O’Reilly, originally from Virginia, County Cavan, arrived in New York in 1980, and by 1988 he and Charlotte had set up the Rep. O’Reilly produces all the plays staged by the Irish Rep, and he explained to Irish America that his and Charlotte’s roles intertwine constantly.
“We started up because I felt there was a void and a need for somewhere like the Rep. We felt that if we put on plays and did them well, people would come, and so far we’ve been right.”
Last season, everything from Sean O’Casey to more contemporary fare from playwrights including Hugh Leonard, Bernard Farrell and Brian Friel was on offer, and the Rep plans to continue this high standard. The theater also holds evenings of poetry and music.
O’Reilly also acts, and says that acting is his first love and what gets him going. A veteran of Broadway, he still treads the boards from time to time, having recently appeared as Harry Carney in Tom Murphy’s A Whistle in the Dark, and Charlie in Hugh Leonard’s Da.
The Irish Rep received a special Drama Desk Award for “Excellence in Presenting Distinguished Irish Drama” and now boasts a company of 80 actors, directors and designers. According to O’Reilly, future plans for the Rep include “to keep as many people working as possible,” and to stage a musical production of James Joyce’s The Dead, hopefully this fall.