Deirdre O'Connell

Deirdre O’Connell’s Fanatic Heart

By Rosemary Rogers, Columnist
June / July 2018

May 9, 2018 by </a> By Rosemary Rogers, Columnist<br/><a href="https://irishamerica.com/archives/2018-archive/june-july-2018/">June / July 2018</a> 1 Comment

The Bronx girl who changed the face of Irish theater. ℘℘℘ An enigma and a shapeshifter, she changed her first name each time her life entered a new incarnation. Baptized Eleanor, she was Ellie as a child, a little beauty with a bounty of red-gold hair. Her gifts – singing, dancing, and especially acting – were supported by her parents who encouraged creativity in … [Read more...] about Deirdre O’Connell’s Fanatic Heart

Irish Theater Loses a Voice

By Irish America Staff
August / September 2001

August 1, 2001 by </a> By Irish America Staff<br/><a href="https://irishamerica.com/archives/2001-archive/august-september-2001/">August / September 2001</a> Leave a Comment

The creative community suffered a grievous loss when actor, drama teacher, artistic director and founder of the Focus Theatre in Dublin, Deirdre O'Connell, died at her home in Dublin on June 9. Born to Irish immigrants – her mother was from Cork, her father from Sligo – in the Bronx, New York in 1939, Deirdre was encouraged by her parents in her desire to act from an early … [Read more...] about Irish Theater Loses a Voice

September 19, 1880

The term “boycotting”- a form of non-violent protesting – entered the English language on this day in 1880. Coined by Charles Stewart Parnell in his speech on land tenants at Ennis, he said, “I wish to point out a better way, a more Christian way which will give the lost man an opportunity of repenting. When a man takes a farm from which another has been evicted, you must shun him on the roadside, on the streets, in the shop and even in the place of worship by putting him in a ‘moral Coventry.’ You must show him your detestation of the crime he has committed.”