The Hollywood award season is in full swing, and the Irish are making their usual strong showing. Up for an Academy Award for best screenplay is Hotel Rwanda, which also was up for a Globe as best drama. Rwanda, written by Terry George and Keir Pearson, and directed by George, is the story of a hotel owner who takes in over a thousand Tutsi refugees in their struggle against … [Read more...] about Oscars and Golden Globes
Hibernia
Making the Universal Story
Colum McCann's writing is so intensely visual that adapting his work to the visual realm is a delicate task indeed. This year, Gary McKendry, a young director from Northern Ireland, succeeded in the task with help from Colum and several pints of Guinness at their favorite Irish pub. The pair have been so successful in their efforts that they have secured an Oscar nomination in … [Read more...] about Making the Universal Story
Irish Raise Funds for Tsunami Relief
Two Irish nationals were listed among the dead in the massive toll from the December 26 tsunami in Far East Asia. The bodies of Eilis Finnegan, 27, from Dublin and Conor Keightley, 31, from Cookstown, Co. Tyrone were retrieved from the debris following the disaster. Several more Irish nationals are still missing, feared dead. Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern visited … [Read more...] about Irish Raise Funds for Tsunami Relief
St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations
Chicagoeans will celebrate by dying the river green. In Boston, it's a city holiday (officially it's Evacuation Day). In New York City, Grand Marshal Denis Kelleher from County Kerry will lead the largest parade in the U.S. up Fifth Avenue, while Enterprise, Alabama, will host the smallest St. Patrick's Day Parade in the world. On March 17, for the third year in a row, Patrick … [Read more...] about St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations
The Abbey Does Playboy in the U.S.
The Abbey Theatre is in crisis as it makes its centenary tour of the U.S. Artistic Director Ben Barnes is stepping down amid financial difficulties, but the U.S. tour is proving to be a commercial and theatrical success. The touring group is putting on J.M. Synge's Playboy of the Western World, a play that caused extreme controversy and riots when it premiered in Dublin in … [Read more...] about The Abbey Does Playboy in the U.S.