'DruidSynge' Set for Guthrie

The Guthrie Theater will present the North American premiere of "DruidSynge" beginning Tuesday, June 27, and continuing through Saturday, July 1, on the McGuire Proscenium Stage. Tony Award-winning director Garry Hynes directs the Druid Theatre Company from Galway in the complete works of John Millington Synge.

Acclaimed as one of the most ambitious undertakings in Irish theater for many years, this collective presentation of all of Synge’s work fulfills a long-term artistic commitment by Druid Artistic Director Garry Hynes to re-evaluate and re-engage with one of Ireland’s dramatic giants. The plays include: "The Shadow of the Glen," "The Playboy of the Western World," "The Tinker’s Wedding," "The Well of the Saints," "Riders to the Sea" and "Deirdre of the Sorrows."

³It is indeed a thrill to bring this celebrated work to the Guthrie,² said Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling. ³I’m quite proud that the Guthrie is offering this stunning work from my native country to America for the first time.²

Directed by Garry Hynes, and assisted by regular collaborators Francis O’Connor (design), David Bolger (movement), Kathy Strachan (costumes), Davy Cunningham (lighting), John Leonard (sound) and Sam Jackson (music), the productions draw on a company of 17 Irish actors. The cast features Sarah-Jane Drummey, Richard Flood, Simone Kirby, Mick Lally, Marcus Lamb, Nick Lee, Louise Lewis, Eoin Lynch, Hannah McCabe, Charlie McCarthy, Aaron Monaghan, Eamon Morrissey, Marie Mullen, Derry Power, Peg Power, Gemma Reeves and Catherine Walsh.

DruidSynge premiered at Galway Arts Festival in July, 2005, and played to capacity audiences in Dublin and Edinburgh. DruidSynge concluded its 2005 run on Inis Meáin, Synge’s artistic and spiritual home and featured two full-day performances of the Synge Cycle at Dún Conchúir Iron Age fort. Following its North American premiere at the Guthrie, DruidSynge will be presented at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York in July.
 

The performance schedule for DruidSynge is as follows:
Tuesday, June 27
2:00 p.m. 10:30 p.m.
Preview performance of full cycle
(Includes three intermissions and a 90-minute dinner break)

Wednesday, June 28
7:30 p.m
Part 1: Riders to the Sea and Deirdre of the Sorrows

Thursday, June 29
7:30 p.m
Part II: The Tinker’s Wedding and The Well of the Saints

Friday, June 30
7:30 p.m.
Part III: The Shadow of the Glen and The Playboy of the Western World

Saturday, July 1
2:00-10:30 p.m.
Performance of full cycle
(Includes three intermissions and a 90-minute dinner break)

About Druid Theatre Company Founded in 1975, Druid was the first professional theater company in Ireland outside Dublin and is universally recognized as one of the pioneers of the modern cultural development of Ireland in the last three decades. From its Galway home, it has been to the fore in the development of Irish theater, performing in its home in Chapel Lane, elsewhere in Galway, throughout Ireland and beyond.

Druid has toured extensively at home and abroad (including visits in recent years to London, Edinburgh, Sydney, Perth, Washington D.C. and New York), winning a formidable international reputation for both classic work and new work, and making the company one of the most well-known in the English-speaking theater world. The company during its history has had two artistic directors: Garry Hynes from 1975 to 1991 and 1995 to date and Maeliosa Stafford from 1991 to 1994. www.druidtheatre.com

About the Guthrie The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Artistic Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie recently moved to its new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

The Guthrie is located at 818 2nd Street South (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions, call the Guthrie Theater Box Office between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at (612) 377-2224 or toll-free (877) 44 STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.guthrietheater.org.  Tickets for "DruidSynge", are priced from $30 to $80.  The Guthrie’s presentation of "DruidSynge" is sponsored by Target.

Irish Set Dancing Classes (Social Dance for Adults) are set on Mondays, from 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., American Legion Post, W57 N481 Hilbert Avenue, Cedarburg, Wis. No partner required and beginners are welcome. Contact http://sets.sulliassociates.com or call 262-302-7854

Fleadh Nua Remembers "The Fleadh Down in Ennis"

 Fleadh Nua 2006 takes place in Ennis, Co. Clare, from May 21 to 29. Fleadh Nua, which is now in its 32 year, is a feast of Irish traditional entertainment, with the emphasis on participation and exhibition rather than the traditional competitions associated with Fleadhanna Ceoil. Ennis is proud of its status as the traditional music capital of Ireland and this will be further re-enforced during the last week of May when thousands of visitors converge on the Clare town to celebrate the Fleadh Nua.

This year, Fleadh Nua has taken as its theme "The Fleadh Down in Ennis" a golden jubilee commemoration of the All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil held in Ennis in 1956, which is generally regarded as the first in a new genre of traditional music events and one of the great traditional music occasions since the Belfast Harp Festival of 1791.

For this celebration, Fleadh Nua has put together a comprehensive program of events. There are stage shows and concerts; numerous céilithe with Ireland’s top céilí bands; seminars and workshops in all aspects of music, song and dance; street entertainment and recitals. A myriad of music sessions both indoors and outdoors will ensure that the narrow streets of Ennis will resound with traditional music, song and dance through the festival. 

The Theme Event "Remembering the Fleadh Down in Ennis" will be a multi-media presentation based on Robbie McMahon’s song and saluting the people and the music of Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Ennis in 1956 and will take place in the newly refurbished Cois na hAbhna, the Regional Headquarters of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Ennis. 

The Celebrity Concert on Saturday night, A Terrible Beauty, will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Rising in the music, song, dance and poetry of the era and will feature some of the country’s top traditional artistes.

Scoil Fleadh Nua – the music workshops – will have a unique feature this year when the freelance journalist, broadcaster and lecturer John O’Regan will give a lecture on various trends in traditional music over the last half-century. The Scoil will feature some of the country’s finest traditional Irish music tutors. For information on the Scoil Fleadh contact deirdreharpmusic@eircom.net or phone 061-368198.

Full details of all the week’s events are available on the Fleadh Nua website at www.fleadhnua.com.

Competitors Invited for World Bodhran Championships

Entries for the competitions to find the World Bodhran Champion are being sought for the contest set from June 2-5 in Milltown, Co. Kerry.

Three of the world's best known bodhran players will adjudicate at the competitions ˆ Mel Mercier, who lectures in bodhran in University College Cork, Tommy Hayes of Stockton’s Wing and Gino Lupari who plays with Four Men and a Dog. The competitions will be held on Saturday, June 3, and Sunday, June 4.

"The level of interest, particularly from the US and other countries, has been considerable and the event seems to captured the imagination. All the indications point to very large numbers of visitors, unlike anything we have seen in Milltown before," said Dan Cronin, championship chairman.

"Now we are inviting anyone who fancies a shot at the title of World Bodhran Champion to get their entries in to us as soon as possible. An entry form can be downloaded from www.worldbodhranchampionships.com or call the festival office at +353 66 9765601.

June Music at the IAHC’s Fifth Province Lounge

You’ll find the very best in live Irish music every Friday and Saturday night at the Fifth Province at the Irish American Heritage Center. All shows begin after 9 p.m.. There’s no cover charge, plenty of free parking and pub food available from 6 to 10 p.m. 

The Irish American Heritage Center is located at 4626 North Knox Ave., Chicago. For more information on IAHC events, call 773-282-7035 or visit its website at www.irishamhc.com.
 

6/2 Ceili Dancing with Ceoltoiri Chicago
6/3 The Dooley Brothers

6/9 Dyed in the Wool
6/10 Gavin Coyle and Mike Flynn

6/16 The Chancey Brothers 
6/17 Battle of the Bands

6/23 Donofinn
6/24 Velvet Green

6/30 Joe McShane