Irish Classical Theatre Company 2019-20 Season

“There are jewels of regional theatre spread across the country, and the Irish Classical Theatre is counted among them.” – Brad Auerbach, entertainmenttoday.com

The Irish Classical Theatre Company, fresh from a stellar awards season filled with recognition and accolades from audiences and critics alike, today announced its 2019-2020 Season.  This balanced blend of plays is certain to enlighten, enrich and entertain.  They have been thoughtfully selected and will be beautifully directed, designed, and performed at the level of artistic excellence that ICTC patrons have come to expect.

A highlight of the Season will be ICTC’s proud collaboration in January with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, presenting Shakespeare’s enchanting A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Kleinhans Music Hall.  Fortunato Pezzimenti directs, JoAnn Falletta conducts the ethereal and unforgettable compositions of Felix Mendelssohn, and ICTC Co-Founder and Artistic Director Vincent O’Neill stars as Oberon.

The Season includes Classic, Contemporary, Irish and American works – great plays from great playwrights. They are:

‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore by John Ford, September 20-October 13, 2019
Directed by ICTC Producing Director Fortunato Pezzimenti
The dreadful demise of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers in Romeo & Juliet and the unrestrained passion of his Othello are arguably eclipsed by this rarely revived 17^th Century Jacobean drama.  ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore is a tale of forbidden love, deception and gruesome revenge that will provoke the mind and disquiet the heart as Annabella and Giovanni risk all by consummating their love in defiance of society, the law and the Church.  In this world rife with corruption, greed and misogyny, who will bear the blame, and who will pay the price?

A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas, Adapted for Stage by Jeremy Brooks and Adrian Mitchell, November 22-December 15, 2019
Directed by ICTC Associate Director Chris Kelly
Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’ delightful reminiscence of a magical snow-filled Christmas past allows us to enjoy the Holidays through the innocent, wide eyes of a child. The lyrical language draws us in as the grown Dylan revisits the dreamlike Christmas of his youth.  Director Chris Kelly who last Season warmed our hearts with his fanciful interpretation of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility turns his considerable talents to this holiday production which will be a wonderfully nostalgic look at that most magical of seasons.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream By William Shakespeare, Music by Felix Mendelssohn, January 17, 18 & 19, 2020
Directed by ICTC Producing Director Fortunato Pezzimenti
The stage will be set for romance as the mystical faerie kingdom and the humdrum world of humans converge in this whimsical tale of magic, mischief and misplaced affection, as the woods beyond Athens become a topsy-turvy Garden of Eden for a single enchanted midsummer night. The Irish Classical Theatre Company performs the Bard’s beloved comedy to the glorious compositions of Felix Mendelssohn, culminating with his celebrated “Wedding March,” as the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra performs, under the baton of internationally acclaimed Conductor JoAnn Falletta. ICTC Artistic Director Vincent O’Neill stars as Oberon.

The Onion Game by Bryan Delaney, March 6-March 29, 2020
Directed by ICTC Associate Director Greg Natale
A World Premiere!  Onion and Pearl are miserably married. Their children, Ogie and Milly, are displaying increasingly strange behavior.  As Onion writes the Great Irish Novel and Pearl covers the house in beads, they secretly plot each other’s ruin. This play by Irish playwright Bryan Delaney, the author of The Cobbler and The Seedbed, launches a hilarious assault on the hollow aspirations of modern life.  Winner of the King’s Cross New Writing Award in London, this is a grotesque black comedy of treachery, revenge, literature… and onions.

The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, Translated by Tom Murphy, April 24-May 17, 2020
Directed by ICTC Guest Director Robert Waterhouse
Widely regarded as both a masterpiece and a landmark among modern classics, Chekhov’s last and greatest play follows the Gaev family as they contend with the loss of their family estate and the course of history running like a current beneath them. By turns funny and heartbreaking, poignant and chilling, this warm and supple translation by Tom Murphy, which premiered at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, sharpens Chekhov’s focus on all-too-human characters struggling with change.  Starring Josephine Hogan and Christian Brandjes.

Drama at Inish by Lennox Robinson, June 5-June 28, 2020
Directed by ICTC Artistic Director Vincent O’Neill
In this charming satire from the repertoire of the Abbey Theatre, the lives of the quirky inhabitants of a sleepy seaside village in Ireland, circa 1930, are plunged into chaos with the arrival of a traveling theatre troupe intent upon enriching their lives with the heady works of Ibsen, Strindberg and Chekhov.  Astoundingly, the plays are hits; playing to sold out houses. The theatre troupe is elated. In the meantime, the steady stream of unrelentingly dramatic fare has had an alarming effect on the impressionable Inishers.

All productions will be performed at ICTC’s Andrews Theatre, with the exception of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which will be performed in the glorious Main Auditorium of the historic Kleinhans Music Hall.

“I urge you to join us on the exciting journey that is ICTC’s 2019-2020 Season,” said Artistic Director Vincent O’Neill. “We are pleased to once again offer the very popular ICTC Member Pass, our best value, which gives you complete flexibility with 8 tickets to use as you please for far less than the price of single tickets,” he continued.  “By becoming an ICTC Member or Subscriber, you are proudly identifying yourself as a   patron of the Arts, and as a lover of live theatre in particular; and you are investing in the extraordinary product you see on the stage at the Andrews Theatre,” O’Neill concluded.

Member Passes and Subscriptions to the Irish Classical Theatre Company’s 2019-2020 Season are now on sale:
IN PERSON:  @ the ICTC Box Office, 625 Main Street, Buffalo, NY  14203
BY PHONE:  @ 853-ICTC (4282)
ONLINE OR ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE:  www.irishclassical.com