The United States vs Ulysses
By Colin Murphy

Directed by Conall Morrison

From Once Off Productions

Presented in association with
The Brandt Jackson Foundation

U.S. PREMIERE 
APRIL 30–JUNE 1, 2025

CAST
Clare Barrett
Ross Gaynor
Morgan C. Jones
Mark Lambert
Ali White 
Jonathan White 

CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Colin Murphy 
Director: Conall Morrison 
Set Designer: Liam Doona 
Costume Designer: Catherine Fay 
Lighting Designer: John Comiskey 
Composer and Sound Designer: Simon Kenny 

IRISH PRODUCTION TEAM 
Producers: Cally Shine and Maura O’Keeffe
Production Manager: Brendan McLoughlin 
Technical Director: Mark Fennell 
Stage Manager: Zoë Reynolds
Assistant Stage Manager: Emily Rose Champion 
Company Manager: Morgan Steele 
Costume Supervisor: Suzanne Sheehan
Fight Choreographer: Ciarán O' Grady
Hair and Makeup: Val Sherlock

U.S. PRODUCTION TEAM
Stage Manager: Tre Wheeler (AEA)
Head Wardrobe: Kathe Mull
Lighting Board Op: Peter Lopez
Run Crew: Jarod Bakum
QLab Programmers: Molly Schleicher and Santiago Leon
Moving Light Programmer: Manuel Da Silva
Carpenters: Jarod Bakum, Bryant Blackburn, Jack Dimaulo, Kiel Fuller, Ben Johnson
Electricians: Juan Coronado, Jael Hoyos, Emily LaRochelle, Peter Lopez, Ryan Tumulty 

The United States vs Ulysses is presented in association with Penny Brandt Jackson and Thomas Campbell Jackson of The Brandt Jackson Foundation. 

Leading season-wide support provided by Culture Ireland, promoting Irish arts worldwide; season partner Tourism Ireland; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York State Council on the Arts; and the Howard Gilman Foundation. 

Additional support provided by the Shubert Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc., and Alan Klein.

A Note from the Playwright

It was Des Gunning, Dubliner and Joycean, who first suggested to me, during a chance encounter on Crossguns Bridge in Phibsborough during lockdown, that the Woolsey decision might be worthy of dramatic exploration. 

Des brought the idea to Darina Gallagher at the James Joyce Centre, and Darina quickly commissioned a dramatic treatment of the case for an online reading, which was presented with verve by AboutFACE Theatre. 

Darina also put me in touch with author Declan Dunne, whose ingenious novel Set at Random is set inside Random House during the Ulysses case, and who generously allowed me to adapt some of the courtroom scenes from his novel—themselves based on the court documents—for that first presentation.

That led to a radio play commission from RTÉ’s Drama on One. I restarted the research, going back to the source documents. Jim Keeley, Brooklynite and Joycean, discovered that The March of Time had done a broadcast on the case (helpfully, it appears to be lost). Producer Kevin Brew and director Conall Morrison poked and prodded the script as it emerged, and author and lawyer Joseph M. Hassett helped clarify some legal questions.

Having tackled Zoom and radio, the next stage was, well, the stage. I brought the radio cast back together—with the aid of an Arts Council Agility Award—to workshop an early stage version, and the wonderful Once Off Productions came on board. The nimble and dynamic Pavilion Theatre partnered with us to present a reading of the play for Bloomsday 2022 and then, with Arts Council support, a full production in 2023. 

Crucial to the development of the script, always, are the actors. We have been lucky to work with the following, alongside those on stage today: Janet Moran, Helen Norton, Stephen Hogan, Killian Scott, and Karen Ardiff. 

The two key sources were Ulysses itself (in various editions) and the collected volume of case documents: The United States of America v. One Book Entitled ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce, edited by Michael Moscato and Leslie LeBlanc.

Other sources include:

The Rise and Fall of Morris Ernst by Samantha Barbas
The Most Dangerous Book by Kevin Birmingham
At Random by Bennett Cerf
Ulysses on Trial by Michael Chabon
Set at Random by Declan Dunne
James Joyce by Richard Ellman
The Best Is Yet by Morris Ernst
Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce’s Ulysses by Don Gifford and Robert J. Seidman
James Joyce by Herbert Gorman
Joyce in Court by Adrian Hardiman
The Ulysses Trials: Beauty and Truth Meet the Law by Joseph Hassett
Without Copyrights: Piracy, Publishing, and the Public Domain by Robert Spoo
James Joyce and Censorship by Paul Vanderham
Various articles in the New York Times

—Colin Murphy

Who's Who

Clare Barrett

Clare Barrett (cast) graduated with distinction from the Conservatoire at Trinity University, Dublin, in 2003. Since then, she has worked with many theater companies, performing both in Ireland and internationally. Recent theater credits include Emma (Abbey Theatre), Shadow of a Gunman (Druid Theatre Company), The Quare Fellow (Abbey Theatre), Every Brilliant Thing (Decadent Theatre Company/Galway International Arts Festival), Gold in the Water (Project Arts Centre/Mermaid Arts Center), Toy Show the Musical (RTÉ), Medicine (Edinburgh International Festival, Galway International Arts Festival, St. Ann’s Warehouse), Wild Horses (Fishamble), Trad (national tour), Much Ado About Nothing (Rough Magic, Kilkenny Arts Festival, national tour), The Unmanageable Sisters (Abbey Theatre), The Wizard of Oz (Cork Opera House), Minding Frankie (Lowry Theatre, Gaiety Theatre, national tour), Angela's Ashes (Lime Tree Theatre, Bord Gáis, Grand Opera House, Belfast), The Train (Abbey Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival, The MAC), The Dead (Project Arts Centre, national tour), Big Maggie (Gaiety Theatre), DruidShakespeare (national tour, Lincoln Festival, New York), Beautiful Dreamers (ANU/Performance Corporation), Centenary (RTÉ/CoisCéim Dance Theatre), Moll (Gaiety Theatre), Bernarda Alba (Dowager/Dublin Fringe Festival), Crude Mechanicals (Bewley’s Cafe Theatre, Theatre at the Savoy), Happiness (Bewley’s Cafe Theatre), Assassins (Rough Magic), The Galway Girl (Bewley’s Cafe Theatre, Galway International Arts Festival), and I ♥ Alice ♥ I (Dublin Fringe Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Peacock Theatre, world tour, national tour). 

Recent television and film credits include: Only Child (Happy Tramp Productions), Fréwaka (Doubleband Films), Good Grief (Netflix), Sisters (Sare and Suze Productions), Bardo (And Maps and Plans), Wild Mountain Thyme (Heather Productions), and The Last Right (Deadpan/Crossday). She also played Bronagh in RTÉ’s Fair City. 

Ross Gaynor

Ross Gaynor (cast) is an actor and writer from Dublin. He is a graduate of the Lir Academy and University College Dublin, where he received the Ad Astra scholarship for drama.

Theater credits include Celebrity, The Rice Krispie Killer (Glass Mask Theatre); The United States vs Ulysses (Once Off Productions); The New Electric Ballroom, Piaf (Gate Theatre); Gravity [A Love Story] (Bottom Dog); The Valley of the Squinting Windows (City Theatre Dublin); Bullfight on Third Avenue (Bewley’s Café Theatre); Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor (Irish National Opera); Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play (Rough Magic: SEEDS); All the Angels, The Train (Rough Magic); and his own one-man play, I Am a Bird Now (Theatre Upstairs). 

Film and television credits include King Frankie, Cave (Banjoman Films); Valhalla (MGM/Netflix); Normal People (BBC/Element Pictures); Blasts From the Past 1 and 2, Bernard Dunne’s Mythical Heroes (RTÉ/Firebrand); Resistance (RTÉ); and What Richard Did (Element Pictures). As a writer, his work has been produced at Theatre Upstairs, the Abbey Theatre (Peacock Stage), and in various Dublin Fringe Festivals.

Morgan C. Jones

Morgan C. Jones (cast) is an actor, writer, and audio producer from Dublin. Previous credits include Borstal Boy, Gotta Make That Train, Haughey/Gregory, Hamlet, and The United States vs Ulysses. He has appeared frequently on television and in film, notably in Nighthawks, Nowhere Fast, Harry Wild, The Guarantee, and Boys From County Hell. He is the narrator of the Dublin Trilogy series of comedic crime novel audiobooks by Caimh McDonnell, which includes 14 books and counting.

Mark Lambert

Mark Lambert (cast) is a screen and theatre actor. His film and television credits include This Is Not A Murder Mystery (Deadpan Pictures, Panenka); Sisters (RTÉ, AMC, Crave); Christmas at Castle Hart (Hallmark); Red Election (Viaplay, Nordic Studios); Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar (Channel 5); The Bailout (TV3); Women on the Verge (Deadpan Pictures); Nowhere Fast, Fair City, Raw, Roy, Rebellion, Single-Handed (RTÉ); The Journey (IFC Films); An Crisis (TG4); 13 Steps Down, Heartbeat (ITV); Hidden (BBC One); The Last Templar (NBC); The Tudors (Showtime); Inspector George Gently (BBC); The Tiger’s Tail (Merlin Films); Breakfast on Pluto (Sony); Veronica Guerin (Touchstone Pictures); Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honour (A+E Networks); Evelyn (United Artists); and Borstal Boy (Dakota Films). Mark was last seen on screen in The South Westerlies (RTÉ One).

Theatre credits include The Critic (Wexford Festival Opera); The United States vs Ulysses (Pavillion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire); Isla (Theatre Clwyd, The Civic Tallaght, Garter Lane Theatre); Amongst Men (Wexford Arts Centre); Happy Birthday Dear Alice (National Opera House, Wexford); Sweeney Todd (Théâtre Orchestre Bienne Soleure); The Ferryman (Jacobs Theatre, Gielgud Theatre, Royal Court Theatre); The Phlebotomist (Hampstead Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest, Romeo and Juliet, The Spirit of Annie Ross, The Weir, Festern (Gate Theatre); Heartbreak House, The Dead, 16 Possible Glimpses, Enlightenment, Hamlet, Ariel (Abbey Theatre); Dubliners (Dublin Theatre Festival); Plaza Suite (Rough Magic); Those Sick and Indignant (Gaiety Theatre); Brighton (Theatre Royal, Waterford); Big Ole Piece of Cake (Fishamble); The Gigli Concert (Druid Theatre); The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Project Theatre); All’s Well That Ends Well (RSC); Barbaric Comedies (Abbey Theatre); Memory of Water (Vaudeville Theatre); Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Young Vic); Molly Sweeney (Almeida/Gate Theatre); and Juno and the Paycock (Albery Theatre). Mark was last seen on stage as Judge Turpin in Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn’s touring production of Sweeney Todd.

Directing credits include Celtic Exodus (the Complex, Dublin); Art (Mill Theatre, Dundrum); The Secrets of Primrose Square (Broadcast); productions at The Royal Lyceum Theatre and Tricycle Theatre; The Grapes of Wrath (Storytellers); The Hunt for Red Willie (Peacock Theatre); and Lovers at Versailles (Abbey Theatre).

Ali White

Ali White (cast) will next be seen on screen as Frances Baylor in The Rainmaker, a new drama series based on John Grisham’s novel of the same name, produced by Lionsgate and Blumhouse for NBCUniversal, and in The Commoner, a new Irish/Norwegian co-production for Paradox and Yellow Film & TV, which is currently in post-production.

Ali’s other film and television credits include teh roles of Gloria in The Last Rifleman (Wee Buns), opposite Pierce Brosnan; Cath in Lie of The Land (Causeway Pictures); Dr. Amerila Bell in A Merry Scottish Christmas, Clara O’Reilly in Christmas at Castle Hart (Hallmark); Sonographer in Three Families (Studio Lambert); Mrs. Walker in The Windermere Children (Wall to Wall Television); the Advisor in The Bailout (John Kelleher Media); Theresa Lehane in Acceptable Risk (Acorn Media Enterprises); Shannon in The Fall (Fables); Hilary McAuley in The Secret (Hat Trick Productions); Mary in When Brendan Met Trudy (BBC Film); Dr. Rose Casey in No Tears (Comet Films); Dorothy Kelly in A Love Divided (BBC); and Jane Laughton in Undercurrent (Decent Suit Productions). Ali also appeared in Simon Fitzmaurice’s feature film My Name Is Emily: The Truth Commissioner, directed by Declan Recks; The Secret Scripture, directed by Jim Sheridan; Old New Borrowed Blue (Revolution Films); The Ambassador (BBC); and Frankie McCafferty’s Flush (Flush Films).

She has worked extensively across theatre, having trained at the Gaiety School of Acting, and was twice nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award for Closer by Patrick Marber and The House by Tom Murphy, both at the Abbey Theatre.

Ali was most recently seen on stage in Dead Centre’s touring production of Lippy, performing in venues including Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg and I.L. Caragiale National Theatre of Bucharest, as part of the National Theatre Festival of Romania.

Other recent stage appearances include Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas, directed by Frankie McCafferty at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast; Chekhov's First Play with Dead Centre at Irish Arts Center, Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern in Stockhol, Project Arts Centre; Home (Part One), Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the Saville Inquiry, Dancing at Lughnasa, Joyce’s Women, Three Monologues: Christine at the Abbey Theatre, and Fishamble’s The Treaty by Colin Murphy at the National Concert Hall. 

Further theatre credits include Driving home for Christmas (Lyric Theatre, Belfast); Fishamble’s Bailed Out!, by Colin Murphy; Roman Fever (Bewley’s Café Theatre); Deadly, written and directed by Paddy Cunneen (Peacock Theatre); Borstal Boy, directed by Conall Morrison (Gaiety Theatre); Mustn't Forget High Noon, Christine, Twinkletoes, Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Translations, The Trojan Women, Romeo and Juliet, The Passing (Abbey Theatre); Christian O’Reilly’s Is This About Sex? (Dublin and Edinburgh Theatre Festivals); Spokesong (Rough Magic, Lyric Theatre, Belfast); The Parker Project, Love and Money (Hatch Theatre Company, Project Arts Centre); Kabosh Theatre’s award-winning This is What We Sang (Origin's 1st Irish Festival); Suite, The School for Scandal, Northern Star, Lady Windermere's Fan, Love and a Bottle for Rough Magic; Aristocrats, The Double Dealer, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Gate Theatre; Silas Marner, Hard Times for Storytellers; Cheapside for Druid Theatre Company; Factory Girls for Bickerstaffe; and two seasons at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.

Jonathan White

Jonathan White (cast) most recently appeared on stage in The Critic at the Wexford Festival Opera, directed by Conor Hanratty. Born in Dublin, Ireland, and growing up in New York, Jonathan began his acting career while he was studying at Trinity College, Dublin.

His many theatre credits include The United States vs Ulysses by Colin Murphy, directed by Conall Morrisson for Once Off Productions at the Pavillion Theatre, Dun Laoighaire and on tour; The Treaty (as David Lloyd George) by Colin Murphy, directed by Conall Morrisson for Fishamble Theatre Company; and Haughey/Gregory, also for Fishamble. Jonathan played the title role in King Lear, directed by Aoife Spillane-Hinks. He co-wrote, produced, and starred in the two hander To Hell in a Handbag directed by Conor Hanratty, which appeared in the Dublin Fringe Festival 2016 and again in several subsequent remounts. His other theatre work includes Anglo: The Musical (BGET, Olympia); No Escape, The Comedy of Errors, Ladybag, Calvary, The Resurrection, The Quare Fellow, and Imeachtaí na Saoirse (Abbey Theatre); The Life of Galileo, I Can’t Get Started, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Our Country’s Good, Serious Money, No End of Blame, and Victory (Rough Magic); Amadeus (Ouroboros); Mutabilitie (Theatreworks); Comedians (Bickerstaffe); Massive Damages (Passion Machine); and The Merchant of Venice, Othello, King Lear, Hamlet, and As You Like It (Second Age). Films include Happy Ever Afters, Cracks, Veronica Guerin, and When Brendan Met Trudy.

Television credits include Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, Ripper Street, Titanic: Blood and Steel, Betrayal of Trust, Honeymoon for One, The Santa Incident, Wild Decembers, Whistleblower, The Tudors, On Home Ground, The Ambassador, Nighthawks, A Song For Europe, and Father Ted. Radio credits include Scrap Saturday and The Monica Moody Show, as well as over 100 plays and series.

Colin Murphy

Colin Murphy (playwright) is a playwright, screenwriter, and journalist from Dublin, who is best known for his series of plays about Irish political history. These include Inside the GPO, The Treaty, Haughey/Gregory, Guaranteed!, and Bailed Out!, all produced by Fishamble: The New Play Company, and A Day in May, produced by Pat Moylan Productions. Other plays include The Asylum Workshop (for Technological University Dublin Conservatoire) and Miasma (with ANU Productions, UCD Centre for Cultural Analytics). His radio plays include Antigone (Newstalk) and the award-winning Hamlet, Prince of Derry (RTÉ Drama on One). Murphy’s screenplays include The Guarantee (produced by John Kelleher Media), State of Flux (produced by Loosehorse Productions), and the short film Leave to Remain (produced by Treasure Entertainment). He collaborated with the late Charlie Bird on the documentary feature Ransom '79. He writes a weekly column for the Sunday Independent.

Conall Morrison

Conall Morrison (director) is a theatre director and playwright. He has directed 30 plays for the Abbey Theatre and has also directed for the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Globe Theatre, Landmark, Fishamble, Blue Raincoats, the English National Opera, the Irish National Opera, Cameron Mackintosh Productions, and many leading independent companies. He has directed six plays by Colin Murphy. 

Morrison has won two Irish Times Theatre Awards for Best Director and Best Production. 

In addition to several original plays, he has done many adaptations, including Tarry Flynn, based on Patrick Kavanagh’s work (Abbey Theatre, Royal National Theatre), Antigone (Project Arts Centre), The Bacchae (Abbey Theatre), Ghosts (Lyric Theatre), The Travels of Jonathan Swift, based on Swift’s works (Blue Raincoats Theatre Company), and Woyzeck in Winter, a fusion of Büchner’s Woyzeck and Schubert’s Winterreise (Landmark Theatre Company/Galway Arts Festival/Barbican Theatre, London).

He has directed world premieres of works by Tom Murphy, Marina Carr, Frank McGuinness, Gary Mitchell, Eugene O’Brien, Colin Murphy, Declan Hughes, Edna O’Brien, and Janet Moran. 

Morrison has directed seven plays for RTÉ Radio Drama, winning a New York Public Radio Award for Colin Murphy’s Hamlet, Prince of Derry, and recently winning an IMRO Award for his production of Helen’s Wheels by Fionn Foley. 

In the U.S., his productions include Freedom of the City by Brian Friel at the Lincoln Center, The Deal by Gyavira Lasana at the Nuyorican Poets Café, The Importance of Being Earnest at PICT Pittsburgh, and Martin Guerre (by Boublil and Schönberg) at the Guthrie Theatre and on national tour.

Liam Doona

​Liam Doona (set designer) has designed work with Conall Morrison, including She Stoops to Conquer, You Never Can Tell, and Donegal (Abbey Theatre); and Borstal Boy (Gaiety Theatre). 

Other notable Irish productions include Best Man (Cork Everyman/Project Arts Center), Conservatory (Peacock Theatre), and The Bloody Irish (PBS Television), all directed by Michael Barker Caven. 

Liam was a designer in residence at York Theatre Royal, England, where he designed a wide range of productions with director Damian Cruden, including Romeo and Juliet, Man of the Moment, Frankenstein, Little Shop of Horrors, and Glass Menagerie. 

Other UK work includes national tours of The Seagull, The Rivals, and Endgame, directed by Neil Sissons for Compass Theatre; The White Album, directed by Giles Croft for Nottingham Playhouse; and fifteen national tours for Hull Truck Theatre Company with director John Godber. Liam has contributed to a number of theatre design books, including A Reader in Scenography and Designers Shakespeare (Routledge) and Drawing The Curtain: Maurice Sendak’s Opera Designs (Morgan Library Press).

Catherine Fay

Catherine Fay (costume designer) is an award-winning costume designer for theatre, dance, and opera. She was selected as one of the artists to represent Ireland at the Prague Quadrennial 2019. Her extensive experience has seen her design for most of Ireland’s major companies, including the Abbey Theatre, Liz Roche Dance Company, the Irish National Opera, the Gate Theatre, Landmark Productions, and Emma Martin Dance.

Most recently, Fay designed costumes for The Crucible, directed by Lindsey Turner and starring Erin Doherty (Gielgud Theatre, West End/Olivier Stage, National Theatre); Emma, Grania, The Quare Fellow, and Somewhere Out There You (Abbey Theatre); The United States vs Ulysses (Once Off Productions); Piaf (Gate Theatre); and Gold in the Water (Mermaid Arts Center/Project Arts Center).

Awards include Best Production for Dogs, by Emma Martin Dance, and Best Design at the Absolut Fringe Festival in 2012. Catherine was nominated for Best Costume Design at the Irish Times Theatre Awards in 2017 for the Abbey Theatre production of Seán O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars, and in 2014 for Breaking Dad (Landmark Productions) and Our Few and Evil Days (Abbey Theatre).

John Comiskey

John Comiskey (lighting designer) is a director and designer for set, lighting, and video, working across theater, film, and television. He is based in Dublin. He was curator and designer of the Irish participation in the Prague Quadrennial Exhibition of World Theatre Design in 2007. 

His many designs for the Abbey Theatre include lighting for Joyce’s Women, Kicking a Dead Horse, The Drawer Boy, and The Doctor’s Dilemma; set, lighting, and video for Hamlet; and set and lighting for Shape of Metal (co-designed with Alan Farquharson). Other theater credits include set, lighting, and video design for Phaedra and Sodome, My Love (Rough Magic); lighting for L’Orfeo (Opera Theatre Company); Dodgems (CoisCéim Dance Theatre); set and lighting for Mermaids and Hanging on by a Thread (CoisCéim Dance Theatre); A Particle of Dread (Field Day Theatre Company); and Copenhagen (Rough Magic Theatre Company), winner of the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Design. 

For film and television, his directing credits include the dance film Hit and Run and the documentaries Behind the Walls, The Wren’s Day, and The Berlin of Agnes Bernelle. Filmed concerts include Celtic Woman, Brian Kennedy, Liam Lawton, and Ronan Tynan (PBS); Tammy Wynette and Johnny Cash (RTÉ); and the Eurovision Song Contest. As a director for RTÉ, his credits include Nighthawks, Today Tonight, The Blackbird, The Bell, and many special events.

Simon Kenny

Simon Kenny (composer and sound designer) is a musician and producer. As a songwriter and performer, he released the critically acclaimed and award-nominated album​ Coping Mechanisms and has performed live across Europe. As a theatre composer, Simon has worked extensively with Pan Pan Theatre Company (Ireland), producing and performing scores for eight shows, including two collaborations with Theater Bonn (Germany). He performed his most recent score for Pan Pan’s The First Bad Man live at the Lincoln Center, New York, and at London’s National Theatre. The show has also toured extensively in Europe, Australia, and North America. Simon has also worked with Once Off Productions and has been commissioned for several radio plays for Irish national broadcaster RTÉ​.

Actor’s Equity Association 

The U.S. stage managers employed in this production are members of the Actor's Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the U.S. AEA was founded in 1913 as the first of the American actor unions. Equity’s mission is to advance, promote, and foster the art of live theater as an essential component of our society. Today, Equity represents more than 40,000 actors, singers, dancers, and stage managers working in hundreds of theaters across the United States. Equity members are dedicated to working in the theaters as a profession, upholding the highest artistic standards. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans for its members. Through its agreement with Equity, this theater has committed to the fair treatment of the actors and stage managers employed in this production. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions.

About Once Off Productions

Founded in 2006 by Maura O’Keeffe, Once Off Productions provides a structured, supportive, and creative producing platform for independent performance artists making ambitious, innovative, and collaborative work. Working nationally and internationally at all scales, the company is committed to bringing live performance to audiences in traditional and non-traditional locations.  

Once Off Productions facilitates artists to make work outside of traditional company structures while simultaneously offering all of the advantages of producing and administrative support. The company enables some of the most brilliant and exciting artists based in Ireland to create, develop, and present new work for a wide range of audiences.  

Since 2020, the company has been funded through a new Arts Council Creative Production Services initiative, which has allowed the platform and team to expand to provide consolidated, resourced, and expert support to the independent performing arts sector as well as training, mentoring, and employment opportunities for producers and production managers.  

Led by Maura O’Keeffe, the team is made up of producers Cally Shine, Morgan Steele, Lucy Ryan, and Sadhbh Barrett Coakley, with finance administration support from Catherine Finn. 

The company also runs a successful and dynamic producer development programme, designed to support the core production work of OOP whilst simultaneously offering an enhanced range of support and resources to emerging producers. Currently, the program has engaged one emerging producer, Miles Harrigan, who works closely with the core team, gaining hands-on experience across all OOP activities, with support and mentorship from the senior producers.  

Together, the OOP team supports and collaborates with a diverse range of artists and organisations across theatre, dance, opera, traditional arts, music, and multi-disciplinary practice. In 2024, 45 artists received direct support at all levels, from advice, planning, and applications, and we produced 20 productions and 13 development projects with them.  

Artists supported include Eoghan Carrick/Lauren Moukarzel, Cathal Cleary, Carys D. Coburn, Annabelle Comyn/Hatch Theatre, Company Philip Connaughton, Tom Creed, Pea Dinneen, Mairead Folan, Kwaku Fortune, Michael Gallen/Straymaker, Conor Hanratty, Kate Heffernan, Medb Lambert and Donal Gallagher/Asylum Productions, Jo Mangan and Tom Swift/The Performance Corporation, Manchán Magan, Mel Mercier, Clare Monnelly, Janet Moran, Colin Murphy, Molly O’Cathain/Marc Atkinson Borrull, Jody O’Neill, Christian O’Reilly, Peter Power, and others.  

Once Off Productions is a key part of the performing arts landscape in Ireland, nurturing artists and fostering the development of innovative, collaborative, courageous, and ambitious projects while marrying this work with the needs of presenters to serve audiences across the island of Ireland and internationally.

About Irish Arts Center

Founded in 1972 and based in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, Irish Arts Center is a home for artists and audiences of all backgrounds who share a passion or appreciation for the evolving arts and culture of contemporary Ireland and Irish America. We present, develop, and celebrate work from established and emerging artists and cultural practitioners, providing audiences with emotionally and intellectually engaging experiences in an environment of Irish hospitality. Steeped in grassroots traditions, we also provide community education programs and access to the arts for people of all ages and ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds. In a historic partnership of the people of Ireland and New York, Irish Arts Center recently completed construction on a fully-funded, $60MM state-of-the-art new facility to support this mission for the 21st century.

Irish Arts Center Staff

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Gerrard Boyle 
Andrew Breslin
Aidan Connolly
Kristine Covillo
John S. Daly
Robert M. Devlin
Celestine Donaghy
John Duffy
Russell Gioiella
Loretta Brennan Glucksman
Shaun Kelly 
John Martin
Robert J. McCann
Shane Naughton
Sharon Patrick
James E. Quinn
Pauline Turley

STAFF 

Sarah Balsam-Moga (Development Operations Manager)
Zohra Coday (Programming and Education Associate)
Aidan Connolly (Executive Director)
Manuel Da Silva (Production Manager and Lighting Supervisor)
Shannon Ducey (Administrative Manager)
Fiona Farrell (Communications and Marketing Associate)
Vivian Fong (Director of Communications and Marketing)
Rachael W. Gilkey (Director of Programming and Education)
Laney Granito (Special Events Producer)
Jon Harper (Chief Operating Officer)
Anah Klate (Audience Services Manager)
Gabe Lozada (Associate Director of Development for Major Gifts)
Andy O'Reilly (Artist Services Manager)
Barry Ó Séanáin (Director of Development)
Ciara O'Shea (Communications and Marketing Associate)
Emma Reifschneider (Executive Assistant)
Jessie Reilly (Director of Education, Family and Community Programming)
Ami Scherson (Development Officer)
Thomas Short (Stage Supervisor)
Mac Smith (Director of Production)
Matt Storti (Programming Assistant)
Pauline Turley (Vice Chair)
Dennis Walls (Director of Facility Operations)
Maggie Wilson (Development Associate, Grants)
Kestrel Wolgemuth (Associate Director of Programming)

Tehmina Anjum (Senior Accountant, NCheng)
Desaann Legzim (Senior Accountant, NCheng)
Wenbin Nie (Supervising Senior, NCheng)
Vera Wong (Senior Accountant, NCheng)

Pat Morin (Graphic Designer)
Taylor Panetti (Graphic Designer)

Blake Zidell (Public Relations Consultant, Blake Zidell & Associates) 

Caelinn Ní Bhroin  (Development Intern)
Sarah Shanahan (Development Intern)