The cast in Heartwood Theater’s “Dancing at Lughnasa.” Back row, from left: Abigail White, Emily Sue Barker, May Halm, Teralyn Reiter, and Nanette Fraser. Front row: Joe Lugosch, Tim Cunningham, and Morgan Shattuck. For more information, go to heartwoodtheater.org. (Photo courtesy Joy Braley)
Brian Friel’s beautifully crafted, award-winning memory play “Dancing at Lughnasa” (pronounced Loo’-nasa) opens in the Poe Theater on Thursday, June 20, as Heartwood Theater’s final production of season 21.
Widely regarded as Friel’s masterpiece, this haunting play is Friel’s tribute to the spirit and valor of the past.
This extraordinary piece is an exploration of nostalgia, set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, County Donegal, Ireland in 1936. It is a story of five unmarried sisters eking out their spare existence; colorful bursts of music from the radio, their only link to the romance and hope of the world at large. The action of the play is told through the memory of Michael, the illegitimate son of one sister, as he remembers the five women who raised him.
He is only seven in 1936, the year his elderly uncle, a priest, returns after serving for 25 years as a missionary in a Ugandan leper colony. For the young boy, two other disturbances occur that summer. The sisters acquire their first radio, whose music transforms them from proper Catholic women, to shrieking and stomping in the kitchen, and he meets his father for the first time, a charming Welsh drifter who strolls up the lane and sweeps his mother away in an elegant dance across the fields. From these events, spring the cracks that destroy the family foundation, forever.
The five sisters are portrayed by a tightly-knit group of local actresses: Nanette Fraser, Teralyn Reiter, Abigail White, May Halm, and Emily Sue Barker.
Morgan Shattuck returns to the role of Michael, having played this same role 18 years ago in the Poe Theater, while a student at LA. Joe Lugosch, a cast member along with Shattuck in this play in 2006, portrays Gerry, Michael’s father, and Tim Cunningham carries the role of uncle/priest.
Under the direction of Griff Braley, the cast of eight is supported by the technical crew of Annalise Garnett and Ryan Kohnert, and costuming support by Heidi Kopishke.
This moving piece is a perfect choice for Heartwood and a perfect choice for theater lovers.
One matinee performance and five evening performances are scheduled in the Poe Theater on the Lincoln Academy campus. Performances are 3 p.m. Saturday, June 22, and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 20, Friday, June 21, Thursday, June 27, Friday, June 28, and Saturday, June 29.
Given the soaring temps predicted for opening weekend, it is noteworthy that the Poe Theater is air conditioned.
Tickets are $5 for students through college and $30 all adults. Reservations strongly recommended and can be obtained by emailing info@heartwoodtheater.org or calling Heartwood at 563-1373.
Heartwood’s 21st season is sponsored by Bath Savings Institution and Chesterfield Associates, Inc. Student tickets are kept to a mere $5 through the sponsorship of Peapod Jewelry and First National Wealth Management. “Dancing at Lughnasa” is presented with special permission of Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
