Hungry

The O’Connor Theatre Project Presents

HUNGRY

 

The New York International Fringe Festival – FringeNYC

A production of The Present Company

August 14^th – 30^th

Tickets: $15. For tickets visit www.FringeNYC.org

 

          The O’Connor Theatre Project is proud to present the New York premiere of Hungry as part of the 13^th annual New York International Fringe Festival – FringeNYC. The one-actor play based on the life of Irish Republican Volunteer Bobby Sands will have five performances Aug. 21-25 at the Manhattan Theater Source at 177 MacDougal St.

            In 1981, with the Troubles in Ireland reaching a fevered pitch, Sands was among hundreds of Irish republicans subjected to government-sanctioned brutality in The Maze, a British prison near Belfast. In response, Sands led a hunger strike seeking recognition as a political prisoner and died after 66 days without food. One hundred thousand people attended his funeral procession, as the impact of the hunger strike on Northern Ireland began to unfold.

            “His story dramatizes the lengths to which humanity will go to justify, inflict, and endure suffering for political goals – as well as the hopeful possibilities of that suffering,” said Christopher Schager, director of the 90-minute show.

           The play features the young actor Alex Mauney as Sands. A recent graduate of the University of Mississippi with a B.F.A. degree in Theatre Arts, Mauney employs music, mime, and poetry in bringing Sands’ vision of a united Ireland to life.

           Adapted and written by George Kehoe, Hungry blends original writing with excerpts from Sands’ prison writings. “It is an episode in a timeless story, self-sacrifice for a greater cause,” Kehoe said. “How does a 27-year-old man come to believe that his only choice is to hunger strike and see it through to the end? What is his justification? His motivation?”

          The script was completed in 2007 and, thanks to a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission, was first produced by O’Connor in 2008 in Oxford, Miss.

About the Script

Amidst life in a torturous prison, Bobby Sands reveals his vision of Ireland present, past, and future. His story dramatizes the lengths to which human beings will go to justify, inflict, and endure suffering for political goals—as well as the hopeful possibilities of that suffering.

Adapted and written by George Kehoe, Hungry was completed in 2007, and thanks to a Mississippi Arts Commission grant, produced by the O’Connor Theatre Project in March 2008, in Oxford, Mississippi. A mix of original writing and excerpts of Sands’ own writing, the script draws in part from Bobby Sands: Writings from Prison (Mercier Press, 1998), used with permission from the Bobby Sands Trust in Belfast (words of Bobby Sands© The Bobby Sands Trust).

The production team of Hungry is indebted to the Trust and, in particular, to Danny Morrison, Trust secretary, for his patience and generosity. A published author of drama, fiction, and non-fiction, Morrison is the editor of Hunger Strike: Reflections on the 1981 Hunger Strike (Brandon, 2006).