The Whales of Long Kesh
The Whales of Long Kesh, his first play, is a fictionalized musical drama involving the 1981 prison hunger strike in Northern Ireland and was initially commissioned by Chicago’s world-renowned and Tony Award-winning Steppenwolf Theatre Company as part of Steppenwolf’s initial New Plays Project series. The play subsequently received two readings, the second on Steppenwolf’s Studio Stage, directed by company member Robert Breuler.
The Whales of Long Kesh | Current Draft for the Collective-NY PDF
The Ohio Arts Council subsequently selected him for an Individual Artists Fellowship for Playwriting based on Long Kesh, one of six recipients to receive a $5000 grant. The play also received a production at Cleveland State University’s Factory Theater in an extended-run that played to numerous sold-out houses. Along the way, Long Kesh also received a grant from New York’s Pilgrim Project foundation while also earning a First-Place Award as the winning entry in the Stage Play Category for Writer’s Digest. The play has also been work-shopped by the Collective-NY theatre troupe, founded by Emmy Award winners and Peabody Award recipients Amy Schumer and Kevin Kane.
Below: The Whales of Long Reading with the Collective-NY at the Gene Frankel Theater
