By Paddy McCarthy
Well, I got this nice notice of thanks from a very good friend of the Irish Examiner USA, the birthday boy himself George Heslin, Executive Director of the New York Irish Center in Long Island City in Queens. George gave me a special invite to his birthday party last Friday evening and it was so good to be there because there were so many nice people there including actors, models, friends and regular people like myself and, of course, the red headed lady of the night, Noelle Clancy. The establishment that George booked for the party was called Dominie’s Hook Bar that is on Vernon Boulevard in Long Island.
Congratulations George. He sent me this little note that said, “Thank you so much for coming along last night. I really appreciate it sorry it was not a bit warmer for the back garden but I really appreciate you being there.”
Long Island City, what a great spot, and what a nice birthday party it was I might tell yea, and the Guinness was very good there too, but it was so nice to see people there they came to wish George Heslin Happy Birthday.
Here is a little bit of background on George: He has directed over 80 productions in venues from The New York Irish Center, 59E59 Theaters, The Sheen Center, The West End Theatre, The NY Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, Triad Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, The Irish Repertory Theatre, The Theatre Center in Brussels, Lehman Stages, Fishamble in Dublin, The Gene Frankel Theatre, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, and many others.
He is a graduate of the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College, Dublin; The Abbey Theatre Dublin Directors Program; and The HB Studio, New York where he studied with the legendary Uta Hagen. For 17 years he has been a member of the associate faculty at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and spent three years as adjunct director at Nassau College. Awards include The Irish Examiner’s New York Man of The Year Award, The New York City Council Award for his dedication to theatre from Council Speaker Christine Quinn. The 2024 Citation of Excellence Award from Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, The John C. Liu Office of Comptroller Commendation, The Global 100 Award from Irish America Magazine, The CUNY Award of Cultural Excellence from City University New York, and in 2011 he was invited to The White House to meet President Obama.
As you can see I was hanging out some very famous people, well somebody has to do it. While I’m on that subject I got to meet and have a chat with the Jacqueline Quinn, the Irish-born, New York-based, fashion designer and consultant. Jacqueline was born in Dublin, Ireland where she graduated from the Grafton Academy of Fashion Design in 1986. She grew up in Howth, and worked as a designer for Irish and English clients before relocating to New York in 1995. Quinn began her career in 1985 working as an intern with Willy Smith. She then worked with a British manufacturer who designed clothing for retailers including British Home Stores, Marks & Spencer, and Topshop.
In 1995, Quinn moved to New York and began designing for John Roberts Corporation, a supplier to Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, Macy’s and Dillards. She then began working as a designer for brands including Perry Ellis and Bill Blass.
In 2005, she launched Quinn New York Inc., which includes her eponymous collection. I will be having a sit down with Jacqueline at a later date for an in-depth interview. As you can understand, I was at George’s party celebrating his birthday, so I didn’t want to be interviewing her there as she, like myself, was having nice time. Thanks again to George as it was really a low key party get together with friends.
Here is another event that I went to, The Society of the Friendly Sons of St Patrick on Long Island’s annual “Taste of Ireland” event that was held on Monday at the Hofstra University Club/David Mack Hall North Campus.
As one of the proud sponsors of the Nassau County Games for the Physically Challenged and along with the generous support of other organizations in the Irish-American community, the Friendly Sons have used proceeds from the Taste of Ireland to help support the young athletes participating in the Games.
This year The Friendly Sons honored Past Friendly Sons President, Dermot F. Kelly. Live entertainment was provided by the Black Velvet Band and the Nassau County Emerald Society Pipe Band. Wow what an evening it was and again was very well supported. These events are also a great way to meet old and new friends.
I am so sorry that I had to miss Origin Theatre Company’s 1st Irish 2024 Awards that was held at The Irish Repertory Theatre on Sunday that celebrated five weeks of Irish inspired theatre and the announced this year’s award winners. One of the award winners was none other than Mary Courtney for the music of “Boann and the well of Wisdom”, now there is someone that deserves a lot of praise as she is the star of Irish music at this side of the Atlantic and I admire all that she does for the love of Irish music.
I have to congratulate all the production teams and actors, each of the 28 Irish playwrights and presenters and the over 130 performances for the 2024 festival. For two decades the Origin Theatre has established itself as the gateway to North America for all the respected award-winning playwrights and also for all the playwrights who participated, you are all winners on bringing unbelievable talent to the stages all across the Metropolitan area here in New York City. That is much appreciated all across the board.
In the meantime I hope to see you all again next week when I am Out&About once more…