{"id":24023,"date":"2021-11-17T14:42:26","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T19:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=24023"},"modified":"2021-11-17T14:42:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T19:42:54","slug":"outabout-147","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=24023","title":{"rendered":"Out&About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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George C. Heslin\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Paddy McCarthy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Wednesday I went to a private screening of the movie Belfast<\/strong> at the Dolby Theatre<\/strong> on 55th Street. I can only say that it was just brilliant from start to finish. Despite the film being largely inspired by his life even though it\u2019s true story, Belfast is not a straight biopic and Director Kenneth Branagh<\/strong> said the reason for this was so the story had a more universal appeal. The film follows Buddy (played by Jude Hill), a young boy navigating life with his family, Ma (Caitriona Balfe<\/strong>), Pa (Jamie Dornan<\/strong>), Granny (Dame Judi Dench<\/strong>) and Pop (Ciaran Hinds<\/strong>), in the Northern Irish capital during The Troubles in the 1960s. Branagh had the story in his mind for five decades, and wrote the script as a way to revisit his own childhood and his experiences of the conflict between nationalists and unionists at the time. To tell this story you could not pick a better cast to do it. You have to see this movie because you will laugh and cry as well and now that I am also a movie critic, just kidding, just go and see it that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was Out&About earlier that day so I stopped in at Stout <\/strong>on 33rd Street just across from Penn Station for a pint of Guinness as I had to meet my editor. It was so nice to sit inside a bar as I love the atmosphere of been inside as there is something special about it. If you are ever on that side of the city, call in there as it is Irish-owned and a breath of fresh air with friendly staff with very good service. Now what more would yea expect from an Irish establishment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOH Bronx County<\/strong> will be holding their Annual Dinner Dance on Sunday, November 21, from 3 pm to 7.30 pm at Rory Dolan\u2019s<\/strong> (890 McLean Avenue in Yonkers). Dedicated to the 1981 Hunger Strikers\u2019 American legacy the event will feature entertainment by the Kitty Kelly Band<\/strong>. Speaking will be Andree Murphy, Relatives for Justice Belfast<\/strong>. Tickets are $80. For more information, please email Bob Nolan<\/strong> at nolanbxbp@hotmail.com<\/a> or Jack McCarrick<\/strong> at jacksligo@hotmail.com<\/a>. Do not miss this event it\u2019s sure to be a cracker of an evening as the who\u2019s who of the AOH will turn out with some big names in the Irish community. I must try and make it myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Origin Theatre Company<\/strong>, which introduces impactful new plays from Europe to New York audiences, will announce the bulk of its current 19th\u00a0season at a gala dinner at the Manhattan Penthouse<\/strong> (80 Fifth Avenue, at 14th\u00a0Street) on Tuesday December 7, at 6:30 pm. The evening will honor Origin\u2019s founder\u00a0George C. Heslin<\/strong>\u00a0and board member\u00a0Andrea Haughian<\/strong>, vice president of business development for Invest Northern Ireland<\/strong>. The 2021-22 season, the first under the leadership of the actor and producer\u00a0Michael Mellamphy<\/strong>, will continue with the 14th\u00a0annual Origin 1st\u00a0Irish Festival, running from January 9 to 31, and, in May, the American premiere of \u201cA Kid Like Rishi,\u201d<\/strong> by Dutch playwright\u00a0Kees Roorda<\/strong>. This will be Origin\u2019s first Mainstage production since 2018.\u00a0The season got underway in September with a monthly new-play reading series, which continues through December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone at Origin is excited about the resumption of live theatre,\u201d says Mellamphy, who co-curated last year\u2019s all-virtual Origin 1st\u00a0Irish with fellow Cork native and actor\u00a0Sarah Street. \u201cWe are looking forward to incorporating in smart ways some of the lessons learned during the pandemic, that keep our New York audience connected with the broader world, as we continue to build on the international relationships our founder George Heslin started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details for the three-week Origin 1st\u00a0Irish Festival, which, in 13 years has introduced to New York audiences the work of close to 200 Irish playwrights from around the world, will be made public at the Gala Dinner. The festival will present a mix of digital and live events in both New York and on the Island of Ireland, including premieres of new plays and works in process, films and, like last year, a series of trans-Atlantic panels. Street returns to curate 1st\u00a0Irish for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plans for \u201cA Kid Like Rishi,\u201d by\u00a0Kees Roorda, one of The Netherlands\u2019 leading playwrights, will also be announced. The morally intense drama, based on true events, that\u00a0uses the words and testimony of real people involved in the deadly police shooting of Rishi Chandrikasing in The Hague, will be directed by\u00a0Erwin Maas<\/strong>, and its US premiere will close out Origin\u2019s 2021-22 season. For more details visit\u00a0www.origintheatre.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Andrea Haughian<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Andrea Haughian, who has served as an Origin Theatre board member since 2014, will receive the Tom Moran Business to Arts Leadership Award,\u00a0named in memory of the much-admired longtime leader of Mutual of America, who passed away in 2018.\u00a0The first Tom Moran Business to Arts Leadership Award was presented to\u00a0Loretta Brennan Glucksman<\/strong>\u00a0at Origin\u2019s last in-person gala, in the spring of 2019. Haughian has received the\u00a02019 Digital DNA \u201cGlobal Recognition Award\u201d for her contributions to Northern Ireland\u2019s digital and technology sector on a global scale. George C. Heslin will be presented with Origin\u2019s new Artistic Leadership Award. As Origin\u2019s founding artistic director from 2002 to 2020, Heslin introduced the works of countless writers from all over Europe to New York audiences. Through his visionary Origin 1st\u00a0Irish Theatre Festival<\/strong>, he also forged international partnerships with over 80 Irish organizations, giving them entr\u00e9e to New York\u2019s network of Off-and Off-Off-Broadway theatres, as well as its sizable diaspora theater community.\u00a0Adding to this curatorial and producing mandate, George founded Origin\u2019s European Month of Culture<\/strong> in 2018, further solidifying Origin\u2019s pan-European mission. He became the executive director of the New York Irish Center in October 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michael Mellamphy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I am so proud of how successful Origin Theatre has become in such a very short period of time. I\u2019ve known Michael Mellamphy since the day he came to New York and boy he has come a long way since then. He had BIG shoes to fill when he took over from another great impresario George Heslin who is now the New Executive Director of The Irish Center<\/strong> and now been honored by his last company Origin Theatre, now isn\u2019t that nice. Well, deserved and from all here at the Irish Examiner we wish the two honorees a heartful congratulations and to Michael Mellamphy a great call for honoring these two super stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I was talking about Penn Station<\/strong>, I have to say it\u2019s a disgrace on how it\u2019s handling the alterations that it\u2019s making. It has been worked now for almost three years and looking at it, it seems like it will take another three years. Thousands and thousands of people come through it every day and nothing is open, well they can\u2019t be because they are all boarded up waiting to be restored. Can anybody for the life of me tell me what is going on as they can send a man to the Moon with no problems but they can\u2019t fix one of the busiest stations in the world?. Thing is, nobody seems to care from the Governor or Mayor down to the leaders of the MTA; it\u2019s embarrassing to see this happening. None of the major newspapers who should have blown this story out of the water in their reporting have all kept quite as they should have it on their front covers and dig deep to see what is wrong, I would love to have that opportunity only I know they will not talk to me or any of my staff for that matter. I am not blaming the workers for this I am blaming the higher authority for this. Think about this: they have signs up all over the city and on television that we are now open for business, ah. There is more in this city than just Broadway, do they know that? I don\u2019t think so. What about Penn Station which also has one of the biggest indoor stadiums in the country – Madison Square Garden<\/strong> – that is part of the Penn Station building, they should be ashamed of themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I better stop as I think I\u2019ve said enough for this week. See you all again next week when I am Out&About\u2026 <\/p>\n

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