Wife to James Whelan
by Teresa Deevy
Rochester Community Players continues its 101st season with the Rochester premiere of Wife to James Whelan by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy (1894 -1963).
In the small Irish village of Kilbeggan, an ambitious James Whelan lands a prestigious professional opportunity in Dublin. However, leaving the village will separate him from Nan Bowers, the woman he loves, unless she agrees to go with him or wait for his return. As the story unfolds, their relationship after seven years and his eventual return to Kilbeggan is shared. Will they end up together?
Playwright Teresa Deevy, the youngest of 13 sisters, was born in Waterford, Ireland. Her father died when she was only two years old leaving her mother to raise and support their daughters. While away at college, Teresa became deaf at the age of 19 and before starting to write the plays she would become known for but never hear performed.
In 2010, the Mint Theater Company in New York City rediscovered Teresa Deevy and staged a revival of her play Wife to James Whelan. As this statement on its website explains, “Mint Theater Company finds and produces worthwhile plays from the past that have been lost or forgotten.”
Rochester Community Players is now bringing Wife to James Whelan to Rochester audiences through special arrangement with the Teresa Deevy Estate (Jacqui Deevy, Trustee) and the Mint Theater Company.
Director Jean Gordon Ryon says, “Teresa Deevy’s script is fascinating as it reveals a story of people making difficult choices and later having to deal with the ramifications of those choices, which may be very different than hoped for or expected.”
Performances:
• Evenings – April 9, 10, 11 & 16, 17, 18 at 7:30 p.m.
• April 11 – ASL Deaf Interpretation by Echoes In Motion
• Matinees – April 12 & 18 at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets:
$25 general admission – $20 seniors – $15 ages 25
Available at MuCCC.org and at the door before performances.
Preview article by David Raymond for the Rochester Beacon:
“An Irish discovery from Rochester Community Players“
In Rehearsal
Photos by Ken Dauer
Cast
| James Whelan | Luke Dempster |
| Nan Bowers | Andrea Daszkiewicz |
| Tom Carey | Larry Ploscowe |
| Bill McGafferty | Allen Smeltzer |
| Kate Moran | Cassie Almekinder |
| Jack McClinsey | Derek Schneider |
| Apollo Moran | G. Tristan Berlet |
| Nora Keane | Hope Kollarik |
Production Team
| Director | Jean Gordon Ryon |
| Producer | Michael C. Krickmire |
| Stage Manager | Emily Parry |
| Assistant Stage Manager | Ryland Felser |
| Assistant Stage Manager | Nick Ordish |
| Scenic Designer/Technical Director/Sound | Ken Dauer |
| Costume Designer | Shelly Stam |
| Lighting Designer | Kenneth DeBot |
| Intimacy Choreographer | Lindsay Warren Baker |
| Fight Choreographer | Jonathan Lowery |
| ASL Interpretation | Echoes in Motion |