arisArís Theatre, Atlanta’s Celtic culture company, begins its second season March 21-22 with The Four Plays Festival, a fundraiser featuring an evening of one-acts, one each from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. Each piece is directed by an aspiring Atlanta director. The lineup:

The Fifteen-Minute Hamlet by Tom Stoppard (England). Michael Tarver directs.

Parklife by Alan Harris (Wales). Pam Joyce directs.

Ramallah by David Greig (Scotland). Mary Saville directs.

Stop/Over by Gary Duggan (Ireland). Chris Rushing directs.

A scene from last season's staging of Brian Friel's "Philadelphia, Here I Come."
A scene from last season’s “Philadelphia, Here I Come.”

Arís (pronounced ah-REESH and meaning “again” or “encore” in Irish) will again perform in Midtown at Georgia Public Broadcasting, Studio B, 260 14th St. N.W. Tickets to The Four Plays Festival are $48. See it at 8 p.m. March 21 or 5 p.m. March 22. The rest of the season:

The Artist Man and the Mother Woman. JUNE 4-21. By award-winning playwright Morna Pearson (Scotland). Described — with nods to Joe Orton and Harold Pinter — as a wicked, funny and surreal portrait of a spectacularly dysfunctional relationship between an adult son and his mother.

The Playboy of the Western World. SEPT. 24-OCT. 11. The J.M. Synge classic was first performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1907. It’s set in a public house on the west coast of Ireland in the early 1900s and tells the story of Christy Mahon, a young man who’s running away from his farm, claiming he killed his father. The locals are more interested in vicariously enjoying his story than in condemning the immorality of his murderous deed.

For details on Arís Theatre, its events and tickets, go HERE or visit its FACEBOOK page.

About Kathy Janich

Kathy Janich is a longtime arts journalist who has been seeing, working in or writing about the performing arts for most of her life. She's a member of the Theatre Communications Group, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, Americans for the Arts and the National Arts Marketing Project. Full disclosure: She’s also an artistic associate at Synchronicity Theatre.

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