Ruth McGowan
(photo by Hazel Coonagh)

In a new partnership with the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s national theater, the Abbey’s Ruth McGowan, literary and new work director, and Derbhle Crotty, well-known Irish actor and associate artist, will be in conversation around writing and performing in Ireland on February 7 at 4:30 p.m.

The event takes place at the James Stewart Film Theatre, 185 Nassau Street, and is part of the Fund for Irish Studies series at Princeton University. Moderator is Fund for Irish Studies Co-chair Jane Cox. Admission is free but tickets are required. Visit tickets.princeton.edu/online.

McGowan and Crotty will discuss writing and performing in Ireland and perhaps offer readings from some Irish plays. Founded as a national theater for Ireland in 1904 by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, the Abbey Theatre celebrates both the rich canon of Irish dramatic writing and the potential of future generations of Irish theater artists. In December, the Abbey’s Artistic Director and Co-director Caitríona McLaughlin and Head of Producing Jen Coppinger shared their points of view in the inaugural conversation that marked the start of a new partnership between Princeton’s Fund for Irish Studies and the Abbey.

“We’re so delighted to welcome two critical voices to continue our conversation with the Abbey Theater,” said Cox, “and to offer insight into the birth of new Irish plays — the brilliant Ruth McGowan, previously director of the Dublin Fringe Festival, who works with playwrights like Marina Carr and Conor McPherson in bringing their vision to the stage; and the celebrated actor Derbhle Crotty, who speaks and embodies this new work into existence.”

The Fund for Irish Studies affords all Princeton students, and the community at large, a wider and deeper sense of the languages, literatures, drama, visual arts, history, and economics not only of Ireland but of “Ireland in the world.” The lecture series is co-produced by the Lewis Center for the Arts. It continues February 21 with a reading by Colm Toibin and a lecture by Fintan O’Toole on March 21.