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| Shining City
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 | Ian (male, forties) – Ian is Irish (accent required) and recently left the priesthood to father a child with his girlfriend, Neasa. He has newly become a therapist and has hung out his shingle in a small loft office in downtown Dublin. He is basically living there at the moment, rejecting his girlfriend and daughter, and taking on the first of his clients, most pivotally John, a man who has recently started to see his deceased wife’s ghost. Conor McPherson describes Ian this way – “He is a man who has struggled with many personal fears in his life and has had some victories, some defeats. The resulting struggle has made him very sharp. He is essentially a gentle man, but sometimes his desire to get to the lifeboats, to feel safe, drives him in ways that even he himself doesn’t fully understand.” In fact, Ian is also struggling with his own homosexuality and wanting to explore that at the same time greatly afraid to. This conflict has left him feeling very alone. |
| John – (male, age 54 but appearance in the fifties is appropriate) – John is Irish (accent required) and a rep for a catering suppliers in Dublin. He is has come to see Ian on recommendation from his doctor because of what has recently happened to him. His wife, Mari, died in a car accident a few months before and he has not slept well since. Plus he has seen her recently in his house, standing behind the door, knocking on the bathroom door when he was inside, and calling his name… Conor McPherson describes John this way – “He has an air of confusion when we first see him, not just because of his recent experiences but also because he has yet to accept that the world is not as orderly and predictable as he thought. He has always found problems to arise from what he regards as other people’s ignorance. He almost regards himself as a benchmark for normality.” During his therapy sessions with Ian, John describes his guilt at almost having an affair and for visiting a brothel, both incidents that put distance between him and his wife and that was growing until she died. He is currently living in a bed and breakfast because he is too afraid to go home to his not so empty house. |
| Neasa – (female, thirties) – Neasa (pron Nessa) is Ian’s girlfriend with whom they have a daughter, Aisling (pron. Ashling). She and the baby are living with Ian’s brother and sister-in-law as mostly unwelcome guests while Ian has begun sleeping at his loft office. Conor McPherson says of her – “She is more working class than Ian. She is rooted in a harder, less forgiving reality. She has always had a stubbornness which has kept her focused, but has also sometimes blinded her so that, while she is a strong person, often it is others who have used her strength.” She is currently working in a pub to keep some money going and working extra shifts and then coming home to taking care of a baby by herself. She didn’t want to have the baby when they got pregnant because they didn’t have the money or a place to live, but Ian convincer her. Her father is a drunk so she can’t go home to her family, she hates it at Ian’s brother’s house, and she recently had an indiscretion with another man, which Ian uses to justify his thoughts that she is not what he wants. |
| Laurence – (male, twenties) – Lawrence is a male hustler on the streets in Dublin. Conor McPherson describes him as – “It is hard to tell if he is thirty and looks much younger or twenty and looks much older. He has a nervous, twitchy energy and seems like he lives from minute to minute.” He recently had to leave his job driving a truck when he injured his hand shooting off a firecracker. He has a son who is six and he has been living with his cousin but an altercation with one of the roommates who accused him of taking money has put him on the street this particular night trying to earn it back. He has been on the street off and on, mentions being beaten up before on the street, and he never seems to have enough money. He couldn’t even tend to his hand. Ian picks him up on his first venture into intimacy with a man, but it is Laurence who has to initiate everything with Ian. |
About the show and production staff:
Shining City by Conor McPherson (produced by special arrangement with Dramatists
Play Service, Inc.) -- Produced by Nanette Reynolds, directed by Angie Anderson,
with the same production staff as The Weir, the 2005 WATCH Award winner
for Outstanding Play. Shining City was written by the same author as
The Weir, Conor McPherson
Synopsis of Shining City:
In present day, Dublin, an untried therapist gets a new patient. The patient
explains that he needs help, he is agitated and distraught and has had to move
out of his house. Why? Because he has recently seen the ghost of his dead wife
standing next to him there, and he can’t return. The therapist tries to help the
patient through this while battling some of his own demons, his loss of faith
that forced him to leave the priesthood, his girlfriend and their baby who are
currently living off his relatives, and his own feelings of things unresolved.
Everyone in this shining city seems to feel completely alone and yet every one
of their actions affects others just as they are affected by the people they
encounter. And they all have ghost, whether seen or unseen.
The running time is approximately an hour and 40 minutes and will be performed with no intermission.
Performance Dates: January 23 - February 14
January 23, 24, (25), 30, 31, February 6, 7, (8), 12, 13, 14
All performances at 8 pm except Sunday, the 25th at 3 pm, and Sunday the 8th at
7 pm.
Please note there is also a Thursday performance (the 12th, also at 8 pm)
All roles OPEN, no pre-casting is allowed at ESP. All roles are volunteer positions.
For more information:
You can contact the director, Angie Anderson, at 703-626-7608 or via e-mail to
asaaanderson at verizon (dot) net.
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