Galway writer making waves on New York theatre scene

A Galway writer is garnering international acclaim for his first play, ‘Dancing at Lunacy’, which is currently running in New York.

Seamus Scanlon has been a New York resident for seven years, but originally hails from Old Mervue and is a graduate of NUI Galway. He is an award-winning short-story writer and his work has been published in the Irish Times’ ‘Flash Fiction’ section. He was awarded the Over The Edge new writer of the year award in 2010.

‘Dancing at Lunacy’, which is set in Belfast in the midst of the troubles, is running at the ‘off-off-Broadway’ Cell Theatre, as part of its ‘Irish Cell’ programme from 1 to 30 March.

The Huffington Post, which is rated as the 24^th most viewed website in the United States with average of 37 million viewers per month, described the play as “a powerful piece” in a review last week.

In the piece titled ‘Who speaks for Ireland?’ reviewer John Lee described Scanlon’s characters as “indelibly rendered”, and his lead McGowan, as an “original, chilling and bizarrely memorable character”.

There have also been a number of good reviews in publications such as Backstage Magazine and Inside New York, but Mr Scanlon admits that the Huffington Post review has had “the most impact”.

“All the actors and the director are thrilled. It is unusual to get all good reviews, but it’s March so everyone loves the Irish,” he said.

Mr Scanlon wrote the play while pursuing a Master’s in Fine Arts degree in City College in New York, and wished to acknowledge the assistance he received from the Arts Council in helping him undertake the programme.