The Off-Broadway production of Brian Friel's Translations, the first production in the Irish Repertory Theatre's The Friel Project, begins performances October 20. Directed by Tony winner Doug Hughes (Doubt, A Parable), the production will open October 29 for a limited run through December 3.

Set in late August, 1833, a detachment of Royal Engineers from the British Army and Government arrive in Baile Beag, an Irish-speaking community, to "standardize" Gaelic place names by translating them into English. Investigating the meaning of cultural expression and identity in an Ireland under British rule, Friel explores those questions through the significance of language on scales both large and small.

The company includes Raffi Barsoumian (Privacy), Owen Campbell (Hangmen), Rufus Collins (The Dead, 1904), John Keating (Autumn Royal), Owen Laheen (Belfast Girls), Sean McGinley (Ages of the Moon), Seth Numrich (Leopoldstadt), Oona Roche (“The Morning Show”), Erin Wilhelmi (To Kill a Mockingbird), and Mary Wiseman (An Octoroon).

Translations features scenic design by Charlie Corcoran (Endgame), costume design by Alejo Vietti (A Touch of the Poet), lighting design by Michael Gottlieb (Endgame), sound design by Ryan Rumery (A Touch of the Poet) & M. Florian Staab (Endgame), original music by Ryan Rumery, and properties by Deirdre Brennan (Endgame). James Fitzsimmons is the production stage manager, and Shanna Allison is the stage manager. Casting is by JZ Casting's Geoff Josselson and Katja Zarolinski.

The Friel Project will feature three of Friel’s works set in Ballybeg, a fictional town in Donegal, Ireland: Translations (1980), Aristocrats (1979), and Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1964). The Friel Project will also include selected concert readings from the playwright’s canon, and additional planned events that will culminate in an exhibit in the Irish Repertory Gallery.

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