Margaret McAleese

Rory McIlroy, on feeling more British than Irish:  “This thing goes back hundreds and hundreds of years and there’s wars and battles of all sorts,” he said with a sigh. “It’s a tricky situation to be in.”

One of the (many) reasons I wrote Black Mayo is that pockets of violence still erupt in Northern Ireland, and issues surrounding the Good Friday Agreement are still relevant fifteen years later.

Yesterday, Boston College was forced to hand over tapes made with Dolours Price, and there’s some worry on both sides of the pond that the release of certain information in those tapes could threaten the peace agreement.

Dolours Price

My latest full-length play has been selected to open the 22nd mainstage season of the Players’ Ring in Portsmouth, NH.

In the weeks leading up to the 1998 peace agreement between Ireland and Great Britain, an Irish-American family in New York City feud over their political beliefs. As Brighid Mannion tries to shun her family who support the Irish Republican Army’s causes, she is faced with personal challenges along the waterway of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, a gateway to NYC’s harbor and waterway back to Ireland. The boat she builds becomes a symbol of resiliency and shame, as her family loyalty is tested. A clan of barkeeps and artists, the Mannion family tries to persevere from centuries of political struggles, while maintaining their dignity as their legacy haunts them.