Green Feather Boa
The Process:
Research for the play started in August 2017, during a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre.
Development was partially funded in 2018 by Cork City Council Arts Office through an Individual Artist Bursary.
A development week with actors Claire Loy, Aideen Wylde, and Jack Healy took place during May 2018 in the Theatre Development Centre in Cork.
There was a reading by Broken Crow Theatre Company at their play clinic in January 2019.
Auditions took place in January 2020, and a cast of 5 actors was secured.
In 2020, Cork City Council Arts Office again committed to supporting the play. Due to be performed as a rehearsed reading in June 2020 in Cork City, this was cancelled due to Covid restrictions. But other developments took place, with the support of director/dramaturg Katrina Foley and musical director/arranger Tom Doyle. See the two minute trailer to watch the process as it unfolded.
Research for the play started in August 2017, during a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre.
Development was partially funded in 2018 by Cork City Council Arts Office through an Individual Artist Bursary.
A development week with actors Claire Loy, Aideen Wylde, and Jack Healy took place during May 2018 in the Theatre Development Centre in Cork.
There was a reading by Broken Crow Theatre Company at their play clinic in January 2019.
Auditions took place in January 2020, and a cast of 5 actors was secured.
In 2020, Cork City Council Arts Office again committed to supporting the play. Due to be performed as a rehearsed reading in June 2020 in Cork City, this was cancelled due to Covid restrictions. But other developments took place, with the support of director/dramaturg Katrina Foley and musical director/arranger Tom Doyle. See the two minute trailer to watch the process as it unfolded.
Summary of the Play:
Green Feather Boa is a musical play, set in Cork city in the first half of the 20th century, in the Jewish community. It is a fictional tale of three generations of women.
Hannah arrives from Lithuania in 1904 with her baby daughter Rifke, leaving a life of poverty and anti-semitism in Europe. Her life spans two World Wars and the Irish Civil War. Her daughter, Rifke, grows up as an Irish citizen and an observant Jew, and marries a Jewish republican fighter, Zalman. Hannah’s grandchildren, Miri and Aaron, grow up in a poor but peaceful Ireland. Miri rebels against her religious upbringing, although in later life she seeks to return.
Green Feather Boa explores the women’s relationships with each other, with the men in their lives, with their homelands, their community and their religion. It is a universal story of family strength and weakness, told in a unique voice, with original and evocative music and song.
The music has elements of klezmer (Jewish wedding music), jazz, Irish music and Jewish folk song. The play has five characters who all sing. The instrumental music is scored for a minimum of two musicians. There are also parts for a chorus, which could be just cast and musicians, or a larger group/local choir.