Silver Spring Stage presents the community theatre premiere of The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh, directed by Craig Allen Mummey and produced by Nancy Jaquish and Richard Ley. Eccentric, dark funny Irish characters on a remote island pursue escape, romance and ever entertaining gossip. The Cripple of Inishmaan will run weekends February 22 to March 16, 2008.

Silver Spring Stage is located in the Woodmoor Shopping Center, lower level (next to the CVS) at Colesville Road and University Boulevard. Ticket prices range from $13 to $18. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sunday matinees on March 2 and March 16 at 2:00 PM. Information is also available by calling (301) 593-6036.

At 37 years old, Martin McDonagh has taken the theatre world by storm. Over the span of eight years, four of his plays have received best play nominations from the Tony Awards. His first The Beauty Queen of Leenane won four. In 2006, he won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film for Six Shooter, a film he wrote and directed. Born in London, but spending time in County Galway, he captured the language, rhythm, idiosyncrasy, mythology, and dark humor of the Western Irish. Many critics have dubbed him the heir of J.M. Synge and Sean O’Casey. Yet, it’s not playwrights that stirred him, but filmmakers like Scorcese and Tarantino and musicians Nirvana and The Pogues. He said, “Not knowing the limitations of the form helps you break them.” The Cripple of Inishmaan, his second play, is the first of the Aran Islands trilogy (the other plays are The Lieutenant of Inishmore and unpublished The Banshees of Inisheer). Inspired by the filming of the documentary Man of Aran in 1934 by Robert Flaherty, McDonagh depicts the colorful characters of coastal Ireland enduring their daily hardships and routines. Yet, as Flaherty, invented some of the documentary’s scenes, McDonagh tells his own story of how people invent their own tales to either escape their existence of casual cruelty or embrace it with humor and resilience. McDonagh’s writing illuminates this engaging and endearing personalities, linked by isolation and despair, overcoming both through exhilarating and surprising storytelling.

Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland in 1934, young Cripple Billy (Ryan Manning), living with his “aunties” Kate (Jean Aviles) and Eileen (Jane MacFarlane), learns that a Hollywood director is making a movie on a nearby island. Kate and Eileen took in the disabled Billy after his parents drowned. Two other young people on the island, Helen (Charlene Smith), whom Billy harbors a crush, and her brother Bartley (Joshua Pantner) also want to be in the film. Billy convinces Babbybobby (John Stange) to give him a ride in his boat to the neighboring island. Billy’s departure and the film provide ripe material for the resident island gossip JohnnyPateenMike (David Dubov). A doctor (Brian Turley) and the aged Mammy (Jane Squier Bruns) add to the indelible island characters. How the story unfolds from here will be to the delight of audiences.

The production team includes Brenda Ryan (Assistant Director/Stage Manager), Kevin P. Garrett (Sound Design), Linda Bartash (Set Design/Costume Design), Andrew Scharwath (Light Design), and Sonya Okin (Properties).

The Stage's 40th anniversary season continues with Communicating Doors (Apr. 11-May 4); Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (May 30-June 22); and Deathtrap (July 11-Aug. 3). Silver Spring Stage is grateful for support from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and the Maryland State Arts Council.