Sean O’Casey’s “Juno and the Paycock” is a staple of Irish theatre. Of all the plays of that genre that could possibly be presented onstage, it is one of the most difficult.
Compared to the Irish Heritage Theatre’s recent production of O’Casey’s “The Shadow of a Gunman,” “Juno and the Paycock”—the second play in O’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy—is a very different play, says producer, playwright and actor Armen Pandola.
For one thing, “there are a lot of different characters,” Pandola explained one night earlier this week as he awaited the start of a rehearsal at Plays and Players Theatre, where “Juno” is now playing through October 31. “Nobody wants to do plays with 14 characters. This is a very communal effort. It sounds cliché, but those chains are only as strong as their weakest link.”
Dozens of people crammed into the tiny MacSwiney Club last Saturday night to pay tribute to Kevin McGillian, who has been playing Irish music on his button accordion at ceilis far and wide since he arrived from Tyrone in the 1950s.
The Comhaltas Ceoltiori Eireann Philadelphia-Delaware Valley Division gave McGillian its lifetime achievement award, appropriately during a break in a ceili at the Jenkintown club. Playing button accordion in the ceili band was Billy McComiskey, a four-time all-Ireland champion who drive up from Baltimore to be part of the event. Later in the evening, he gave McGillian his accordion to hold and the octogenarian, who has been battling cancer, coaxed a tune out of it. McGillians sons, Jimmy and John, also joined in the music making.
There was a cozy fire crackling in the fireplace, music coming from everywhere, dancing, a pipe band, step dancers, and Irish comfort food involving several different kinds of much-talked-about potatoes from the Irish Center kitchen and the Irish Coffee Shop in Upper Darby.
No wonder no one wanted to leave the Irish Center on Sunday for the third Annual “The Gathering.” Billed as a fundraiser, it was far more. “It was a good day, a happy one,” said organizer Frank Hollingsworth, who is on the board of the Commodore Barry Club, aka The Irish Center. “We’ve wanted to bring back the people who haven’t been to the Irish Center and those who haven’t been there. I spoke to and gave mini-tours to three families who had never been there. They came for the Irish breakfast and just stayed.”
By Kathy McGee Burns
Musician Mick Moloney will be returning to St. Malachy’s Church in Philadelphia for his annual concert on Sunday, November 1. The event raises money for the operating costs of St. Malachy’s School, a mission school and “beacon of hope” in North Philadelphia that serves mainly low-income children.
But this year, something is different. Sr. Cecile Reiley, SSJ, will not be there, physically, to guide us. She passed away on April 24, 2015. She and Mick worked on this event for 28 years and, as Mick said, “Sister Cecile was one of the loveliest people I have ever known. A living Saint, really. The most gentle of souls but with a calm inner strength that was extraordinary.”
Sister Cecile, a native of Pottsville, joined the Sisters of St. Joseph as a young woman in 1957. She double majored in music and art at Chestnut Hill College and later got an MS in pastoral counseling. She was a teacher and an immigration counselor in the Diocese of Allentown and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. She was a member of the Catholic Peace Fellowship which has met at St. Malachy’s—her ministry up until her death—for more than 30 years.
By Kathy McGee Burns
When I think of Mary Frances Fogg, whom I dearly love and respect, I think of the phrase “indomitable spirit.” If you look up this term you would see that it is defined as “a spirit that cannot be subdued or overcome; unconquerable, impossible to defeat”. Some synonyms would be virtuous, upright, decent, and honorable.
Now, she would be kicking and screaming at me for saying this but I’m not the only who does. Her son, Jason, said, “She has the strength of 10 lions, is forthright in her ideologies and will fight for the cause she believes in.”
Mary Fogg or Frassee (as she’s known) is being honored at the 15th Annual Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame award dinner. She is the daughter of Helen McCann (Port Richmond) and William Fogg (Kensington).Helen, who attended Moore College of Art was a musician (violin and piano) and an artist. Her Dad played AAA professional baseball (Phillies, Red Sox).
Sharon Shannon is talking on the phone from her home in Galway and she is surrounded by cats. “I have 11 of them,” she says, “and one is a kitten who’s very playful making the rest of them play.”
She also has eight dogs, all of which live in the house. “You can imagine there is a lot of cleaning,” she says.
But she’s waiting for the arrival of her animal minder who will be staying with her menagerie while Shannon, a legendary accordion player, heads off on her US tour that will bring her to the Tin Angel in Philadelphia on Wednesday, October 7. Opening for her is the John Byrne Band, which is fronted by a Dublin-born singer-songwriter who now calls Philadelphia home.
Philadelphia’s Irish community is known for its musical family dynasties.
There are the Boyces—brothers Michael and John are the linchpins of the Celtic rock group Blackthorn, while sister Karen, formerly with the group, Causeway, still sings solo at many Irish events. The McGillians—they’re Boyce cousins—include accordion player John and guitarist Jimmy. Sister Mary will burn up a keyboard now and again. There’s John, Judy, and Eugenia Brennan, a perfect trio of guitar and fiddle, keyboard, and voice. And siblings Dylan and Haley Richardson, a guitarist and fiddler respectively, have already produced their first CD and they’re not even out of their teens.
Now, these musical siblings have to make room for the McGroarys. Donegal brothers Seamus and Raymond are well known in the area. Both singers and guitarists, they’ve played most of the Irish musical pubs in the city and suburbs though, Raymond says, “Seamus play a lot more bars than I do. I mostly play events and people’s parties.”