The Kelly Girls

Early 2013, a friend of mine, who knew I was researching women of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), sent me a text with a link attached. It was to a New York Times article with the headline “Dolours Price, Defiant I.R.A Bomber, Dies at 61”. As I read on, I learned about Dolours and her sister, Marian’s deep IRA and Irish Republican roots, their recruitment to the Provisional IRA group the “Unknowns”, and the details of their hunger strike while imprisoned. While easily accessed information pointed to a shared, yet complex, experience between these sisters – further research revealed signs their once unified belief system diverged throughout its course. And it’s at this point I knew this was a human relationship I wanted to explore more deeply, amongst a backdrop and history I cared about so profoundly.

I am 5th generation Irish-American. As distant as that may seem, even as a kid, I had a kinship with Ireland. I remember in my Columbia College dorm room taping pictures of Irish landscapes horizontally to my nightstand so those wistful images were the first thing I saw every morning. I had the fortune of visiting Ireland twice in my lifetime and I got to see all those landmarks in the pictures. But my adventures never included Northern Ireland, which I regret. I didn’t know it then but this region would become the basis of my research for the next decade. All because of that text from my friend.

10 years, 2 kids and 15 drafts of this play later – here we are. I’ve become Co-Artistic Director of the company that taught me how and encouraged me to write. My children are now old enough to handily tell me and others about their disdain, (and also admiration when it suits a school assignment), of my commitment to writing. You are here tonight celebrating original work that The Factory Theater has been workshopping since 2019 because that’s what we do! This is a playground for new artists and new stories and I’m so honored to be amongst this elite group of collaborators.

Call it the luck of the Irish, but I was absolutely thrilled and honored to work with Spenser Davis, Director, on May the Road Rise Up, my last project in 2019. When The Kelly Girls became a reality, I knew he was the best person to marry my passion for this story with the theatrical intensity and sensitivity it needed to be conveyed on the stage. It is his passion, creativity, artistic innovation and forever collaborator mindset that sets him apart. I am so grateful to this group of actors and designers for their tireless work on the details of this story. Thank you for your continued support and collaboration to bring this story to life!

— Shannon O’Neill
February 2023

If you haven’t yet experienced the work of playwright Shannon O’Neill, I’m excited for you.

I still remember the first time I encountered her writing. It was the Fall 2018, and May the Road Rise Up was, to put it mildly, unlike any Irish family drama I’d read at that point, pushing against every convention that the sub-genre was known for. It wasn’t set in some fading tavern with creaky floorboards a half-century ago; it was set in the present, in a well-furnished family dining room. No one died during the runtime of the show; those we’d lost were already gone by the start of it, and they definitely did not return as ghosts. At every turn, Shannon managed to upend audience expectations while still paying loving tribute to a world and a heritage that clearly meant so much to her. I immediately knew I had to be a part of it, and I was proud to direct its World Premiere in February 2019.

Now, almost four years to the date, here we are again. And like the play before it, The Kelly Girls is so much more than its online synopsis can suggest. By telling the story of a family pulled into the vortex of the Irish Republican Army in the 1960s and ‘70s, Shannon manages to talk about all movements — about the personal reasons that bring us to join a worthy cause… about the moment that good intentions meets questionable methods… about those who jump aboard for selfish gain… and about the necessity of revolution, but at what costs?

Because this is the story of a family torn apart by their differing views of what fighting for that same family meant, there’s never a moment when one of the Kellys isn’t onstage. Because it’s the story of a rebellion that doesn’t take a break, each scene will drive immediately into the next… and when the cause careens out of control and the steering wheel slips from our heroes’ grasp, we’ll understand why, because we’ve been in the front passenger seat with them the entire time. 

It’s a story of Yesterday, populated by a fantastic cast of Today’s artists. And it’s only the third play of a writer whose ability to break the form while still show respect for it is really unmatched. 

We hope you come to care for The Kelly Girls as much as we have.

— Spenser Davis
February 2023