NELSON O’CAELLAIGH RITSCHEL
nritschel@maritime.edu nocrsc@aol.com
PUBLICATIONS
Books (see also Edited Anthology and Book Chapters below)
Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, and the Dead James Connolly, Springer, 2021.
Reviewed by Barry Houlihan in SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, spring 2022: “the mechanics of form between human and machine, between worker and factory, and between politics and the stage are illustrated in great detail in this rigorously researched new book, outlining the moments and continuations of exchange between Connolly, Shaw, and O’Casey, across temporal ripples and long after the execution of Connolly . . . . offering . . . detailed transnational studies of socialist cultural history and class politics, identifying the far reach and influence of the book’s protagonists.”
Reviewed by Julie Sparks in the Irish Literary Supplement, fall 2022: “Ritschel’s detailed analysis of the dozen years following the Rising shows just how strongly Connolly’s ideas continued to influence Shaw’s and O’Casey’s work, and more broadly, how the ideas of all three . . . still matter to us today. . . . While all the chapters offer intriguing material and insightful analysis, a standout chapter is the one centered on Shaw’s Saint Joan . . . . Ritschel’s analysis is particularly trenchant in showing the extent to which Joan’s martyrdom can be read as Shaw’s comment on the political martyrdom of Connolly. . . . [The] next chapter, ‘The Plough and the Stars: The Lost Workers’ Republic” . . . . [is] a masterful work of close reading supported by historical context.”
Reviewed by Audrey McNamara in Irish Studies Review, Spring 2022: “In . . . his insightful and compelling monograph, Nelson O’Ceallaigh Ritschel outlines a thematic thread which traces the link through the opening decades of the 20th century, from an ‘infamous remark’ by W. B. Yeats on a dream he had about Bernard Shaw, where Yeats was ‘haunted by a sewing machine’. Through the analogy of a sewing machine representing industrialization, . . . O’Ceallaigh Ritschel explores Irish economic and political developments, and the resulting social fallout through to James Connolly’s influential role, even after his death, in the reform of working and living conditions for the poor in society. Connolly’s influence manifested itself in the drama of Bernard Shaw and Sean O’Casey albeit, as . . . argued successfully, for completely different reasons.”
Bernard Shaw, W. T. Stead, and the New Journalism: Whitechapel, Parnell, Titanic, and the Great War, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Reviewed by Anthony Roche in Irish Studies Review, 2017: “ . . . beautifully written and carefully researched . . . .[it] is on Shaw’s crusading journalism from the 1880s to the First World War. . . . The book brilliantly organizes its approach around four of the biggest news stories imaginable: the horrific Whitechapel murders of the 1880s, the hounding of Charles Stewart Parnell in 1890, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and the outbreak of the First World War.”
Reviewed by David Clare in SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Vol. 37.2, 2017: “ . . . this is an extremely important, meticulously researched, and truly entertaining book on an unexplored topic, and it is an absolute must-read for those interested in Shaw’s journalism, his Irishness, or the intersection between his political crusading and his drama.”
Shaw, Synge, Connolly, and Socialist Provocation, Florida Bernard Shaw Series, University Press of Florida, 2011 (Cloth), 2012 (Paper).
Reviewed by Brad Kent in Irish Studies Review, 2012: “Solidly researched and confidently moving between text and context, providing fresh perspectives and intelligent analysis, and making some surprising and convincing links between Shaw, Synge, and Connolly, Ritschel’s book should be read by anyone whose interests lie in the period it covers.”
Reviewed by Michel Pharand in English Literature in Transition 1880-1920, 2012: “Shaw, Synge, Connolly, and Socialist Provocation is essential reading for theatre historians and scholars of Irish studies wishing to situate Shaw within a critical period of Irish literary and political history.”
This book was also favorably reviewed in SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, Vol. 32, 2012, Text and Presentation, 2013, and CHOICE, December 2011.
Performance and Textual Imaging of Women on the Irish Stage, 1820-1920: M.A. Kelly to J.M. Synge and the Allgoods, Mellen Press, 2007.
Reviewed by Karen O’Brien in Theatre Research International, March 2008: “This study provocatively examines Ireland’s tortuous path towards modernization and independence, reflected in the manipulation of the image of women in dramatic text and performance on the Dublin stage . . . Ritschel contributes fresh perspectives on how the stage image of the Irish woman functions in the formation of Ireland’s national theatre and nation. He not only engages with but also revises or furthers previous studies of such scholars as Nicholas Grene, Declan Kiberd and Christopher Murray, most notably in his analysis of Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World.”
Synge and Irish Nationalism: The Precursor to Revolution, Greenwood Press, 2002.
Reviewed by M. A. Kealy in CHOICE, June 2003: “[H]is focus on the polarization of pagan versus Christian Ireland, especially in The Playboy of the Western World, deserves attention.”
Productions of the Irish Theatre Movement, 1899-1916, Greenwood Press, 2001.
Play premieres, as well as their revivals, are detailed from the Irish drama movement of the early twentieth century.
Edited Anthology
Co-edited with Audrey McNamara, Shaw and the Making of Modern Ireland, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. Contributors include President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins, Declan Kiberd, Anthony Roche, Suzanne Colleary, Elizabeth Mannion and others.
Book Chapters
“Bernard Shaw,” in Sean O’Casey in Context, James Moran, ed. Cambridge University Press, projected for 2025.
“Bernard Shaw and Sean O’Casey: Remembering James Connolly” in Shaw and the Making of Modern Ireland, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
“Irish Politics” in George Bernard Shaw in Context, Brad Kent, ed. Cambridge University Press, 2015.
“J.M. Synge and the Abbey Theatre’s Leftist Influence on O’Neill” in Eugene O’Neill and His Early Contemporaries: Bohemians, Radicals, Progressives and the Avant Garde. Eileen J. Herrmann and Robert M. Dowling, ed., McFarland Publishers, 2011.
“Synge, John Millington” in The Critical Companion to Eugene O’Neill: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. Robert M. Dowling, ed., Facts on File, 2009.
“Abbey Theatre” in The Critical Companion to Eugene O’Neill: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. Robert M. Dowling, ed., Facts on File, 2009.
“The Alternative Aesthetic: The Theatre of Ireland’s Urban Plays” in A Century of Irish Drama: Widening the Stage, Stephen Watt, Eileen Morgan, and Shakir Mustafa, ed., Indiana University Press, 2000.
Scholarly Journal Essays
“Bernard Shaw and the Charles Macdona Partnership: Part II,” SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, scheduled for Fall 2024.
“Bernard Shaw and the Charles Macdona Partnership: Part I,” SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 43.2, Pennsylvania State University Press, Fall 2023: 142-160.
“Introduction to ‘Mr. Bernard Shaw, Special Interview’,” introductory essay to reprint of Shaw’s “Mr. Bernard Shaw, Special Interview,” SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 41.2, special themed issue: “Shaw, the Journalist,” Pennsylvania State University Press, Fall 2021: 428-433.
“Introduction to ‘Mr. Bernard Shaw on Syndicalism’,” introductory essay to reprint of Shaw’s “Mr. Bernard Shaw on Syndicalism,” SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 41.2, special themed issue: “Shaw, the Journalist,” Pennsylvania State University Press, Fall 2021: 434-439.
“Introduction to ‘On the Municipal Gallery’,” introductory essay to reprint of Shaw’s “Municipal Art Gallery,” SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 41.2, special themed issue: “Shaw, the Journalist,” Pennsylvania State University Press, Fall 2021: 442-458.
“Shaw and the Dublin Repertory Theatre,” SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Vol. 35.2, 2015: 168-184.
“On Irish Destitution, Bernard Shaw,” Shaw’s “Poor Law and Destitution in Ireland” 1910 Dublin lecture edited, with introduction and notes, in SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 33, Michel Pharand, ed., Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013: 4-16.
“G. B. Shaw and the Titanic Hysteria,” The Nautilus: A Maritime Journal of Literature, History, and Culture, Spring 2013: 87-101.
“Shaw, Murder, and the Modern Metropolis” in Shaw and the City, SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 32, Desmond Harding, ed., Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012: 102-116.
“Shaw and the Syngean Provocation” in Shaw and the Irish Literary Tradition, SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 30, Peter Gahan, ed., Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010: 75-94.
“Shaw, Connolly, and the Irish Citizen Army” in The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 27, Mary Ann Crawford and Michel Pharand, ed. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007: 118-134.
“Synge and the Irish Influence of the Abbey Theatre on Eugene O’Neill,” Eugene O’Neill Review, 2007: 129-150.
“J. M. Synge and the Reconfiguration of G. B. Shaw: The Playboy,” New England Theatre Journal, 2004: 35-47.
“In the Shadow of the Glen: Synge, Ostrovsky, and Marital Separation,” New Hibernia Review. Winter 2003: 85-102.
“Arthur Griffith’s Debate on Synge,” Lit: Literature, Interpretation, Theory, Special issue “Ireland: The Presence of the Past, Part II.” Summer 1999: 107-129.
“James Connolly’s Under Which Flag, 1916,” New Hibernia Review. Winter 1998: 54-68.
“George Houston Bass,” Langston Hughes Review, 1990/1991: 186-187.
Book Reviews
“Revisiting Mander and Mitchenson’s Theatrical Companion,” a review of a “classic” from 1955, Theatrical Companion to SHAW: A Pictorial Record of the First Performances of the Plays of G. B. S. with Synopses, Casts and Detailed Notes by Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson, SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 44.1, Spring 2024.
“Book Review,” a review of Sean O'Casey: Political Activist and Writer by Paul O'Brien, History Ireland, Vol. 1, No. 6, November/December 2023.
“Subscription Theatre,” a review of Subscription Theatre: Democracy and Drama in Britain and Ireland, 1880-1939 by Matthew Franks, English Studies, Vol. 102, 2021.
“Shaw and Modern Irish Drama,” a review of The Irish Dramatic Revival 1899-1939 by Anthony Roche, SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Vol. 36.2, 2016.
“The Urban Tradition at the Abbey Theatre,” a review of The Urban Plays of the Early Abbey Theatre: Beyond O’Casey by Beth Mannion, Irish Literary Supplement, Spring 2016.
“Synge and Modern Irish Drama,” a review of Synge and the Making of Modern Irish Drama by Anthony Roche, New Hibernia Review, Summer 2014.
“Methuen’s Edition of Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession,” edited by Brad Kent, English Literature in Transition 1880-1920, Summer 2014.
“Joyce Responds to Militarism,” a review of Joyce and Militarism by Greg Winston, James Joyce Literary Supplement, Fall 2013.
“Irish Theatre in America: Essays on Irish Theatrical Diaspora,” edited by John P. Harrington, Theatre History Studies, Volume XXX1, 2011.
“Revival: The Abbey Theatre, Sinn Fein, The Gaelic League and the Co-operative Movement by P. J. Mathews,” Theatre Research International, 2005.
Newspaper Article
“Saint Joan and The Plough and the Stars are both Haunted by the Spirit of James Connolly,” Irish Times 1 October 2021.
“George Bernard Shaw’s Fight for Press Freedom,” Irish Times, 24 April 2017.
EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE
See Edited Anthology above.
Co-Series Editor, with Peter Gahan, Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries Book Series, Palgrave Macmillan, since 2015, with twenty-one titles through 2022.
Guest Co-Editor, with Peter Gahan, SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 41.2, special themed issue: “Shaw, the Journalist,” Pennsylvania State University Press, Fall 2021.
Guest Co-Editor, with Audrey McNamara, The Eugene O’Neill Review, Pennsylvania State University Press, Spring 2018.
Guest Co-Editor, with Audrey McNamara, SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 36.1, special themed issue: “Shaw and Money,” Pennsylvania State University Press, Spring 2016.
Editorial Board, SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, since January 2016.
“On Irish Destitution, Bernard Shaw,” Shaw’s “Poor Law and Destitution in Ireland” 1910 Dublin lecture edited, with introduction and notes, in SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 33, Michel Pharand, ed., Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013.
Editorial Advisory Board, The Nautilus: A Maritime Journal of Literature, History, and Culture, 2010-2020.
EDUCATION
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Ph.D. in Theatre History and Dramatic Literature
Dissertation: “‘Rouse This Sleeping Land’: The Aesthetics of the Irish Theatre Movement, 1899-1916.”
Comprehensive Exams: Modern Irish Theatre, Shakespeare, African American Dramatic Literature, and Nineteenth-Century British popular theatre.
Dissertation Director: Spencer Golub.
Internal Reader: Don B. Wilmeth
External Reader: Stephen Watt, Indiana University
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
A.M. in English/Creative Writing, Playwriting
Thesis (play): “Within the Maze.”
Thesis advisor: George Houston Bass.
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
B.S. in Theatre Arts
Periclean Honor Society.
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS
George Bernard Shaw, nineteenth and early twentieth century pre-modern and modern Irish, British, and European theatre, journalism, and history, Sean O’Casey, James Connolly, John Millington Synge, Helena Moloney, Constance Markievicz, Lady Augusta Gregory, Margaret Skinnider, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Beatrice Webb, Sidney Webb, Henry Irving, Henrik Ibsen, Political and Class Theatre in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Modernizing Theatre and Journalism, the intersection of history and performance.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
2021-2023 Professor and Chairperson of Humanities
2020-2021 Professor and Acting Chairperson of Humanities
2010-2023 Professor of Humanities
2012-2017 Professor and Chairperson of Humanities
2006 to 2010 Associate Professor, Humanities
2008 Acting Chairperson of Humanities
2001 to 2006 Assistant Professor of Humanities
2002 to 2014 Director, Drama Program, Maritime Players
Stonehill College, Easton, Massachusetts
1997 to 2001 Instructor of English, English Department
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
1997 Guest Lecturer, Department of Theatre Arts, “Synge and the Search for a National Theatre: The
Case for Ireland”
HONORS
Interviewed (60 minutes) on Cape and Islands NPR station WCAI (part of Boston’s NPR station WGBH), “George Bernard Shaw” in connection to his book, Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, and the Dead James Connolly, to be aired late 2022: George Bernard Shaw: Social Divisions and Issues of the Times | CAI (capeandislands.org)
Attended as private guest of Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, “A Conversation with the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins in Conversation with Mr. Dan Barry,” New York Times, New York Public Library, 1 October 2019.
Invited by Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, to attend his Lecture “Multilateralism—Towards a Discourse for Our Times,” World Leaders Forum, Columbia University, New York, 26 April 2018.
Keynote Speaker for the Bernard Shaw and Irish Conventions Symposium, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland, 27 February 2018.
Interviewed (60 minutes) on the Cape and Islands NPR station WCAI (part of Boston’s NPR station WGBH), in connection to his book, Bernard Shaw, W. T. Stead, and the New Journalism, titled “George Bernard Shaw and the Freedom of the Press,” 12 July 2017: George Bernard Shaw and Freedom of the Press | CAI (capeandislands.org)
Lecture and launch of Bernard Shaw, W. T. Stead, and the New Journalism, University College Dublin, 27 April 2017.
Fully funded sabbatical for research toward sixth and seventh books, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Spring 2017.
Received by Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, at Áras an Uachtaráin, Official Presidential Residence, for a private meeting to discuss Dr. O’Ceallaigh Ritschel’s and Dr. Audrey McNamara’s co-chairing of the 2017 International Eugene O’Neill Conference, to be held in July 2017 at the National University of Ireland Galway, as well as Dr. O’Ceallaigh Ritschel’s forthcoming book, Bernard Shaw, W. T. Stead, and the New Journalism, 3 June 2016.
Guest Speaker for Columbia University’s Irish Studies Seminar, 1916 Centennial, “Socialism and the 1916 Rising,” 1 April 2016.
Invited by Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, to attend his Lecture “The European Union—Towards a Discourse of Reconstruction, Renewal and Hope,” the Eleventh Annual Emile Noel Lecture, New York University School of Law, 28 September 2015.
Received by Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, at Áras an Uachtaráin, Official Presidential Residence, for a private meeting to discuss Dr. O’Ceallaigh Ritschel’s current scholarship in SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, Volume 33, recent book, Shaw, Synge, Connolly, and Socialist Provocation, and ongoing research and scholarship, 2 December 2013. Link to the President’s official Engagement Calendar for the week of 2 December 2013: http://www.president.ie/engagements/week-beginning-monday-2-december-2013/
Guest Speaker in the University of Connecticut’s 2013 Irish Studies Speakers Series, sponsored by AETNA, “The Writing of Socialism in the Early Twentieth-Century Irish Narrative: Shaw, Synge, Connolly, and O’Flaherty V. C.,” 10 October 2013.
Delivered the first plenary lecture for “G. B. Shaw: Back in Town” Conference, titled “Shaw, the Poor Law, and 1910 Dublin: The Rocky Road to Connolly,” University College Dublin, co-sponsored by the UCD Humanities Institute and the International Shaw Society, 30 May 2012.
Reception and Irish-European launch for book, Shaw, Synge, Connolly and Socialist Provocation, University Press of Florida, 2011, sponsored by the UCD Humanities Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield House, 30 May 2012.
Received Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award, Massachusetts Maritime for 2012.
Received private congratulatory email from Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, on the above faculty award and Shaw, Synge, Connolly, and Socialist Provocation, “Your book has been and remains, such a valuable resource, particularly in these centenary years,” 21 June 2012.
Featured Speaker for “Sea-Changes: A Maritime Conference in Humanities,” titled “G. B. Shaw and the Titanic Hysteria,” 14 April 2012, sponsored by The Nautilus: A Maritime Journal of Literature, History, and Culture, Massachusetts Maritime.
Fully funded sabbatical to complete research for Shaw Synge, Connolly, and Socialist Provocation, Spring 2009, Massachusetts Maritime.
CONFERENCE ORGANIZING
The Eleventh International Eugene O’Neill Conference, “Eugene O’Neill: Ireland, the Constant Presence,” Conference Co-Chair with Dr. Audrey McNamara, held at National University of Ireland Galway, 19 July-22 July 2017.
New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, “1916: Revolution(s) and All that Followed,” Conference Organizer, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 4-5 November 2016.
New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, “Inroads of Liberalism into Modern Irish Society,” Conference Organizer, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 13-14 November 2009.
CONFERENCE PAPERS
Participant in Publishing with Palgrave Macmillan’s Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries series Roundtable, International Shaw Society Symposium, Shaw Festival, July 2022.
“Bernard Shaw, Sean O’Casey, and their Perceptions of James Connolly,” Keynote Address, the Bernard Shaw and Irish Conventions Symposium, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland, 27 February 2018.
“Bernard Shaw the Journalist: Saving the Free Press 1914-1916,” Protestant Playwrights Conference, National University of Ireland, Galway, 2 June 2016; and New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, Massachusetts Maritime, November 2016.
Participant on “Militarism in Irish Literature, 1916” Roundtable, speaking on Helena Moloney, Irish Citizen Army and Abbey Theatre actor, New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, Massachusetts Maritime, November 2016.
Participant on “Shaw and His Irish Contemporaries” Roundtable, Protestant Playwrights Conference, National University of Ireland, Galway, 2 June 2016.
“Shaw, Mary Boyle O’Reilly, and the Great War,” New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, University of New Haven, West Haven, CT, November 2015.
Participant on Publishing Shaw Roundtable, International Shaw Society Conference, Fordham University, New York, October 2015.
Participant on Easter Rising 1916 Roundtable, New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, Wheaton College, Norton, MA, November 2014.
“O’Neill and the Irish Canon,” International O’Neill Conference, Eugene O’Neill Society, Connecticut College, New London, CT, June 18-21, 2014.
“Shaw, Markievicz, Author’s Rights, and the Dublin Repertory Theatre,” New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, Lincoln, RI, November 2013.
“Synge and the Congested Districts,” New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT, October 2012.
“Shaw, Murder, and Irish Home Rule,” New England Regional American Conference Irish Studies, Bridgewater State University, West Bridgewater, MA, October 2011.
“Shaw, Connolly, and Irish Recruitment—1916,” American Conference for Irish Studies, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, April 2011.
“Shaw, Connolly, and Sparring for Irish Recruitment,” The International Shaw Society’s “Shaw” Symposium, Chicago, October 2010.
“Shaw’s Conscription of Synge: O’Flaherty V.C.,” The International Shaw Society’s Conference, “Shaw and Politics,” Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, October 2009.
Participant on the Synge Roundtable, marking the centennial of Synge’s death, New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, Massachusetts Maritime, Buzzards Bay, MA, November 2009 (While Dr. Ritschel hosted this conference, the Synge Roundtable was suggested by then NE ACIS treasurer Mary Burke given Dr. Ritschel’s Synge Scholarship.)
“O’Neill and the Presence of Synge,” American Conference for Irish Studies, City University of New York, New York, April 2007.
“Shaw, Connolly, and the Irish Citizen Army,” International Shaw Society’s Conference, “Sesquicentennial Shaw,” Brown University, Providence, RI, June 2006.
“The Greening of Eugene O’Neill and American Theatre: The Seminal Influence of Synge and the Abbey Theatre.” New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, sponsored jointly by Bridgewater State College and Stonehill College, Canton, MA, October 2005.
“O’Neill and Provincetown: The 1911 Influence of Synge and the Abbey Theatre.” The Eugene O’Neill Society’s International Conference, Provincetown, MA, June 2005.
“In the Shadow of the Glen and Riders to the Sea: Synge and Dissolution of Colleen and the Poor Old Woman.” New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, Celebrating the Centenary of the Abbey Theatre 1904-2004, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH, October 2004.
“J. M. Synge and the Reconfiguration of G. B. Shaw in The Playboy.” International Shaw Society’s First Conference, “GBS By the Bay,” University of South Florida, Sarasota, FL, March 2004.
“Mary Ann Kelly: Ornament of the Dublin Stage, 1821-22,” New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, Bridgewater State College, West Bridgewater, MA, October 2003.
“J. M. Synge and the Rewriting of Shaw: The Playboy,” American Conference for Irish Studies, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, MN, June 2003.
“J. M. Synge and the Rewriting of Shaw: The Playboy,” New England Regional American Conference for Irish Studies, Stonehill College, Easton, MA, October 2002.
“Synge, Shaw, O’Casey: Three Noras,” American Conference for Irish Studies, Fordham University, New York, June 2001.
“Synge, Ostrovosky: Divorce and the Early Modern Irish Theatre,” American Conference for Irish Studies, University of Limerick, Ireland, June 2000.
“W. B. Yeats and the Alternative Aesthetic,” NEH Seminar “Nationalism and a National Theatre: One Hundred Years of Irish Theatre,” Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, May 1999.
“’Rouse This Sleeping Land’: The Rise of the Irish Theatre Movement, 1899-1902,” International Federation for Theatre Research Conference, “Cultural Politics and the Theatre,” Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, September 1992.
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION COMMITTEES
External Reader for Ph.D. Dissertation “Bernard Shaw: From Womanhood to Nationhood,” Audrey McNamara, University College Dublin, successfully defended 2 December 2013.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
American Conference for Irish Studies
2011 to 2013—President of the New England Region
2009 to 2011—Treasurer of the New England Region
International Shaw Society
ISS Advisory Board Member 2015-2019
Shaw Society UK
Eugene O’Neill Society
International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures
DIRECTED UNIVERSITY-LEVEL PLAYS AS FACULTY MEMBER
Augustus Does His Bit and How He Lied to Her Husband by George Bernard Shaw, Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) Theatre Program, November 2014.
Bound East for Cardiff and Ile by Eugene O’Neill, MMA Theatre Program, November 2013.
The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter and The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco, MMA Theatre Program, Maritime Players, November 2012.
Dracula adapted from Bram Stoker, MMA Theatre Program, Maritime Players, November 2011.
The Playboy of the Western World by John Millington Synge, MMA Theatre Program, Maritime Players, November 2010.
The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet by George Bernard Shaw, MMA Theatre Program, Maritime Players, featured performance for the NE American Conference for Irish Studies Conference, November 2009.
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial by Herman Wouk, MMA Theatre Program, Maritime Players, November 2008.
Krapp’s Last Tape by Samuel Beckett, In the Zone by Eugene O’Neill, and Lou Gehrig Did Not Die of Cancer by Jason Miller, theatre workshop stagings, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, June 2007.
Thirst by Eugene O’Neill, MMA Theatre Program, Maritime Players; featured performance for the Eugene O’Neill Society’s 6th International Conference, Fisherman’s Wharf, Provincetown, MA, June 2005.
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad by Arthur Kopit, MMA Theatre Program, Maritime Players, October – November 2004.
Thirst by Eugene O’Neill and Trifles by Susan Glaspell, MMA Theatre Program Maritime Players, November 2003.
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, MMA Theatre Program, Maritime Players, May 2003.
Riders to the Sea and In the Shadow of the Glen by J. M. Synge, MMA Theatre Program, Maritime Players, November 2002.
Scene Readings from Twelfth Night by W. Shakespeare, MMA Theatre Program, Maritime Players, May 2004.
OTHER EXPERIENCE
Non-Academic Work Experience
1985 to 1992 Freelance journalist, playwright, dramaturge
1987 Literary Director, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell, Massachusetts
Plays Authored
“Houligan Cogs,” Rhode Island Playwrights Theatre, Providence, July 1988.
“Strike Two,” Playwrights Preview Productions, New York, January 1987.
“For a Few Apples More,” Rhode Island Playwrights Theatre, Providence, December 1985.
“Within the Maze” (a play of Bobby Sands and Ulster), Leeds Theatre, Brown University, Providence, December 1983.
“Assassin,” Leeds Theatre, Brown University, Providence, January 1983.