Photo Flash: First Look at Irish Rep's A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT

Off-Broadway's award-winning Irish Repertory Theatre presents the New York premiere A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT, a presentation of three of Samuel Beckett's short plays, with direction and puppet design by Bob Flanagan. With a cast that features Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris, Rachel Pickup, Paul Radki and Rebecca Leigh Silverman, A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT is currently performing in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre at the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) through December 1st. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

A presentation of three of Samuel Beckett's short plays . . . In Beckett's absurdist, minimal style, Mr. Flanagan explores the frustrating trials and tribulations of Everyman who seems stranded on a desert island in Act Without Words (a mime, presented here with Bunraku style puppetry); Breath, perhaps the world's shortest play, a thought-provoking statement on human life itself; and finally, Play, a study in how our choices in life bind us together forever as we visit three people who are trapped and isolated, due to an unexceptional affair.

A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT has set design by N. Joseph DeTullio; costume, hair and makeup design by Andrea Lauer; lighting design by Michael Gottlieb; and sound and music design by Ryan Rumery. Puppet design is by Mr. Flanagan's Den Design Studio. The prop designer is Jamie Bressler. The PSM is Elis C. Arroyo.

Nobel Prize-winning author Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989) was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French. Widely regarded as among the most influential writers of the 20th century, Beckett's classic plays include WAITING FOR GODOT, ENDGAME, and Happy Days.

Bob Flanagan is founder of Den Design Studio, a puppet, prop and special effects studio. For 27 seasons, he has been designing puppets, specialty props, costumes and effects for "Saturday Night Live. "Mr. Flanagan is also responsible for the 64 puppets used on "Crank Yankers," which ran four seasons on Comedy Central. Mr. Flanagan's recent theatrical endeavors include the design and construction of the 40-foot Time Dragon Puppet which resides on the proscenium of the Tony Award winning musical WICKED, as well as the production's Wonderful Wizard of Oz head and lion cub puppet. Off Broadway, Bob designed and directed RAFFERTY RESCUES THE MOON and Oscar Wilde's THE HAPPY PRINCE (produced in relation with Irish Rep). His design work on Irish Rep's THE HAIRY APE earned a 2007 Henry Hewes Design Award nomination, and he also earned a Drama Desk nomination for his work with masks and puppets in The Irish Rep's 2010 production of Eugene O'Neil's THE EMPORER JONES, starring John Douglas Thompson. Before founding Den Design Studio, Mr. Flanagan worked for five and a half years as a designer for the Muppet Workshop and Jim Henson Productions. He won an Emmy Award in 1986 for outstanding achievement in costume design for his work on "Sesame Street."

The Irish Repertory Theatre, co-founded by Artistic Director Charlotte Moore and Producing Director Ciarán O'Reilly, provides a context for understanding the contemporary Irish-American experience through evocative works of theater, music, and dance. This mission is accomplished by staging the works of Irish and Irish-American classic and contemporary playwrights, encouraging the development of new works focused on the Irish and Irish-American experience, and producing the works of other cultures interpreted through the lens of an Irish sensibility. The Irish Repertory Theatre opened its doors in September 1988 with Sean O'Casey's THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS. Ms. Moore and Mr. O'Reilly received a 2013 Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award in recognition of Irish Repertory Theatre's twenty-five years of producing outstanding theatre.

A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT performs Wednesdays at 3pm and 8pm; Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm; and Sundays at 3pm through December 1st. For information about The Irish Repertory Theatre, or for tickets to their Current Productions of JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK and A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT, call the Irish Rep box office at 212-727-2737 or visit www.irishrep.org.

Photo Credit: James Wade

Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris, Paul Radki, Rachel Pickup

Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris, Paul Radki, Rachel Pickup

A MIND-BENDING EVENING OF BECKETT

Paul Radki, Rachel Pickup