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"A
Triumph."
-Buffalo News
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Abbey Theatre, Dublin
Boston Symphony Hall
Chattanooga Theatre Center
Coolidge Theatre
Firehouse Theatre
Glistening Waters Storytelling Festival, New Zealand
Gloucester Stage Company
Lincoln Center
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Merrimack Repertory Theatre
National Theatre Complex, London
Orpheum Theatre
Pontine Theatre
Scottish International Storytelling Festival, Edinburg, Scotland
Stage West Theatre
Touchstone Theatre
Town Hall, New York City |
A touching portrait of a boy learning about what war really is.
The drama is set after World War II. The war is over and the boy
cannot understand why it still rages in the hearts of people around
him.
The true story of a man whose courage saved the USS Franklin
from sinking after being bombed off the coast of Japan,
on March 19th, 1945. A story whose texture is as complex
as jazz. It's a story that plays with time and the listener's
imagination. A riveting and poignant story of the cost of
a hero's journey.
"Jay O'Callahan
has drawn an unforgettable portrait."
-AudioFile
"Not only takes
wings, but soars."
- the Boston Globe
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Three stories of a boy growing up in a neighborhood near Boston
after World War II. In a touching way, the stories "Glasses,"
"Chickie," and "Politics," explore friendship, prejudice and class
differences. They have been performed at the Abbey Theatre in
Dublin, The National Fine Arts Complex in London, on National
Public Radio, and at festivals and theatres throughout the United
States. They are among the most popular of Jay O'Callahan's performance
pieces.
"Something close to a revelation."
-The Boston Globe
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Jay O'Callahan,
Abbey Theatre, Dublin
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"An Undoubted Triumph.
. .
an utterly mesmerizing artist with an unforgettable presence.
. . "
-Irish Literary Supplement
The wildy humorous and deeply moving story of a boy discovering
his father is a man, not a god. A delightful and electric portrayal
of the cracked egg of adolescence.
"O'Callahan amazingly captures
the wistful, lonely, heightened reality of a teenage boy. Every
experience is indelible. Every emotion is over-wrought. Every
sentence spoken will echo within him forever. He aches with the
love that surrounds him, and voraciously hungers for more. . .
'The Dance' has an emotional center that O'Callahan pierces like
a bull'seye."
-Alexander Stevens, Drama Critic
"Not so much a story as a
play in two acts. . .
an engrossing, entertaining evening of theatre."
-The Boston Globe
"Astounding..."
-North Shore Sunday Best Bets
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At the cutting edge of . .
. an art form"
-Christian Science Monitor
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Stories of extraordinary moments in ordinary lives. The main stories
are dramas of two women, one working in a herring shed, the other
a clerk in a general store, who heroically deal with a single moment
that changes their lives. In the story of "The Herring Shed" 14
year old Maggie Thomas' life is changed when the rector comes into
the herring shed with a telegram announcing the death of her brother
at Dunkirk during World War II. Edna Robinson, a beautiful and very
proper clerk in a New England general store, falls in love with
a hobo.
"...you
leave 'Village Heroes' with images seared on the brain. If you
concentrate hard enough, the stories can be intensely optical
experiences."
-The Boston Globe
"...characters as finely etched
as those in a novel,
as palpable as those in a play,"
-The Christian Science Monitor
"So many characters fill the
stage in 'Village Heroes' that it comes as a shock when you notice
just one man, inventing a planet of people to rival that of Charles
Dickens."
-The Seattle Herald
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Jay O'Callahan at
Stage West Theatre |
A stirring drama inspired by the real-life odyssey of Dick Wheeler's
four month 1,500 mile kayak journey from Newfoundland to Buzzard's
Bay, Massachusetts. Wheeler was retracing the journey of the now-extinct
Great Auk bird. Newfoundland fishermen warned Dick Wheeler that
the fish in the Grand Banks were disappearing. In Jay's story, those
fishermen become a modern Greek chorus warning us that the fish
are disappearing from the sea.
"..the most moving performance
I have every heard about the sea."
-Jerry Schubel, Director New England Aquarium
"A major experience."
-New Zealand's Hawkes Bay Herald Tribune
"(Jay O'Callahan) continues
to delight and
move thousands of listeners each year."
-Time Magazine
Links to information about Dick Wheeler:
Time.com
GulfOfMaine.com
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Jay O'Callahan at
the New England Aquarium |
Jay's haunting dramatization of World War II's effect on residents
of a small Nova Scotia fishing village.
"Genius"
-Time Magazine
"He had me so in his power
I neglected to take a single note."
-Washington Post
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This is a story of Ludvika Moskal Waldony who came to this country
in 1907 when she was eighteen. She came alone without friends, family
or education. Ludvika was a strong, imaginative woman who created
a life for herself in the steel town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The story explores the struggles of a working class family in a
steel city that has no union. It's the story of the building of
America.
"For generations, the heart
of Bethlehem, PA. was steel. When the blue flame went out at the
last steel factory five years ago, the town wanted to commemorate
its steelworkers by leaving behind more than just factory silhouettes.
So they brought storyteller Jay O'Callahan to town."
-Christian Science Monitor
". . . a story of work and
home and love and loss. . . a rare wine to be savored."
-The Express-Times
"[Pouring the Sun] is a visit with
the keepers of the blue flame across the generations - the steelworkers
of Bethlehem, Pa., who 'poured the sun...'"
-America@work
"A Triumph."
-Buffalo News
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Jay O'Callahan grew up in a neighborhood called Pill Hill because
so many doctors lived there. The magical house and grounds and the
dramas of his lively neighbors inspired these colorful stories about
Norwegians in the attic, a sausage dog who spoke only Portuguese,
salmon in the bathtub and the delicious mystery of x.
"I was overcome with
contagious laughter and moved to tears at the fun and humanness
of these Pill Hill neighborhood stories
wonderfully told here."
-Jack Langstaff, founder of Revels.
"Jay O'Callahan paints
an extraordinary picture of life on Pill Hill. These stories are
like listening to wonderful theater on the radio, with Jay portraying
all the characters."
-Dick Pleasants, WGBH/WUMB
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Uncle Mark was a failure and a disgrace to the family. He was
always written off with a phrase or two. No one ever knew why
he walked out of his law office. It was the beginning of his long
fall. In a sense, he almost stepped out of the human race. "The
Labyrinth of Uncle Mark" explores the possible reasons for
his fall and attempts to welcome a brave man back into the family.
The story also explores the internment camps for Japanese Americans
during World War II.
Jay O'Callahan has written and performs a solo theatrical miracle. It is as if he plumbed the emotional DNA of our family dynamics and presents it to us in a singularly gorgeous package. It could be Hamlet re-born into a 20th century Irish American family."
-Samm Carleton , Choreographer
"What you achieved was the telling of a life, your uncle Mark's and his family's. It is a complex and rich life that was tragic. Who can do that? It is a beautiful piece because it is made believable through the striking simplicity of your conveying to us the complexity of Mark's life; any life. Thank you. "
-Rob Perkins, Author, International Filmmaker, BBC, PBS
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