For Immediate Release: May 10, 2006
Media Contact: Tom Reing, Inis Nua Theatre Company, 267.474.8077

Inis Nua Theatre Company announces the remounting of the American premiere of Tadhg Stray Wandered In by Michael Collins. The production will be from June 17-30, 2006. The show will be performed upstairs at Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom Street.

Tadhg* doesn't like when people laugh at him. He sometimes has a terrible temper. And he never knows when to leave a party. Tadhg Stray is an impulsive young man trying to find love on the streets of a small Irish town and ends up in the big city of Paris! All this—and he has school exams to finish! The production stars Matt Pfeiffer as Tadhg and is directed by Tom Reing.

“Our original production was really well received.” says Inis Nua Artistic Director Tom Reing. “But it was too short of a run. We were in a stuffy storefront Fringe space. This time, we have a longer run, in a more comfortable space and you are free to drink during the show. The play is a real showcase for Matt Pfeiffer. It’s a great story and it is a joy to bring it back.”

Tadhg Stray Wandered In is a great example of the Irish pub tale. A genre transformed by the new identity Ireland has post-Celtic Tiger. The play is theatrical as well as intimate, fusing memory and a kind of conversation with the audience. Inis Nua is proud to remount this fantastical one-man show.

Matt Pfeiffer (Tadhg) is an actor and director whose been working in Philadelphia for the last 5 years. He was most recently seen in InterAct Theatre Company’s Reinventing Eden. Matt has worked extensively with the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival where has acted and directed for the last 6 seasons. Other credits include: The Walnut St. Theatre (Biloxi Blues), Arden Theatre (Much Ado About Nothing, Daedalus) Delaware Theatre Co. (Macbeth, Christmas Carol, Of Mice and Men, Stinkin’ Rich (world premiere)) Bristol Riverside Theatre (Moon for the Misbegotten) Theatre Exile (Bruce Graham’s Burkie) and Brat Productions where he performed in This Lime Tree Bower, which was named one of the top 10 productions of the year by the Philadelphia Inqurirer. He also directed Brat’s Finge hit and first children’s show Max in Hollywood, Baby!, and the critically acclaimed The Fever by Wallace Shawn. Matt directs Popsicle’s Departure, 1989 for the 2004 Live-Arts Festival. He holds a BA from De Salles University (Allentown College.)

Tom Reing (Director) directed another Irish play, Eden, by Eugene O’Brien at Fergie’s for Brat Productions which garnered a 2005 Barrymore Award for Best Actress for Madi Distefano as well as the 2004 Fringe favorite, A Play on Two Chairs for Inis Nua Theatre Company’s inaugural production. He has been the Education Director for InterAct Theatre Company for the past 8 years. Mr. Reing is the recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts playwriting fellowship, an Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, a Five-County Arts Fund grant, and a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Grant to work with youth in the communities of Grays Ferry, Philadelphia and Falls Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland to develop a play, entitled High Noon in Grays Ferry, Twilight on Falls Road.

Michael Collins (Playwright) is a native of Dunshaughlin, County Meath, Michael Collins studied Engineering at Dublin City University and has lived in Paris and Krakow. Plays include The Hackney Office and Bowing and Scraping, which was presented as a rehearsed reading by Fishamble Theatre Company in 1998.

Inis Nua produced 2004’s highly popular, A Play on Two Chairs in last year’s Philly Fringe festival as well as Tadhg Stray Wandered In for the 2005 Fringe.

Inis Nua Theatre Company’s mission is to produce and develop provocative plays from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Britain which reflect those cultures new identities in today’s world. Inis Nua Theatre Company also seeks to cultivate, develop and produce provocative work from American playwrights who deal with the Irish-American, Welsh-American, Scottish-American and Anglo-American experience. Translated from Irish, Inis Nua means roughly “New Island.”

INIS NUA THEATRE COMPANY presents Tadhg Stray Wondered In by Michael Collins Starring Matt Pfeiffer Directed by Tom Reing When: June 17,18,20,21,22,23,24,25,28,29,30 @ 7pm June 17, 24 @ 2pm Where: Fergie’s 1214 Sansom Street Cost: $12 (tickets can be purchased by calling 267 474 8077)

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