Matt Smith of the band Black Slaney will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on
Tuesday, August 28 at noon to play traditional Irish folk songs, a few of which
were featured in the film, The Quiet Man. The program, will provide a
warm-up for the library’s presentation of the play version of the classic film,
scheduled for Thursday August 30 at 7 pm. Lunch With
Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a
bag lunch and free beverages are served. Please call 304-232-0244 for more
information.
August 30 (Thursday at 7 pm): Pub
Reading: The Quiet Man
In honor of the 60th anniversary of the release of the beloved 1952 film, The
Quiet Man, starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Victor
McLaglen and Ward Bond, Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library, in
partnership with Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theater, will present a reading
of the pub version of the play, The Quiet Man, adapted for the stage by
Frank Mahon. Directed by the great John Ford, the film version was based on the
same source material as the play, a short story by Irish writer Maurice Walsh
first published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1933. The
staged reading is scheduled for Thursday August 30 at 7 pm. A cast of veteran
actors from Towngate Theater will read the play, including Vince Marshall,
Rachel Thompson, Michael Ramsay, Tom Stobart, P D Gregg, Arlene Merryman, Greg
Sberna and Tim Thompson, who will also direct. The evening performance will
include music by Matt Smith and Erin Huffman of the local Irish band, Black
Slaney plus free Irish style “pub grub.” Tickets for the evening performance are
$10.00 and 100% of the proceeds will benefit Harmony House Children’s Advocacy
Center. Playwright Frank Mahon has written for
major television productions. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America,
Irish American Artists & Writers, and is a graduate of the University of
Notre Dame. When asked permission to do the readings at the Ohio County Public
Library, Mr. Mahon said “What a great compliment to have a library want to do a
reading of our play.” He also promised “to let the Walsh family know right away…”
as he believed it would “mean a lot to them to hear that their grandfather
("Mossie") will be back in a library.” The Quiet Man play has
been well received by audiences and critics in Mahon’s hometown of Chicago and
across the country, including at the John Wayne Museum in Iowa. Maureen O’Hara
herself called it “A wonderful script…” featuring “strong and interesting”
characters and a “tale well told…” that “brings us into the homes and lives of
the Irish living in those difficult times.” For more information or to purchase
tickets, please send an email to lunchwithbooks@yahoo.com
or call the library at 304-232-0244 and ask for Sean.
August 31 (Fri. @ noon) Discussing The Quiet Man
John
Whitehead, professor of film studies at Wheeling Jesuit University, will be at
Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Friday, August 31 at
noon, to lead a discussion of “The Quiet Man” in all its forms: from the real
history of 1921 Ireland, to the 1933 short story by Maurice Walsh, to the 1952
film starring John Wayne and, finally, the new play by Frank Mahon (which will
be read at the library the prior evening). Find out what was changed and why.
The program is part of the observance of the 60th anniversary of the
popular film, which opened in Wheeling
at the Victoria Theater on Thanksgiving Day, 1952. Lunch With
Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a
bag lunch and free beverages are served. Please call 304-232-0244 for more
information.
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