James X
from Farcry Productions Ireland
Written and Performed by Gerard Mannix Flynn
Directed by Gabriel Byrne
Evening performances at 7:30pm
Matinee performances at 2:00pm
An Irish government tribunal of inquiry into institutions responsible for cruel and inhumane treatment of children is in session. In the foyer, James X, one of those children, now a man anxiously prepares to offer the testimony which he hopes will unshackle him from the past. As he waits, James is confronted with the fact that the tribunal he is about to go before is part of the very same system that made prisoners of children like him and sighting this truth prompts him to tell the story that will really, finally set him free.
In the last decade, the Catholic Church and State institutions in Ireland and throughout the world have been the center of an emerging secret history. That history involves the sexual abuse and torment of tens of thousands of vulnerable children. This is the human story of one of those children who is trying to emerge from a place of darkness into the light—a light in which the human spirit is allowed to triumph into its full magnificence.
Running time: 75 minutes (no intermission)
Photo: Perry Ogden
James X is presented as part of Imagine Ireland, Culture Ireland's year of Irish Arts in America.
Tickets available for purchase online, by calling 866-811-4111, or at the 45 Bleecker Theater box office (opens one hour before show time)
$30 for previews, $40 for evening and matinee performances, $15 student rush available at the box office (limited availability)
