Exploring Life’s Lessons In “Violet” 

By R. J. Donovan
December 30, 2015
R. J. Donovan

SpeakEasy Stage Company presents the New England premiere of the musical “Violet” from Jan. 9 to Feb. 6 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. 

With a powerful score by Jeanine Tesori (“Fun Home” “Caroline, Or Change”) and book and lyrics by Brian Crawley (based on the short story The Ugliest Pilgrim by Doris Betts), “Violet” is set in 1964 during the civil rights movement.  

This is the year we’ll remember the principled men and women of 1916

By Joe Leary
December 30, 2015
Joe Leary

Ireland’s long-standing struggle for independence from the British had been going on for hundreds of years when, on April 14, 1916, Easter Monday, an armed rebellion by a few thousand Irish men and women in Dublin began a sequence of seven years of bitter fighting in three separate engagements that led to the eventual creation of the Republic of Ireland we enjoy today.

Mayor Walsh plays a prominent role in new photo exhibition at Shannon

By BIR News Room
December 30, 2015

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is featured among some of the world’s noted politicians and stars of stage, screen and sport in a permanent exhibition at historic Shannon Airport that was unveiled last month.

The exhibit celebrates the 70th anniversary of the first commercial transatlantic flight into a land based Irish airport.

Some 64 images drawn from the 1950s to the current day have been assembled from archives and placed in a permanent exhibition on the walls of the airport’s transit lounge.

Master fiddler, engaging teacher, Seamus Connolly signs off at BC

By Sean Smith, Special to the Reporter
December 30, 2015
Sean Smith, Special to the Reporter

Seamus Connolly played “one last tune” during his retirement party last month. Sean Smith photoSeamus Connolly played “one last tune” during his retirement party last month. Sean Smith photoMusician, teacher, organizer, scholar: Fulfilling these roles for the better part of a quarter-century, Seamus Connolly has helped make Boston College a go-to place for traditional music from Ireland, Scotland, Cape Breton, and other Gaelic cultures.
But the final notes of his tenure at BC have sounded.

Connolly, who has been BC’s Sullivan Family Artist-in-Residence since 2004, retired from the University effective at the end of the fall semester. Appropriately enough, a formal public announcement of his plans came at the Dec. 8 Christmas concert in the Cadigan Alumni Center, held as part of the Gaelic Roots Music, Song, Dance, Workshop and Lecture Series – widely acclaimed as one of his signal achievements.

“There comes a moment in everyone’s life when you look back and then say, ‘It’s time,’” said Connolly in an interview. “I felt that over 25 years, with the help of many good people, we were able to accomplish so much in giving the Irish and other Gaelic music traditions a home at BC. So moving on at this point just seems the right thing to do.

REBELLION ON THE HORIZON: With the dawning of 1916, a Boston couple had already risked all for an Irish ‘rising’

By Peter F. Stevens, BIR Staff
December 30, 2015
Peter F. Stevens, BIR Staff

First in a series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland.

A century ago, a defining moment – the defining moment for many historians – helped set the stage for the future for Ireland. As January 1916 dawned, the inevitable collision between Irish nationalists and the British government was unfolding en route to the Easter Rising in April. The impact of the coming rebellion would resound not only up and down the island of Ireland but also in the Irish wards of Boston and all of Irish America.

In a galaxy not so far away … Ireland feels ‘The Force’

By BIR News Room
December 30, 2015

The climatic scenes in the new blockbuster movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” were filmed in the Skellig Islands, eight miles off the coast of Portmagee in South West Kerry. Rising majestically from the sea, Skellig Michael towers 714 feet (218 metres) above sea level. On the summit is a remarkably well- preserved sixth century monastic settlement. On the spectacular Small Skelligs, some 23,000 pairs of gannet nest on every available ledge, making it the second largest gannet colony in the world.The climatic scenes in the new blockbuster movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” were filmed in the Skellig Islands, eight miles off the coast of Portmagee in South West Kerry. Rising majestically from the sea, Skellig Michael towers 714 feet (218 metres) above sea level. On the summit is a remarkably well- preserved sixth century monastic settlement. On the spectacular Small Skelligs, some 23,000 pairs of gannet nest on every available ledge, making it the second largest gannet colony in the world.
An island off Ireland’s southwest coast is wowing audiences at screenings of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Unveiled in the film’s closing minutes, this closely guarded secret ending to Episode 7 was filmed in September 2014 on Skellig Michael Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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