Sole Purpose wins Award in New York! In January 2019 Sole Purpose took the highly acclaimed play Blinkered by Patricia Byrne to New York to take part in Origin Theatre’s 1st Irish Festival. The festival is in its 11th year, it showcases new theatre from Ireland. Production companies have the opportunity to have their USA premier at this festival.
The play shows the devastating impact on the family. Each performance is followed by an interactive theatre discussion which explores the themes raised in the play. It was first produced in 2016 when it had a powerful impact on all who saw it. A national tour throughout Ireland in 2017 received critical acclaim.
There were seven performances in four venues across New York including: Irish American Society in Mineola, The Playroom Theatre in Times Square, the New York Irish Centre in Queens and the City College of New York in Harlem.
The play toured locally before going to New York. We took it to four schools and colleges in Derry and Limavady. We reached 750 young people, parents, teachers, social workers and theatre goers. There were counsellors and the Samaritans at every performance who were available if anyone wanted to talk to them. One of our counsellors did case studies of some young people who spoke to her after a performance. The case studies illustrate the social impact of the play and how the arts can be used to make a positive difference in people’s lives.
We worked in partnership with the New York Irish Centre, Solace House (a suicide prevention centre) and the New York City Department of Education to reach audiences. Blinkered tells the story of a young man, Ryan, who is going through a depression and having suicidal thoughts. 10 Sole Purpose Productions
Patricia Byrne worked with students in Seattle in 2017 using Blinkered as a focus for students to develop Scenes of Intervention which illustrated ways to talk about suicide. As part of the same trip she met with organisations in New York that might be interested in the play. It was through these connections that the 2019 tour in New York came about.
This tour brought our work to new international audiences. Some audience members came back a second time to see a performance and brought their friends and colleagues with them. Audiences spread the word and people came to see it on their recommendations, word spread as far as Philadelphia about the production.