THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE opens September 10th

The Tillamook Association for the Performing Arts (TAPA) and TLC Federal Credit Union are pleased to bring the production of the critically acclaimed, worldwide hit “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” to Tillamook. “The Beauty Queen of Leenane”, a blend of black comedy, melodrama, horror and bleak tragedy is set in an Irish village in the early 1990s and centers on the life of Maureen Folan, portrayed by Tami Taliaferro. Maureen is a 40-year-old spinster who takes care of her 70-year-old selfish and manipulative mother Mag, portrayed by Terri Winkle. Sisters of Maureen have escaped into marriage and family life, but Maureen, with a history of mental illness, is trapped in a seriously dysfunctional relationship with her mother. In the course of the play, the Folan cottage is visited by Pato Dooley, portrayed by Jason McAlexander and his younger brother Ray, portrayed by Micah Smith. Pato, who once lived in Leenane, is a construction worker fed up with having to live and work in England. Disappointed by the limitations and loneliness of his life, he returns to Leenane and finds himself in a struggle to save Maureen from the same limitations and loneliness that has haunted them both for years. The sameness of the day-to-day routine of living in Leenane is also tedious for Pato’s brother Ray, who also dreams of a life far, far away. Mag’s interference in Maureen’s first and possibly final chance of having a loving relationship sets in motion a train of events that leads towards the play’s terrifying final revelation.

“The Beauty Queen of Leenane”, a drama by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, was premiered by the Druid Theatre Company in Galway, Ireland in 1996. By 1998 Martin McDonagh became the first playwright since William Shakespeare to have four of his plays produced professionally in London in a single season. The Beauty Queen of Leenane has enjoyed successful runs at London’s West End, Broadway, off-Broadway theaters in New York, and has also been performed with critical success in lesser-known theaters across the globe. In 1998, “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play, the Drama League Award for Best Play, the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Broadway Play and was nominated for the Drama Critics’ Circle Award and the Tony Award for Best Play, additionally winning four other Tony awards.

TAPA’s production of “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” is directed by Robert Buckingham, director of last year’s summer hit for TAPA, “Murder by the Book” and is produced by Regina Eckles. Performances will be held at the Barn Community Playhouse, located at 12th and Ivy in Tillamook at 7:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays from September 10 through September 25 with one matinee on Sunday, September 19 at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices are $12 for adults, $9 for seniors and students, and a family four-pack can be purchased for $35. Reservations and advanced ticket sales are available at Diamond Art Jewelers; call (503) 842-7940. Doors open one-half hour prior to curtain. For more information, please visit www.tillamooktheater.com or e-mail tapaatthebarn@gmail.com. This production is not suitable for younger audiences.