The series explores why theatre matters and how it engages with our world.

In the second talk of the series, Caitríona McLaughlin will be in conversation with playwrights Nancy Harris (writer of Somewhere Out There You) and Martyna Majok (writer of Ironbound). Somewhere Out There You (world premiere) and Ironbound (Irish premiere) are both being produced by the Abbey Theatre as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.  

Nancy Harris (L) and Martyna Majok (R)

Nancy Harris is an award-winning writer from Dublin who lives in London. Nancy was recently nominated for the BAFTA Writer award in the Comedy category for The Dry which she wrote and created. The first series won two IFTA awards for Ciaran Hinds and Sarah Lynch & the second series is now in production. Nancy also writes extensively for the theatre.  Alongside Somewhere Out There You, her most recent plays include a new musical The Magician’s Elephant (based on the book by Kate diCamillo), which opened at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon; Two Ladies at the Bridge Theatre, London directed by Nicholas Hytner and The Beacon for Druid, Galway and the Gate Theatre, Dublin, directed by Garry Hynes. She is a past recipient of The Stewart Parker Award for playwriting and The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. 

Martyna Majok was born in Bytom, Poland and raised in Jersey and Chicago. She was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, Cost of Living, which debuted this fall on Broadway and is currently nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Other plays include Sanctuary City, Queens, and Ironbound, which have been produced across American and international stages. Martyna studied at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, University of Chicago, and Jersey public schools. She was a 2012-2013 NNPN playwright-in-residence, the 2015-2016 PoNY Fellow at the Lark Play Development Center, and a 2018-2019 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. Martyna is currently writing a musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby, with music by Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett, and developing TV and film for Plan B, Pastel, and MRC.