How to Keep an Alien

by Sonya Kelly

Corrib Theatre

Apr – May, 2019

West Coast Premiere

REVIEWS

One of Willamette Week's 10 Best Plays of 2019

“…miraculous. The play, in other words, isn’t just great theater. It’s feckin perfection.”

Bennett Campbell Ferguson, Willamette Week
“…funny, quirky, and the perfect romantic antidote to the dreary Portland weather.” “(Sara Hennessy) perfectly captures the exhilaration and the terror of falling in love with a foreigner.”

Krista Garver, Broadway World
“Hennessy is a pro and it shows.” “…she builds beautifully toward the fairy tale ending.” “(Amy Katrina Bryan) is a gem…”

Dennis Sparks, All Things Performing Arts
“How to Keep an Alien is like a champagne cocktail—fizzy and pink and luscious—until Sonya ramps it up with the Irish government. She is hilarious. She is a bulldog.”

Judy Nedry, Judy Nedry Reviews
“It’s a big, brash, challenging role, playing Sonya … and Sara Hennessy meets the challenge … with a wryly comic conviction …”

Bob Hicks, Oregon ArtsWatch

ABOUT

Irish Sonya and Australian Kate meet and fall in love, while working on a Russian play with English accents in an Irish castle. Together, they embark on a global odyssey to prove that they have a right to live together in Ireland. How to Keep an Alien is a tender and hilarious story attesting to the perils and obstacles of emigration, and the transformation that Irish society has undergone in recent times. This is a story about falling in love and proving it to the government.

PHOTOS

VIDEOS

Video: Adam Liberman / DESIGN, EDITING; Lance Watts / VIDEOGRAPHER

CAST

Sara Hennessy* / SONYA
Amy Katrina Bryan / AS HERSELF (THE STAGE MANAGER)

CREATIVE TEAM

Gemma Whelan~ / DIRECTOR
Trevor Sargent / SCENIC DESIGN, LIGHTING DESIGN
Summer Olsson / COSTUME DESIGN
Phil Johnson / SOUND DESIGN
Chanell Magee / PROPS DESIGN
Amy Katrina Bryan / STAGE MANAGER

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract.

~ The Director is a member of the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union.