Magda

“Magdalene” laundries dotted the Irish landscape since 1765. These commercial washing businesses were operated by nuns, who made “fallen women” — prostitutes, flirts, orphans, single mothers, and even the disabled — spend their days (and nights) scrubbing linens in order to “wash away their sins.” In 1993, a mass grave containing 155 corpses was unearthed on the grounds of a Madgalene laundry, leading to a media frenzy and an official state apology in 2013. The discovery also led Erin Layton to write a one-woman play set inside the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry in Dublin. Magdalen, which stars Layton, will be presented twice this week at the New York Irish Center as part of a jam-packed week of entertainment. An additional photos and more information follows.

NaFiorghael

On February 20th, the Irish Center will screen one movie and short. Run & Jump is about a headstrong Irish housewife whose life transforms in ways she never thought possible after her husband suffers a life-altering stroke and an American doctor arrives to chronicle the family’s recovery process. Only nine minutes long, Na Fiorghael tells the story of three clients at a psychologist’s office who grow suspicious of the receptionist’s phone conversations with her friend Loretta because she appears to be insulting them in Gaelic, a language they don’t understand. They try to comprehend, leading to a funny twist at the end.

Theater details: Magdalen, New York Irish Center, 10-40 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, February 17th and February 18th, $17/$12 for seniors, students, and the unemployed8 pm.

Film details: Run & Jump and Na Fiorghael, New York Irish Center, February 20th, 7:30 pm, $11/$8 for students, seniors, and unemployed.

Top photo: Magdalen The Play; bottom photo: New York Irish Center


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