Fri 10/2-Sun 10/18
Ensemble Theatre kicks off its 2026-27 season, its 47th, this weekend, with the first of its plays presented under the theme “Stories We Inherit. Choices We Make.”
That first play is the regional premiere of English playwright Jez Butterworth’s Tony-winning play 2017 play The Ferryman. It’s set in Ireland during the so-called “Troubles,” when British-affiliated Northern Ireland was battling the Irish Republican Army in independent Ireland, tearing friends and families apart. It’s set in 1981 when a former IRA operative has retired from fighting and settled down with family in a farmhouse in Northern Ireland — until the past returns to haunt him.
“What unfolds is a sweeping, mythic collision of family, secrets, and violence that reaches all the way back through Irish history and folklore,” says the synopsis.
Ian Wolfgang Hinz & Rebecca Moseley co-direct the sweeping play, with help from assistant director Claudia Lief Zalevsky. Why so many directors? The cast features nearly two dozen outstanding local actors in the cast!
The Ferryman runs Fridays and Saturdays @ 7:30pm and Sundays @ 2pm from October 2-18, at John Carroll University’s Marinello Little Theatre. Go HERE for tickets.
ensembletheatrecle.org/ferryman