Publications
- “The Texts of John Huston’s Red Badge of Courage” Adaption and Nostalgia, (submission) 2019
- Inside the Tornado: a Community’s Response to Cataclysm Through Theatre, Editor. Submitted to a university press, (est. publishing date 2015).
- Breaking Boundaries: an Anthology of Original Plays at Focus Theatre, editor Carysfort Press, Dublin Ireland, 2013.
- Stanislavsky in Ireland: Focus at Fifty, co-editor. Carysfort Press, Dublin, Ireland, 2013. (See the video clip below. Read the review on the News & Events page.)
- “Comedy in Long Shot” – book review. Studies in American Humor, Vol. 3, 2012.
- Stage Plays: An Introductory Anthology, editor. Great River Technology, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.
- “Chasing Shadows” – essay. (Stranmillis University College Residence Program, 2009).
- Andrew P. Wilson and the Early Irish and Scottish National Theatres, 1911-1950 – book. The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008.
- “When Satire More than Closed on Saturday Night: Henry Fielding and the Licensing Act of 1737” – essay. Theatre Symposium, 2008.
- “Intensifying the Light: Harold Pinter’s Holocaust Theatre” – essay. Mofa, 2008.
- “Prisoners of the Tree: Lee Blessing’s American Eden” – essay. Prospects 29: An Annual of American Cultural Studies Winter 2005.
- “Historical Invisibility: the Vexatious A.P. Wilson and the Abbey Theatre” – essay. Theatre History Studies June 2003.
- “Joshua Sobol and the Vilna Trilogy,” “Donald Margulies and The Model Apartment,” and “Jon Robin Baitz’ Three Hotels and The Substance of Fire” – chapters. Holocaust Literature: Two Volumes (Routledge 2003).
- “Arthur Miller and Incident at Vichy,” “Harold Pinter and Ashes to Ashes,” and “Tony Kushner and A Bright Room Called Day” – essays. Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature (St. James 2002).
- “The Seagull” – performance review. Theatre Journal, October 2002.
- “Helen Hayes” – biographical essay. The Oxford Companion to United States History (2001).
- “American Buffalo” - performance review. The David Mamet Review, Fall 2000.
- “Imitation of Life: A Meditation on Victim Art” – essay. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, December, 1997.
BREAKING BOUNDERIES
In this book are seven plays, original works, which had their premieres at the Focus Theatre, and which grew out of the history, the artistic aims, and the personalities of the Focus Theatre. There have been many others, too many to cram into an anthology intended as an introduction to the styles and artistic voices that have been and continue to be found in this theatre company, voices such as Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy, Declan Burke- Kennedy, Michael Harding, Elizabeth Moynihan, Brian McAvera, Mike Poblete, and Aiden Harney. Let me explain.
In 1963 the 23-year-old Deirdre O’Connell, child of Irish immigrants to New York City in the United States, became an immigrant herself when she moved to Dublin, determined to bring the ‘new’ theatre of Konstantin Stanislavski to the Irish theatre. She had been a Wunderkind at the Actors’ Studio, which had been co-founded and run by the late Lee Strasberg, who was perhaps the most famous acolyte of Stanislavski in America. Admitted when she was eighteen, Deirdre made her mark very early with her superb acting and singing talents, and within a couple of years was teaching at the studio. From all accounts Deirdre had a bright future ahead of her as an actress, as talented as any of the other young actors making their way to the Studio (as it came to be called) in the late 1950s and 1960s, including Julie Harris, James Dean, Geraldine Page, Rod Steiger, Ben Gazzara, Rip Torn, Lois Wilson, Paul Newman, Dennis Hopper, Jo Van Fleet, Martin Sheen, ... Read more....
In 1963 the 23-year-old Deirdre O’Connell, child of Irish immigrants to New York City in the United States, became an immigrant herself when she moved to Dublin, determined to bring the ‘new’ theatre of Konstantin Stanislavski to the Irish theatre. She had been a Wunderkind at the Actors’ Studio, which had been co-founded and run by the late Lee Strasberg, who was perhaps the most famous acolyte of Stanislavski in America. Admitted when she was eighteen, Deirdre made her mark very early with her superb acting and singing talents, and within a couple of years was teaching at the studio. From all accounts Deirdre had a bright future ahead of her as an actress, as talented as any of the other young actors making their way to the Studio (as it came to be called) in the late 1950s and 1960s, including Julie Harris, James Dean, Geraldine Page, Rod Steiger, Ben Gazzara, Rip Torn, Lois Wilson, Paul Newman, Dennis Hopper, Jo Van Fleet, Martin Sheen, ... Read more....
Stanislavski in Ireland
In 1963 Deirdre O'Connell, an Irish-American actress all of twenty-three years old, came to Dublin to begin a school (the Stanislavski Studio) and acting company (Focus Theatre) based on the principals of Konstantin Stanislavski, whose theories about acting had created a revolution in the theatre world. In 2013 her company, in spite of financial hardships which had sundered many other groups,celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. This book, co-edited by Brian McAvera and Steve Burch, combines historical narrative with interviews with many of the principle players, designers, and directors, and looks at the Deirdre years (1963-2001) and the subsequent life under new artistic director Joe Devlin.
Read the Lineage chapter Alabama Public Radio Book Review (with audio version) - December 23, 2013
Alabama Writers' Forum Book Review - June 19, 2014 |
Andrew P. Wilson and the Early Irish and Scottish
National Theatres, 1911-1950
by Steven Dedalus Burch
Exert from the Introduction
Andrew Patrick “Pat” Wilson [heretofore referred as APW] (1886-1950) was at the forefront of several major movements in Ireland, England and Scotland. He was, for almost forty years (1911-1950), a director and playwright of theatre, film, and radio, and he was also an actor, teacher, producer, critic, political commentator, and visionary. He was the general manager of Ireland’s Abbey Theatre from 1913-1915. He had been an actor with the company since 1911, a member of their second company under the tutelage of Nugent Monck, performing in ten plays, including three he had written (The Cobbler, A Call to Arms, The Slough, all in 1914). He had also directed nineteen plays at the Abbey, including the premier of Lady Gregory’s Shanwalla (1915), as well as directing his own three plays. The third of his original plays, The Slough, was the first full-length Irish play to deal with the urban tenement-dwelling working-class from their perspective (the first such play to be produced at the Abbey) making it an important and influential forerunner to the urban socialist realism of Sean O’Casey’s celebrated Dublin trilogy ten years later..... Continue reading the Introduction.
Read Chapter Seven - Wodehouse Golf Stories on Film
Read review from Theatre Journal, 2009.
Andrew Patrick “Pat” Wilson [heretofore referred as APW] (1886-1950) was at the forefront of several major movements in Ireland, England and Scotland. He was, for almost forty years (1911-1950), a director and playwright of theatre, film, and radio, and he was also an actor, teacher, producer, critic, political commentator, and visionary. He was the general manager of Ireland’s Abbey Theatre from 1913-1915. He had been an actor with the company since 1911, a member of their second company under the tutelage of Nugent Monck, performing in ten plays, including three he had written (The Cobbler, A Call to Arms, The Slough, all in 1914). He had also directed nineteen plays at the Abbey, including the premier of Lady Gregory’s Shanwalla (1915), as well as directing his own three plays. The third of his original plays, The Slough, was the first full-length Irish play to deal with the urban tenement-dwelling working-class from their perspective (the first such play to be produced at the Abbey) making it an important and influential forerunner to the urban socialist realism of Sean O’Casey’s celebrated Dublin trilogy ten years later..... Continue reading the Introduction.
Read Chapter Seven - Wodehouse Golf Stories on Film
Read review from Theatre Journal, 2009.
Images reprinted permission by British Film Institute.
The following are "works in progress"
Is My Verse Alive?
Steve's latest play, Is My Verse Alive? is based on the letters, diaries, poetry, and biographies of Emily Dickinson, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Mabel Loomis Todd and tells the story of Dickinson's and Higginson's epistolary relationship, which began in 1862 when she sent him four poems and asked him "Is my verse alive?" Higginson, an author and ardent abolitionist and feminist, had trouble deciphering her poems' meanings, but he instantly knew that she was a genius. This seventy-minute play explores their relationship and Higginson and Todd's posthumously publishing her poetry for the first time, four years after her death.
Read the full script.
Read the full script.
Inside the Tornado: A COMMUNITY'S RESPONSE TO CATACLYSM THROUGH THEATRE
In January 2012, the first assignment I gave my Playwriting class was for each of them to write a ten-minute play in any style on any subject touching upon the devastating F4 tornado that hit Tuscaloosa on April 27, 2011. There were no limitations on what each student could write except it had to be performed in ten minutes maximum. Michael Carr from Shelton State Community College wanted to produce a theatrical event which could provide some closure for the community. On May 3, 2012 Inside the Tornado was produced and performed at Shelton State in collaboration with the writers and several actors from UA.
I have put together an anthology of these original plays, along with photos from the production, and essays from Michael Carr and myself on the production, and an essay from Dr. Steve Jacobs from Religious Studies at UA on the healing nature of theatre on a community after a cataclysmic disaster. Read the complete Introduction to the book.
Pending publication. Watch for news and updates.
Read the review of the production.
I have put together an anthology of these original plays, along with photos from the production, and essays from Michael Carr and myself on the production, and an essay from Dr. Steve Jacobs from Religious Studies at UA on the healing nature of theatre on a community after a cataclysmic disaster. Read the complete Introduction to the book.
Pending publication. Watch for news and updates.
Read the review of the production.