November sees the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of John F Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States.
Down Arts Centre are pleased to welcome Centre Stage Theatre Company to mark the occasion with their new production, Kennedy’s Children, on Saturday 23 November at 8pm.
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Kennedy’s Children – a bar room scene in the 70’s in America as five men people come to terms with the realities of their day.[/caption]
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was one of the most charismatic figures of the twentieth century. His vision and energy inspired the American people to put a man on the moon, to improve the world with the Peace Corps, and to fight the injustices of racial prejudice.
On one November day in 1963, an assassin’s bullet shattered the dreams and aspirations of a nation. Premiered at Clark Centre, New York City, Kennedy’s Children, written by Robert Patrick, received its London Premiere in 1974. An immediate hit, it transferred to the West End and then around the world.
Set in a Lower East Side bar in New York on Valentine’s Day in the mid-seventies, five disparate characters, survivors of the promise of the Kennedy years, drink alone. As their dreams dissolve, this disparate group of grown-up children of the sixties remember their more hopeful days. A frustrated model, a flamboyant actor and a psychotic drug-addicted Vietnam veteran are some of those wading through a swamp of violence, greed and crooked politics to retrace their chaotic lives.
When the dream of the promise of the Kennedy years turns into a nightmare, what becomes of Kennedy’s Children?
Attention All Budding Poets
On Sunday 24 November at 2.30pm, Down Arts Centre is inviting budding writers, readers and singers to join us in celebrating the written word in all its forms at our popular event, Poems on a Sunday Afternoon. We are delighted that local singer-wongwriter Brigid O’Neill will be our featured performer and will share some of her new songs with those gathered. Brigid is no stranger to Down Arts Centre having performed her hugely popular show, ‘Doris Day – Movies and Music’, and a recent concert of her own songs at DAC, to great acclaim.
Offering a friendly space to read, we hope that as before, those gathered will join in by sharing a piece of their own work, or perhaps a favourite poem. Please join us for what we know will be an entertaining and inspiring afternoon of words, music and a friendly space to perform your own work.
To purchase tickets (Kennedy’s Children, £10 / £8. Poems on a Sunday Afternoon, free) and for further information on any Down Arts Centre events, please contact the box office on 028 4461 0747.
The complete Down Arts Centre Season Programme is available to download at:
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