ERIN LAYTON COMMENTING on ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS

As Artists Without Walls celebrates its fourth anniversary this month, we’ve asked members to share a few thoughts about their experience with the group. Here’s what actor and playwright Erin Layton wrote:

 

—–

.

Erin Layton
Erin Layton

“April 2015. New York City: I need to raise $15K to bring my one-woman play to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. This feels insurmountable. I have a few ideas aside from crowd-funding in order to raise what I perceive as a struggling artist to be above and beyond any appropriate ask for a solo show. One of my ideas is to throw a benefit. I write an email to Charles Hale, co-founder of Artists Without Walls in a panic and suggest that maybe somehow could I possibly ask for Charles and Niamh to assist me with potentially putting on this benefit and kindly pool interest from the AWoW community… I’m sweating:

 

“Sure, Erin. What are you thinking?” Charles writes back.

 

Loyalty. This is word that most prominently comes to mind when I think of AWoW. No other community and its founders that I’ve ever encountered in my eleven year track as a struggling city theatre artist, have so championed, so supported, so stood behind and held up as a presence of strength, warmth, humility and perseverance as AWoW. I am honored to stand as one among a line of artists – musicians, poets, writers, singers, solo performers, dancers – who truly represent the cream of the crop. Bravo, Charles and Niamh. And thank you for making all of us feel like heroes.”

 

—-

 

Erin Layton, originally from St. Louis, MO,  is a writer and sole performer of a one woman play, MAGDALEN about the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland.  MAGDALEN premiered at the New York City International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC) in August 2012 and was listed as top FringeNYC reviewer pic in nytheatre.com’s Indie Theater Now.  MAGDALEN was also the recipient of the Best Documentary Script from The 2013 United Solo Festival. This past summer Erin’s performance of MAGDALEN received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe: “The highest level of performance” – The Public Reviews and “A well crafted, sympathetic piece of theatre” – The Scotsman. 

 

 

ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS: MEMBERS ON THE TOWN the WEEK of 2/22/15

Brona Crehan
Brona Crehan

Ever wonder what your life would be like if you’d made one different choice? An unplanned pregnancy sets off a chain of events in the lives of three people in Pillow on the Stairs. What follows creates a web of secrets and denials that binds this trio of ordinary, flawed individuals together for a lifetime. Every decision has lasting consequences in this intimate story about love, loyalty, betrayal, and trust.

 

Brona Crehan’s Pillow on the Stairs runs from February 25 – 28 at The Cell – Wednesday – Friday at 7pm with an additional performance on Feb 28 at 7pm. Tickets are $30.00.  Click here for tickets.

 

 

Honor Finnegan
Honor Finnegan

 

Honor Finnegan with Aviv Roth on guitar – Sunday, February 22nd, 4:00 pm.  Empty Nest House Concerts. Private residence, Maplewood, NJ.  Price: $20 suggested donation.  RSVP to: emptynestconcerts@hotmail.com

 

 

Erin Layton
Erin Layton

 

 

 

Erin Layton’s one-woman show “MAGDALEN will be presented by the Irish Studies Dept. of Hofstra University on Wednesday, February 25 at 7:30PM at The Spiegel Theatre on campus. Free Admission! Click here for directions to the Spiegel Theatre at Hofstra.

 

Richard Stillman
Richard Stillman

 

 

Richard Stillman will be presenting his “Italian Carnevale Show ” on Sat. Feb. 28th at 1 pm at the Kip Center. The show combines Italian & Italian American songs sung and played on the mandolin, guitar, bagpipes & concertina with storytelling and tap dancing. The Kip Center is located at 55 Kip Ave. Rutherford, NJ. For information call 201 460 1600.

 

 

UPCOMING ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' EVENTS

 

Sasha Papernik
Sasha Papernik

Pianist/singer/ composer Sasha Papernik is getting married Saturday Aug 23 in North Carolina to fellow musician Justin Poindexter. Performing the service will be legendary composer/jazz musician David Amram. A “bluegrass wedding” in the Blue Ridge Mountains is planned with AWoW members Annette Homann and Tara O’Grady in attendance. Congratulations Sasha and Justin.  

 

Renata Hinrichs
Renata Hinrichs

 

 

Artists Without Walls Showcase at The Cell Theatre, 338 W 23rd St., NYC. Tuesday, August 26th, 7pm. With Renata Hinrichs, Warren Malone, Honor Finnegan and more.  

 

 

 

Erin Layton
Erin Layton

And down the road a bit.  MAGDALEN, written and performed by AWoW member Erin Layton, will be presented by the 2014 United Solo Theatre Festival.  Venue: Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street.  Date and Time: Friday, October 3 at 6PM.  Tickets: $18; Click here to purchase tickets. Click on “Find Tickets” and go to  Friday, October 3rd at 6PM ONLY or call (212) 239-6200. Ask for tickets for United Solo show MAGDALEN.

 

 

 

 

MAGDALEN WRITER/PERFORMER ERIN LAYTON on the LATEST MASS GRAVE DISCOVERIES in IRELAND

05

Artist Without Walls’ member Erin Layton has written and performs in the award-winning one person play, MAGDALEN, a multi-character drama about the women and girls who were sent to “wash away their sins” in commercial laundries run by nuns in twentieth century Ireland. We asked Erin to comment on the recently discovered unmarked graves of babies and children in Tuam, Ireland

 

———-

 

In 1993, the bodies of 155 women who had died in a commercial laundry in Dublin, Ireland were exhumed from unmarked graves. I stumbled upon an article about this gruesome discovery in the initial stages of research for my play in 2010. One day, over lunch with an accomplished playwright friend, I told him what I was intending to write about but didn’t know where to start. Then I told him about the mass graves of unidentified women. 

 

“Are you serious?” He said. “That’s the event. That’s your play.” 

 

And the first draft was written. 

 

IMG_0043When I read the recent news about the mass graves of 800 children found in County Galway on the grounds of a Home for unwed mothers, I wasn’t shocked. If the Catholic Church could justify the unjustifiable act of casually discarding the Laundry workers into unmarked graves, surely they would do the same to the weaker, more vulnerable class – their children. And there are more – hundreds if not thousands more stories like these in Ireland that have not hit international press. This is not an isolated incident.

 

 

As the playwright and performer of MAGDALEN, I never want to be perceived as capitalizing upon some major international news headline. I wrote my play because my heart is and continues to be drawn to the lives of the thousands of girls and women who perished inside the Laundry walls – and many who survived and are alive today. They are the reason I am so deeply committed to telling this story. My play is for them and now, it is also for their children. 

 

———-

 
th-66On Thursday evening, October 2 at 7:30PM. Erin’s MAGDALEN will be presented through the United Solo Festival, the world’s largest solo theatre festival at Theatre Row: 410 West 42nd Street, New York City. Tickets are available at the Theatre Row Box Office and online through Telecharge at www.telecharge.com. You may also call Telecharge at 212-239-6200. When placing your reservation, please provide: the FESTIVAL name (United Solo Theatre Festival), the name of the THEATRE (Theatre Row – The Studio Theatre), and the specific DATE/TIME and SHOW (October 2, 7:30PM, MAGDALEN).

 

Erin is an incredibly  talented artist. We highly recommend this compelling, topical show.  

 

SPOTLIGHT ON ACTRESS ERIN LAYTON


th-66
Who is Erin Layton?

 

I’m a St. Louis, MO native and proud of my Midwestern roots. I attended elementary, high school and college within a ten mile radius of my family’s suburban home so I’m a true St. Louis county girl, born and bred.

 

The artist, Erin was a wildly imaginative and terribly shy kid content with a box of crayons and yards of blank computer paper. My mom still has stacks of drawings from my early days in a high chair. I was the visual artist of the family and my sister was the actress. I would often do impersonations of Saturday Night Live characters for my family’s amusement but never considered myself a performer much less talented – impersonations came so naturally to me. In my sophomore year of high school, my drama teacher insisted that I audition for the spring musical and though I couldn’t hit a note to save my life, I won her over with my audition for the part of the old mother, Mammy Yokum in Lil’ Abner. She literally shook me and with eyes brim-full of tears told me that I was a natural born MAG_2013 SC Fringeactress. I was cast as the lead (non-singing) roles in every high school play and musical up through graduation. I loved the theatre – taking on the different characters, accents, costumes, never having to play myself. I felt so completely natural and comfortable on stage. The summer before I went to art school I was cast in my first professional theatre gig with the St. Louis Shakespeare Company and received a glowing review from the big St. Louis theatre critic at the time. I was on cloud 9. In the fall, I pursued my BFA in Painting but art school was a blur. I grew quickly bored of the culture – the drugs, drinking, hours alone in a damp studio silently chipping away at concepts that seemed too epic to communicate on the 2-dimensional plane. I learned a ton about my artistic impulses but ached to apply those to the stage. Once I graduated, I threw myself into auditions again and was immediately cast in a tiny Jane Martin two-hander called The Boy Who Ate The Moon, as part of a ten-minute short play festival. My scene partner and I were the talk of the festival. I was hooked for good.

 

Layton_Erin_128-FPYears later, I devised a new play with an ensemble of actors and writers that introduced me to the Suzuki/Viewpoints methods which altered the course of my life for the positive. It was with them that I discovered my true calling and within a year packed my bags, New York City bound, to study with the Suzuki/Viewpoints founders, namely Anne Bogart and her SITI Company. The SITI Company training and community was foundational and mind blowing.

  

I’ve been swept under by the expectations that every New York City actor faces about the kind of work you “should be” pursuing – the kind of career you “should be” chasing but have recently emerged realizing that I truly enjoy the challenge and sheer delight of writing and performing for myself. I’ve shared the room with some of the most incredible directors, actors, devisers and writers and hope to continue doing so but it wasn’t until I grabbed the helm and created my own work that the moving and shaking really started happening for me – not them.


DSC_0423-1What are you working on at the moment? 

 

I am presently working on a tour of my one person play, MAGDALEN about Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries in the early twentieth century. I’ve been performing it in NYC for the last couple of years and toured it to a festival in CA last year but am mining Irish communities in New York State who will appreciate its message and want to showcase it as a full production. I’m working with another solo artist on the possibility of double billing our plays as a tour to theatres in rural Ireland next year. I’m also writing a new solo play about my Midwest roots and enjoy sinking into the writing process again, especially exploring some of these old family ghosts.


Do you have upcoming events you’d like people to attend? 

 

The next big event is a performance of MAGDALEN on Thursday, October 2 off-broadway at Theatre Row as part of the United Solo Theatre Festival ENCORE series. I hope to book a few more performances this summer though!

 

SC Fringepic_2013Who are the actors/writers / playwrights, past and present, you admire?

 

 Playwrights: Marina Carr, Brian Friel, Tennessee Williams, Brecht, Beckett, Ibsen, Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov; Actor/Writers: Pat Kinevane, Anna Deveare Smith, Louis CK, Spalding Gray.


Who is your greatest inspiration and why?

 

I’m daily inspired by people – even someone that stands up on a crowded train to offer another person their seat inspires me but in my theatre work, director Anne Bogart is my hero. I’m inspired by Anne’s adaptability as a leader, a thinker, deviser and storyteller. She’s incredibly humble and brave and commands a room like nothing I’ve ever experienced. And with all of Anne’s success, she’s still such an approachable person. I’m sure she has dark days like the rest of us but I truly respect her and strive to grow into my career with the same level of sophistication and grace that she has.

 

05Name five things you’d like to do or accomplish in the next five years.

 

Write a full length play that is not intended to be performed by me. Become an international solo performing artist. Buy a home. Win a really big award for something that I’ve created. Get an MFA.

 

If you could dream of trying something in the arts you haven’t tried, but would like to, what would it be?

 

I love dance, especially original movement. There’s a hip hop dancer named Storyboard Professoar or Storyboard P who I absolutely adore. He trained in classical ballet so he’s strong and fluid but when he moves, he levitates – like a dream. He’s fascinating to watch with a body full of narrative. I’d like to dance like him. I also dream of being a member of Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal Ensemble.

 

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

 

Hours of uninterrupted downtime to daydream, read, cook and hang with close friends.

 

ARTIST WITHOUT WALLS' SHOWCASE WRAP UP, MARCH 5, 2014

“What an honor to perform for Artists Without Walls – truly. The audience – everyone was so warm and welcoming.” Actress and playwright, Erin Layton

 

Connie Roberts
Connie Roberts

Connie Roberts began the evening with a reading of two poems from her Patrick Kavanagh Award winning poetry collection, Not the Delft School.  The first poem, The “Potato Picker,” which draws its inspiration from Jean Francois Millet’s iconic painting “The Gleaners,” depicts the stoicism of a poor farmer (her father) in 1970s Ireland, who continues to pick potatoes as the TV rental man repossesses the unpaid black and white television.  Her second poem, “Wounds,” is a darker portrait of her father, a violent alcoholic, who perpetrates a heinous act against her mother.

 

 

Honor Finnegan followed, Connie, belting out a soulful, “Down So Long” by Bobby Darin. She also sang a piece of her own called “Swimming,” which, as Honor said, “Is Irishy and therefore tragic and beautiful.” The perfect “Honorism.” 

 

 

 

Erin Layton
Erin Layton

Playwright/performer Erin Layton performed a riveting and emotional scene from her award-winning one person, multi-character drama, MAGDALEN based upon the true stories of the women and children who labored in Irish Catholic workhouses operated by nuns in the mid-twentieth century. Erin seamlessly embodied and transitioned between four of the eight characters in her solo play, introducing us to a pair of nuns and two of the child laborers one of whom is severely crippled and cannot manage the labors demanded of her.  

 

 

 

Karl Scully
Karl Scully

 

Karl Scully, former member of the Irish Tenors, who has performed in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and hundred of venues internationally, wowed the audience with two songs.  The first song “McBreens Heifer” was written by Percy French, the second “Knocknashee” a modern day Sean Nos creation written by Brendan Graham and Neil Martin. 

 

 

 

The Catahoula Cajun Band
The Catahoula Cajun Band

The Catahoula Cajun Band, with Julie Winterbottom on accordion, fiddler Deborah Monlux, Frank Luschinsky on bass and vocalist and guitarist Michel Henry provided the entertainment during intermission.  The group performed Allons a Lafayette, Lacassine Special and more. The root and spirit of their music stems from Cajuns whom played at home gatherings, clearing out all the furniture and bringing in musicians who would play until early in the morning in celebration of life, or “la joie de vivre.” The music was uplifting and spirited and a had a few of the audience “clearing out the furniture” and dancing across the floor. 

 

 

Jack O'Connell and Joseph Goodrich
Jack O’Connell and Joseph Goodrich

The second half of the evening began with the opening pages of Joseph Goodrich’s short story “The Ghost of Brooklyn Past,” which was expertly read by Jack O’Connell. Jack found all the warmth and pathos of Goodrich’s story and proved once again what a superlative actor he is.

 

 

– 

Bernard Smith closed out the evening with an original song called “Sandy” named for  devastating 2012 storm.  In one short day (the day after the storm) Bernard woke up displaced as well as losing his car to the salty sea. All over the Rockaway

Bernard Smith
Bernard Smith

Peninsula and Long Beach he saw devastation and thus he was inspired to write a song about it, bearing witness to what he’d lived through. The second song he sang was “The May Morning Dew,” a story about the Irish diaspora. The song is a lament from a man in the winter of his life, remembering vividly the old homestead, a place and a people he will never see again. 

 

The next Artists Without Walls’ Showcase will be at The Cell Theatre, 338 W 23rd St., March 26, 7pm. For more info about Artists Without Walls and becoming a member contact info@artistswithoutwalls.com