Csilla Bertha, University of Debrecen, Hungary Dawn Duncan, Concordia College-Moorhead, USAJoan FitzPatrick Dean, University of Missouri-Kansas City, USA Nicholas Grene, Trinity College Dublin, IrelandPeter James Harris, State University of São Paulo, BrazilEamonn Jordan, University College Dublin, IrelandMária Kurdi, University of Pécs, Hungary José Lanters, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA Helen Heusner Lojek, Boise State University, USAPatrick Lonergan, National University of Ireland-Galway, IrelandDonald E. Morse, University of Debrecen, Hungary Christopher Murray, University College-Dublin, IrelandOnd?ej Pilný, Charles University, Czech Republic Clare Wallace, Charles University, Czech RepublicStephen Watt, Indiana University, Bloomington, USAEricWeitz, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

• Introduction: The Irish Theater in Transition; Donald E Morse PART I: FOUNDATIONS AND REFOUNDATIONS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 1. The Irish Theatre: The First Hundred Years 1897-1997; Christopher Murray PART II: ENGAGING WITH A CHANGING REALITY 2. Black Hole Experiences: Moochers, Smoochers, Dig Outs and the Parables and Spasms of Time in Conor McPherson's The Night Alive; Eamonn Jordan 3. Queer Creatures, Queer Places: Otherness and Normativity in Irish Drama from Synge to Friel; José Lanters 4. Troubled Relations of Gender and Generation in Celtic Tiger Drama: Stella Feehily's Duck and O Go My Man; Mária Kurdi 5. 'The Politics of Aging': Frank McGuinness's The Hanging Gardens; Donald E Morse PART III: ENHANCED THEATRICALITY 6. The Play within the Play in Select Contemporary Irish Plays; Csilla Bertha 7. When the Mirror Laughs: Face to Face with Three Irish Stage Worlds; Eric Weitz 8. Then Like Gigli, Now Like Bette: The Grotesque and the Sublime in Mark O'Rowe's Terminus; Ond?ej Pilný PART IV: REFRAIMING TRANSITION 9. Shakespearean Productions at the Abbey Theatre: 1970-1985; Patrick Lonergan 10. Snapshots: A Year in the Life of a Theatre Judge; Nicholas Grene 11. The Irish Play on the London Stage: An Overview from Independence to the Present; Peter James Harris PART V: INVENTIVENESS AND EXPANDING THE STAGE 12. The Diverse Dramatic Contributions of Frank McGuinness; Helen Heuser Lojek 13. Pat Kinevane's Forgotten and Silent: Universalizing the Abject; Joan FitzPatrick Dean 14. Writing for 'the real national theatre' – Stewart Parker's Plays for Television; Clare Wallace 15. Playing with Minds: Beckett on Film; Dawn Duncan PART VI: ON THE RE-FOUNDATION OF THE IRISH THEATRE 16. Sam Shepard, Irish Playwright; Stephen Watt Further Reading Notes on Contributors Index