The Irish Classical Theatre Company (ICTC) concludes its 2025-2026 Season with the North American Premiere of Girl on an Altar by Marina Carr, running June 12 through June 28, 2026.
A reimagining of the ancient Greek story of The Oresteia, Girl on an Altar centers on a family shattered by a devastating act of sacrifice and the cycle of grief, revenge, and reconciliation that follows. Carr’s adaptation brings a contemporary voice to one of the Western world’s oldest stories, exploring timeless questions of love, loss, power, and justice.
Keelie Sheridan, ICTC’s Artistic Director and the actor portraying Clytemnestra, believes Buffalo audiences will connect deeply with Carr’s work and sees producing its North American premiere as a reflection of ICTC’s commitment to bringing bold international voices to Buffalo stages.
“Marina Carr’s work engages deeply with the classical canon, often weaving ancient mythologies and Irish folklore together,” she said. “Our audiences would most recently have seen her earlier piece, The Mai, at ICTC. Her writing is lyrical, visceral, muscular, and delicate at the same time, and I think that’s why she’s so successful in taking these huge epic stories and telling them through real human mouthpieces.”
Director Anderson Carr has collaborated with Sheridan for over a decade, since their time together in the directing program at the Lir Academy of Trinity College Dublin. When Sheridan invited him to direct the North American premiere of Carr’s play at ICTC, he eagerly accepted the opportunity to reunite with a longtime artistic collaborator.
This is not a literary translation of a classical Greek myth, but rather, an adaptation of the soul of an ancient story that connects us across time to a shared human experience, there are no shortcuts or safety nets here. It is a daunting piece of raw, intimate theatre that asks for unwavering courage from every artist involved.”
Carr believes audiences need no prior knowledge of Greek mythology to connect with the story. “Audiences don’t need to know the myths of Clytemnestra or the Oresteia to understand this play. They only need to be acquainted with their own experience of grief. The piece literally invites the audience into the world of this story by addressing it directly to them. The characters break the fourth wall and wrestle the narrative from one another as they fight for the audience’s attention, their sympathy, their absolution, and their action. Tragedy, in this piece, isn’t academic. It’s personal. It’s relatable.”
Taking on the role of Clytemnestra is a challenge Sheridan has long wanted to embrace. “The impossibility of Clytemnestra’s situation has gripped me since I first read Aeschylus’ The Oresteia. What is she supposed to do? How is she supposed to move forward in her life when its foundation has ruptured so seismically? What does it mean to truly forgive someone?” she said, adding, “Acting is an exchange with the audience, and I feel very proud to be able to offer a bit of myself in this play, and to receive the audience in return in ICTC’s beautifully intimate space. I feel so lucky to be able to hold this character’s power, pain, vulnerability, and grit.”
For Sheridan, the enduring appeal of these ancient characters lies in this “grit,” the determination to persevere through unimaginable hardship, a quality she sees reflected in Buffalo itself. ‘I think Buffalo’s audiences will appreciate the resilience of these characters; their willingness to continue to fight after being knocked down over and over again, their comebacks from insurmountable losses. These characters are deeply flawed, but how could they be otherwise? The world they inhabit, like the world we inhabit, is treacherous and complicated but also beautiful. They celebrate their wins, and let their losses drive them forward, and that tenacity feels very Buffalo to me.”
ICTC’s Speaker Series will host Director Anderson Carr and Scenic and Costume Designer Valentin Peter Eisele on Sunday, June 14. The pair will discuss their creative process and how they bring the epic scale of Girl on an Altar to life within ICTC’s intimate theatre-in-the-round.
Girl on an Altar opens Friday, June 12, and runs through Sunday, June 28, 2026. Tickets and more information are available here.
