Solas Nua & Dublin Fringe New Voices Award Winner
Anthem for Dissatisfaction
By Gina Donnelly
produced in association with Theater Alliance
WHEN: February 1st, 2025 at 2pm
WHERE: Theater Alliance (340 Maple Dr SW, Washington, DC 20024)
**less than 1 block from Waterfront Metro Station**
PRICE: FREE, but registration is required. Donations welcome.
Solas Nua’s crowd-favorite play reading series returns with a bang to open our 20th anniversary season. Join us on St Brigid’s Day to celebrate this emerging female artist and the winner of the Dublin Fringe and Solas Nua New Voices Award.
Gina Donnelly’s award winning play, Anthem for Dissatisfaction, is a rock-n-roll fueled trip through economic hard times in Northern Ireland. United by their love of music, two siblings keep off their working class blues with the upbeat, undeniable soul of their favorite rock albums. But music only gets you so far when the rent is due and the family receives some surprising news.
A euphoric, working-class celebration of the power of live music, sibling rivalry and love in this electric and hilarious coming-of-age anthem for anyone who ever wanted more.
Anthem For Dissatisfaction was originally commissioned by Brassneck Theatre Company through Arts Council Northern Ireland and produced by Brassneck Theatre Company and SkelpieLimmer Productions.
Gina Donnelly (playwright) is a multi-award-winning playwright, producer, director and stage manager. Her Writer/Director credits include the internationally acclaimed ‘Two Fingers Up’- co-written with Seón Simpson, and Solas Nua Award Winner ‘Anthem For Dissatisfaction’. Further writing credits include ‘Love Is Mortifying’ for BBC Sounds Shortworks, ‘Maybe If We’d Stayed Angry’ for Origins First Irish Festival New York and ‘Tea’, a piece on the trauma of travelling for abortions in the promenade production Now For The North. She is one half of SkelpieLimmer Productions with Seón Simpson, who are recognised internationally for work that deals with serious issues in a non-serious manner. SkelpieLimmer’s work has been toured internationally across Ireland, the UK and Australia, and continues to amplify work which challenges international perspectives of Northern Ireland.
Joy Nesbitt (director) is a director, writer, and musician originally from Dallas, Texas, and has worked in Ireland for multiple years. Joy is inspired by stories of Black Femininity and postcolonial imagination. She has been named on The Irish Times and Sunday Times' lists of "Ones to Watch in 2024." In 2022, Joy attended the Theatre Directing MFA at The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Arts. She is a 2021 recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts for the sum of her artistic activities at Harvard University. She has been nominated for the Fishamble New Writing Award, Solas Nua New Voices Award, and the Radical Spirit Award. Joy has been a Director SEED for Rough Magic Theatre Company, a Writer under the mentorship of Enda Walsh for Theatre For One with Landmark Productions, and a member of the 2023 cohort of the Rachel Baptiste Programme at Smock Alley Theatre.
