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Dublin theater to feature world premiere of 'Moby Dick's Gone Missing'

The production is a fictitious tale set around the filming of the 1956 John Huston film "Moby Dick," which took place in Cooney's hometown in Ireland.

DUBLIN, Ohio — A whale of a tale is set to take the stage in Dublin as Original Productions Theatre partners with the Abbey Theater of Dublin for the world premiere of "Moby Dick's Gone Missing."

"This production of 'Moby Dick's Gone Missing' is the world premiere production and we couldn't be happier to be having that here on the Abbey Theater stage," said Joe Bishara, theater supervisor at the Abbey Theater as well as the co-director of the piece.

The new work was written by Irish-American playwright Sean Cooney. It is a fictitious tale set around the filming of the 1956 John Huston film "Moby Dick," which took place in Cooney's hometown of Youghal in Ireland.

"Sean was a young man when they were filming 'Moby Dick' and there were all kinds of legends about the prop whale," explained Bishara. "One of the legends is that they lost two of the whales out at sea. So, Sean's taken that lore and turned it on its head."

As Cooney weaves the tale, the local fishermen take it upon themselves to steal the whale in hopes of chasing the Hollywood film crew out of town in order to get back to the way life was before and to save their livelihoods.

"One of the things that the Abbey has focused on since I arrived here," said Bishara, "is shining a light on new works."

That's why, when the opportunity to bring an Irish playwright's work to life in Dublin, Bishara found he was unable to pass it by. 

Similarly, when Cooney insisted that Bishara not only serve as co-director of the production but also take on the double duty of playing Gregory-Peck-playing-Captain-Ahab on stage, he couldn't say no. Subsequently, Bishara is grateful for the opportunity to share the stage with so many of the central Ohio actors that he has had the privilege of directing over the years.

"Something that I hold near and dear to me is having this space be an incubation space for new works and also working with locally-based artists," explained Bishara.

"Moby Dick's Gone Missing" runs Oct. 5 - Oct. 15 at the Abbey Theater in Dublin.

For more information, visit their website here.

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