The Origin 1st Irish festival is to unveil an advance screening of a documentary which focuses on former US Senator, George Mitchell’s pivotal role in the Northern Ireland peace process.

Produced by Below the Rador “George Mitchell: Journey’s End,” is a documentary about Senator George Mitchell’s return to Northern Ireland to assess how life has changed since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.  They meet with families who have a child born on the same day as Andrew, as they compare lives.

Mitchell, whose mediation efforts as envoy of the United States were instrumental in reaching this accord, was accompanied by his 14-year-old son, making this trip a highly personal one.
Presented by the Northern Ireland Bureau, the NY sneak-peak screening will be followed by a Q&A with Senator Mitchell and National Book Award winner Colum McCann, moderated by Loretta Brennan Glucksman. The event is free.

The screening takes place on Monday September 23, at 7pm, at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts,  Bruno Walter Auditorium , 111 Amsterdam Avenue at 64th Street.

On Friday September 20 at 8pm, Origin’s 1st Irish hosts one of several music events, this one at Arlene’s Grocery, where audiences can relish some of Ireland’s greatest acoustic singers, performing on one stage together for the first time. Featuring Mary Courtney, Ashley Davis, Gareth Dunlop, Allen Gogartry, John Gribbin, and John Munnelly this rogue’s gallery of leading folk and contemporary musicians will gleefully catapult us through the ages, past today and into the future. $20 is the music charge for this event at Arlene’s Grocery, 95 Stanton Street, in the Lower East Side.

On Sunday September 22 the Irish Arts Center takes us on “The Walk of the Town Walking Tour.  Led by the theatre artist and writer Lauren Ferebee, the tour follows in the footsteps of New Yorker writer Maeve Brennan (the alleged muse of Capote’s Holly Golightly), visiting the Greenwich Village landmarks and haunts that inspired Brennan’s “Talk of the Town” pieces and famed short stories.  The tour is staged as a foretaste of the Irish Arts Center’s upcoming US premiere of The Abbey Theatre’s production of “Maeve’s House,” by and starring Eamon Morrissey, which begins on October 17.  Morrissey is well-known to Irish audiences for his role for many years on the popular television series Fair City.  The first such outing this past Sunday, sold out quickly, so quick action for this Sunday is recommended. 2pm start time, $16.

Origin’s 1st Irish, the only festival of its kind to focus exclusively on the work of new Irish playwrights, is the city’s only all-Irish theatre festival.