The Plough and the Stars #1: Arthur Shields and the 1916 Easter Uprising

Scan of original playbill of The Plough and the Stars

Kitty Curling was a member of the Abbey Theatre company from 1926 to 1933. She was about 19 when she made her debut in a one act comedy called Apartments. According to the theatre's archivist Mairead, it's possible and maybe probable that because of Kitty's age she was a product of the company's acting school.

Her second show solidified her place in theater history. Kitty was cast as Mollser in Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars. The play, which completes O'Casey's Dublin Trilogy takes place in a tenement building between November 1915 and the 1916 Easter Uprising.

Last month I sat down with the Abbey's archivist to talk about Kitty's career and I'm working on putting the audio I recorded of that conversation into a photoslide video for my Aunt Ann.

Blog Party: Women's History Month

One of the three women in this story; Amazing Librarian and I at Ha'Penny Bridge in Dublin.

This experience of mine. The one of discovering my heritage, of knowing, if not yet understanding, where I come from, is due entirely to women. With this being Women's History Month and with My Descendent's Ancestors' "Blog Party" theme being women's history & with this site being new as an unwrapped candy bar, now is a great time to introduce the women of the story.

There are three women in my family who swirl around this story of discovery. Without these women, this story simply doesn't happen.

Let me introduce the heroines of our story: