Irish Arts Center

This is a funky little space with a range of small plays, concerts, and both spoken and sung cabarets that are quirky, smart and high-​caliber. They’re also superbly literate.
Among my recent great experiences: a one-​man radical retelling of «Beowulf» that took the shape of a dad using «Star Wars» to explain the story to his young son; «Swing,» a fun spoof of social dancing classes with dead aim on stereotypical students; and a mesmerizing night with the Irish chanteuse Camille O’Sullivan, who interpreted Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Kurt Weill and Leonard Cohen to their great advantage, backed by a fabulous band.
The prices here are very reasonable for what you get, too. Rarely does a ticket top $ 30 and there’s a pleasant little bar for the customary (this is Irish, after all) $ 6 beer or wine.

We saw a wonderful show here today, «ModERIN: The 15^th Anniversary Season of Darrah Carr Dance. This is Contemporary Irish Dance Works. We saw the family show this Saturday morning. This is our second time visiting the Irish Arts Center for a performance. This is classic old school theatre in NYC — the audience is very small and very connected to the performers. We loved being able to see their faces from the last row — there are only 11 or so rows. Along with every one else, though, we wish we could see their footwork from the back rows. The stage is low. So, unless you are in the first five rows, Darrah Carr dancers make up for this with their stellar abilities and the stunning and creative choreography. Some of which includes amazing use of boxes to dance upon so that even those of us in the last rows can see the amazing footwork. I highly recommend this Center for the Irish Arts which actually spans into modern genre and multiculturalism. And I believe everyone should make a point to see the stunning choreography of Darrah Carr Dance. We love this Arts Center. We loved this performance! This is as good as it gets! And you can get Guinness in the little lobby bar. Cheers!!!

Kiss me I’m Irish! My mom came to visit me in the city for Christmas and while I was building up our itinerary I came across the Christmas concert help here at the arts center.
I hadn’t heard anything so I wasn’t expecting much. The center is small and the seats don’t offer great views of everyone on stage. Everything is a little worn but I think it adds to the charm, it felt intimate and cozy. The performers were amazing and I flip flopped between laughing and crying the whole night. It turned out to be the part of her trip we couldn’t stop gushing about.

Performed here a few times. The stage is quite small. There was a terrible leak during a snowstorm one year, but they fixed that in time for the performance. The staff is very nice and personable. Overall good experience here.

This place is really quaint and cute.
I went here recently for date night and we saw a really awesome Irish inspired play. My date who is Irish never knew this place existed. He smiled ear-​to-​ear through the play, and was quite amused and awed by the picture of old Irish Immigrants on the wall.
If you go there for a play make sure yo use the restroom before the play starts b/​c once it starts it frowned upon to get for any reason.
There is a cash bar just outside the performance space which is cool.
Cheers