Past Events 

(2025)​​​​​

                                                            

Thursday, April 24, 6:30 p.m. Readings marking Poetry Month and presentation of the 2025 Yeats Poetry Prizes

by competition January Gill O’Neil. At Barnes & Noble Union Square,33 East 17th Street between Park Avenue South and Fourth Avenue. Free. 

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Saturday, April 26, 10 a.m. -- 4:30 p.m.

“A Taste of the Yeats Summer School”

All-day program evoking the spirit of the school in Ireland (see below). 10:15 “Byzantium and Ireland” Prof. Robert Doggett (SUNY Geneseo) postulates that WBY’s “Sailing to Byzantium,” written when he was a senator in the new Irish Free State, aims to create a “unity of culture” for Ireland. 11:30 “Star to Star: a Musical Duet between Poets” In a recording we hear the words of WBY and his friend and fellow Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, accompanied by music and still photos. 12:15 a light lunch. 1:30 “Quotable Yeats–the Foam and the Deep” Joseph Hassett talks about the many Yeats lines that not only capture a thought suitable for a particular life occasion but also open the door to deeper understanding of his poetry. 2:30 “Wandering Stars” A staged reading of a short play by Joseph Hassett that presents a revealing conversation between WBY and James Joyce. 3:30 Social and Summer School reunion, with wine, refreshments and conversation. At NYU Glucksman Ireland House, 1 Washington Mews, on Fifth Avenue, half block south of 8th Street, just above Washington Square. ​

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Sunday, April 27, 2:00-3:00 pm, NYC

READINGS OF YEATS 'EASTER' PLAYS BY THE ACTORS SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

The public and Yeats fans are invited to attend a rare professional reading of three of WB Yeats’s short plays – Purgatory, Calvary, and Resurrection – performed by the classic theater ensemble, Actors Shakespeare Company. Co-sponsored by the WB Yeats Society of NY, the performance will be held at the Episcopal Actors Guild Hall, located on the grounds of the lovely Church of the Transfiguration (also known as The Little Church Around the Corner) at One East 29th St (midblock between Madison and Fifth Avenues), NYC. The entrance is left of the church. The weather forecast is "sunny/cloudy 54 degrees." With Shakespeare as its creative core, ASC performs classic theater that entertains, inspires, and empowers audiences, students, and artists of all ages and backgrounds.

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​​​​​​Thursday, March 20, 6 p.m. “Two Noble New Yorkers,” an illustrated talk by Andrew McGowan about the painter John Butler Yeats’s time in NYC as an important part of its artistic life until his 1922 death here. And the lawyer John Quinn, who took the old man under his wing, and who was a major manuscript and art collector. He was largely responsible for the historic “Armory Show” of 1913, which introduced European modern art to America. Stories and illustrations include such details as: when Quinn died in 1924, the fate of his holdings was in the hands of a staffer from his firm, a grandfather of the journalist Jimmy Breslin. At the American Irish Historical Society, 991 Fifth Avenue, between 80 and 81 Streets. Reception to follow. Free.

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(2024)

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​​​​​​​Friday, Nov. 22 - Sunday, Nov. 24  Irish Arts Center’s 15th Annual PoetryFest Friday 8 p.m. special guests and festival poets share their favorite Irish verses ($25 includes after party; other events free, but reservations recommended); Saturday 2 p.m. Declan Ryan and Maggie Millner, 3:30 Nuar Alsadir and Fran Lock, 5 p.m. Leontia Flynn and Henri Cole; Sunday 1 p.m. John Kelly and Ishion Hutchinson, 2:30 Shane McCrae and Vona Groarke read poems they would bring to a deserted island, 4 p.m. Shane McCrae and Vona Groarke. 726 11th Avenue at 51st Street. Book tickets at 888-616-0274 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday or at IrishArtsCenter.org/Event/15th-Annual-PoetryFest.

2025.​​​​​

 

Tuesday, November 19, 7 p.m. “The Pot of Broth” The Westbeth Artists Residence Council presents another of their evenings with Yeats, a reading of this one-act comic play with Terence Burk, Beth Griffith, Joel Rooks; presented by Alison Armstrong. At Westbeth Artist Housing community room, 55 Bethune Street. Free.​

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Tuesday, October 29, 7:30 p.m. "Swift & Yeats: in their own words," a short dramatic reading with Joel Rooks as Jonathan Swift, Sean Gormley as William Butler Yeats, and Alison Armstrong as Referee. The two writers, born about 200 years apart in Dublin, scuffle verbally and comically, despite attempts to referee them. Followed by a wine & cheese reception. In the West Village at Westbeth Artist Housing community room, 55 Bethune Street, at the corner of Washington Street. (Wheelchair accessible also through courtyard at 155 Bank Street.) Suggested contribution $10.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Sunday, October 6, 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. – “A Walking Tour of the Yeatses in New York City.” Society president, Andrew McGowan, was our guide. The walk highlighted where WB, his father John Butler Yeats, their patron John Quinn, and the artists John Sloan and Robert Henri, friends of the senior Yeats, stalked the East and West 20s of Manhattan. Stops included the National Arts Club, the 69th Regiment Armory (site of the famous “1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art," more commonly known as “The Armory Show,” which Quinn played a major part in), the NY State Appellate Courthouse in Rose Hill, and Madison Park. ​Along the route, participants viewed related news stories and photos, among which was the rooming house where JBY lived for some 15 years until his death, and where Sloan painted him presiding at dinner in “Yeats at Petitpas.” This free member event was also offered to academics attending the American Conference for Irish Studies over the weekend at Baruch College. The tour ended with a visit to the nearby Oscar Wilde Irish pub and restaurant.​ 

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February 1, 2024: Yeats vs Shaw’s 'John Bull’s Other Island'

FREE program, followed by optional reception ($15, cash or check only, at the door). Arts Alliance of Resident Theatres (A.R.T.)

520 Eighth Ave. (between 36th/37th Sts.), third floor.

 

This joint program with the Gingold Theatrical Group features David Staller, GTC artistic director, who will lead a lively discussion about “John Bull’s Other Island,” one of Shaw's most rollicking comedies and his only 'Irish' play. Yeats commissioned Shaw to write a play to open the Abbey Theatre in 1904, but rejected it, claiming its approach to “The Irish Question” was far too comedic. Shaw then had Harley Granville Parker produce and star in the play at London's Royal Court Theatre, where it was praised for its ironic lampooning of the British Empire and the empire’s failure to address socio-political issues regarding Ireland. At a Royal Command Performance for King Edward VII, he is reported to have laughed so hard he broke his chair. Themes of the play include the struggle for a Free Ireland, colonialism, women's rights, sexuality, class systems, and education. Here’s a link to read it: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3612/3612-h/3612-h.htm. Shaw and Yeats, two brilliant Irishmen determined to use their artistic voice for the greater good, remained jovial friends in spite of their different visions of art in our world.​​

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