As I Lay Dreaming is a poignant memory play centred on Annie McGinley, a Donegal woman reflecting on the news of American artist Rockwell Kent’s death.
Rockwell Kent had spent four months in the Glencolumbcille area immersed in the culture and terrain. Living in a converted cowshed he dubbed the “Waldorf-Astoria,” the charismatic but controversial Kent captured the rugged landscape and its people, eventually persuading a twenty-year-old Annie to pose for a portrait. The resulting painting sparked a clash between Kent’s modern artistic philosophy and the community’s traditional values, some of whom deemed the work “improper”.
Through Annie’s vivid memories, the play explores the transformative power of art, the passage of time, and the enduring, “sacred” connection between an artist and his muse.
Featuring a cast of three, the narrative weaves between the present, Kent’s nostalgic 1958 return, and the “idyllic” summer of 1926 when he first arrived in the remote, roadless valley of Glenlough.
Shaun Byrne is a writer/director from Ballybofey. This is his fifth play after An Incident with Dave Cotter, Darkness Echoing, Margaret, and One Night at Glenlough.
Above: ‘Annie McGinley’ by Rockwell Kent (1926).
Funding for this project has been supported through Donegal County Museum and Donegal County Council Arts Office.
