Anna Nugent

Founding Family

It is such a great pleasure watching someone share what they love. This week Paul and I had the opportunity to see DUBLIN BY LAMPLIGHT, a Corn Exchange Production, on the Abbey stage. It is the first time that we’ve watched a full production in the redesigned auditorium from up the top. And what a […]

Producing Love

How does one keep love in mind, at the forefront of everything one does? I would love to say that I have an answer to that question or better yet, that I’ve been able to do it. But I don’t. I think at best it is an intention that manifests in the little actions we […]

Up for a Challenge

When my husband mentioned that a friend was thinking of suggesting me to fill in for one performance of a musical, I was simultaneously thrilled and terrified. I love to sing, but I consider myself an actress who sings, not a bona fide singer. The friend put me forward and the next day I was […]

The Art of Timing

Four people standing in a white room, looking perplexed.

As I mentioned in my last blog, Returning to the Familiar, the timing of the dissemination of art can make quite an impact on the audience and the work of art. In that blog I was referring to the election and its impact on our audience. Today, I want to talk about the election and […]

Returning to the Familiar

Seamus, Paul and Anna standing on a balcony overlooking rail tracks and the Hudson River. It is a sunny day.

This past week Paul and I have been doing a mini-tour of Seamus Scanlon’s The Long Wet Grass. In early October we shot the short film version that will be released in 2017. And years ago in INKubator at Art House in Jersey City we read the script aloud for the first time. We have […]

Resistance My Old Friend

Last week was spent in the face of resistance. A writer friend and I had been working on a short film adaptation of his short story/one-act play for the past three years. We wanted to film in Ireland and frankly we wanted it to be Oscar-worthy. It had to be beautiful and rich and full […]

Playwrights Are People

I love working creatively with my posse. The people that have inspired me and who I trust after years of working together. And truly this type of repeated collaboration strengthens the work. But sometimes, just as we as people need different relationships to teach us different aspects of our self, there are times when playwrights […]

Writing “Living Grace”

If you had told me a year ago that I would write a play in 6 weeks I would have laughed at you. I don’t think of myself as a writer. And a play? Come on, you need mad skills for that! Well, I would have been wrong. Working with the fabulous women’s group at […]

Dancing Grace

Sometimes grace feels a bit like a dance, like I’m trying to dodge it, but it just keeps coming. I see it dancing with someone else and I am moved. I draw grace towards me and, just as it gets close, I reject it. Perhaps that is actually the dance of unworthiness in all actuality. […]

I Want to See You Be Brave

For my birthday this year my sister gave me a lovely bracelet that spells “Klahan” which means “Brave” in Khmer, the language of Cambodia. I’ve been really attached to the bracelet ever since, there is something about being able to wear “brave,” a reminder of stepping out and being courageous. When I sang with Cabaret […]