Deirdre O'Connell

Deirdre O'Connell died in Dublin, Ireland on 9 June 2001. She had left the South Bronx to build a theatre life in Ireland, founding the Focus Theatre and training actors in demanding methods. Her marriage to Luke Kelly ended before her death, but her stage work remained the sharper part of her story. She is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, not as a footnote to a singer, but as a woman who made Dublin a place where American-born instinct could become Irish craft.