Marina Carr stands at the forefront of a new generation of Irish dramatists whose work has achieved rapid success and much critical acclaim. By the age of thirty-one, she had already completed six plays for the professional theater, including five commissions, with several more under way. Following a period as writer in residence at the National Maternity Hospital, she was appointed Ansbacher Writer-in-Association at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin (1995-1996); Writer in Residence at Trinity College (1998- 1999); and writer in residence at Dublin City University (1999-2000). She has been awarded two bursaries in literature by the Arts Council of Ireland and is a member of Aosdána, the Irish government body that provides a lifetime income to artists. Her skills as a dramatist, developed through the radical experimentation of her earlier plays, reached maturity with The Mai (1995), marking her return to the theater after a break of...