Malachy McCourt Comes to SOPAC on March 9

Throughout his rollicking life, Malachy McCourt has held a multitude of careers, from dish washer, longshoreman, and pub keeper to actor, writer, radio and TV host, and candidate for governor!  He’s done everything he’s ever wanted to do in his life and encourages others to do the same. McCourt will share his experiences through poetry, song, and outrageously hilarious stories in his one-man show Loving Life and Laughing at Death at the (SOPAC) on Friday, March 9.

Malachy McCourt was born in Brooklyn, NY, and from the age of three was raised in Limerick, Ireland.  A very undistinguished academic career plus the need to eat led him to leave school at the age of thirteen to begin work in Ireland and England as a laborer.

He returned to the land of his birth at the age of twenty and again worked at the manual tasks such as longshoreman, truck loader, and dishwasher, until he became an actor.  That career took him to Broadway and Off-Broadway and regional theatres in plays such as Mass Appeal, Da, The Hostage, Inherit the Wind, Carousel and Translations.  The soap operas such as Ryan's Hope, Search for Tomorrow, One Life to Live and All My Children were also a good source of work and sustenance as were the movies Molly Maguires, She's the One, The Devil's Own, Green Card, and TV movies such as You Can't Go Home Again and The Dain Curse.

In the early seventies, he was one of the first radio talk show hosts on WMCA and also worked at WOR, WNYC and WABC. He was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show, Merv Griffin and Tom Snyder shows.

Malachy has been the recipient of awards from various organizations such as:
City Club of New York (Gadfly Award), New York Magazine (Best of New York Award), Turning Point Inc. (Humanitarian Award), World of Hibernia (Super Irish Award), Irish America Magazine (Top 100 Irish Award), and NYCLU (Florina Lasker Civil Liberties Award).

He has had articles published in many periodicals, including New York Newsday, National Geographic, Conscience Magazine and The New York Times.

As well as being the co-author of the play A Couple of Blaguards with his brother Frank, Malachy has written his own New York Times bestselling memoir, A Monk Swimming, an account of his adventures as a young immigrant in the United States in the 1960s. A second memoir, Singing My Him Song, followed.  Malachy’s other books include Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad, The Claddagh Ring, Voices of Ireland, and Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland.

Malachy was also prominently featured in his brother Frank McCourt's bestselling autobiographical novel, Angela's Ashes.

In other ventures, Malachy ran as the Green Party's candidate for Governor of New York in 2006.

He is happily married to his wife Diana, has five grown children and is grandfather to four.

See Malachy McCourt at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) on Friday, March 9th at 8pm. Tickets are $35 & $45.

SOPAC is located adjacent to the South Orange train station at One SOPAC Way in South Orange, NJ.  For tickets visit SOPACnow.org or contact the SOPAC Box Office at 973.313.2787 (ARTS).