Tom Reing, Founder, Inis Nua Theater Company

Tom Reing, founder of Inis (pronounced Inish) Nua Theater Company has generated excellent local buzz from his US Premier of Paul Meade's Skin Deep. The play is running at the Adrienne Theater and there's only three performances left (Fiday 1/16 8 pm, Saturday 1/17 2 pm, Sunday 1/18 2 pm. Click here for tickets

The Inquirer: Skin Deep is a revenge tragedy, an Irish and very contemporary spin on the 16th century's stage parade of body parts, lust, jealousy, blackmail, death, money, disease and power. And, like Jacobean revenge tragedies (think 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, The Revenger's Tragedy) it's sometimes funny in a horrible way - a tricky business pulled off by this excellent cast. Inis Nua's U.S. premiere of Irish playwright Paul Meade's complex and ambitious play introduces us to yet another startling Irish playwright.

Skin Deep is a play about looking and listening and not seeing and not hearing. Go see it.

City Paper: Beckoning us to this new island is Inis Nua founder Tom Reing, who conceived his theater's unique identity after seeing Paul Meade's Skin Deep in Dublin in 2003, and realizing that "no theater in Philadelphia seemed like a right match to pitch it." To do it, he'd need a company. Now the powerful drama about greed and deception is Inis Nua's first 2009 production, a U.S. première.

PW: The ethical issues provoke the most interest. The human form has long inspired art, from Michelangelo’s David to Robert Mapplethorpe’s controversial photos. Stealing body parts is illegal, but what if a photographer uses a person’s image without their knowledge or a journalist prints a story out of spite?

About Inis Nua: Inis Nua Theater Company's mission is to produce contemporary, evocative play from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England which reflect those culture's identity in today's world. Inis Nua also seeks to produce contemporary, evocative work from American playrights who deal with the Irish-American, Welsh-American, Scottish-American and Anglo American experience. Translated from the Irish language, Inis Nua means "New Island."