BOARD OF DIRECTORS

LIZA ENGESSER

President

Liza Engesser is the newly elected president of IAW&A. She received her BA from Queens College, where she completed a minor in Irish Studies, after she graduated she began collaborating on The Irish in New York Oral History Project. During the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic she conducted an Oral History of the Irish Community and created a podcast from the interviews that was featured on RTE Colm O’Mangan’s Pandemic Podcast. She also began volunteering with IAW&A and collaborating on their Newsletter. In 2022 she was invited to work on IAW&A’s oral history project called “Crossing the Waters.” The documentary premiered as part of Origin Theater’s 1st Irish Festival in the beginning of 2023. “Crossing The Waters” will begin a new filmed chapter this year. She’s a member of the Archivist’s Round Table. Liza is an avid reader, loves literature, history, the theater and film. She lives in Queens, NY.

DARRAH CARR

Vice President

Darrah Carr is an Assistant Professor in the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY.  She is the Artistic Director of Darrah Carr Dance –  a Bessie Award nominated Irish dance company that specializes in ModERIN: a unique blend of traditional Irish step and contemporary modern dance. Performance highlights include: “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The New Victory Theater, Celebrate Brooklyn, the Irish Repertory Theatre, and the company’s annual season at Irish Arts Center.  Carr holds a PhD in Dance from Texas Woman’s University.  She received an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University. Carr has presented her research at the Dance Studies Association, the National Dance Education Organization, and Dance Research Forum Ireland.  She has contributed numerous articles to Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher, Dance Spirit, and Dance Studio Life.  Carr was named one of the “Top 40 Under 40” by The Irish Echo and one of the “Most Influential Women of 2010” by The Irish Voice.  She was the 2020 artist honoree for Irish Arts Center’s yearly Show Your Love celebration.  Darrah Carr Dance is represented by Siegel Artist Management.     

SHELLEY ANN QUILTY

Treasurer

A native of Co. Wexford, Shelley Ann Quilty is a solo practitioner with her own law practice since late June of 2023. She represents parties in an array of estate matters, including probate, administration, and accounting proceedings in all Surrogate’s Courts across New York City. Shelley Ann also assists her clients with their estate planning needs, including preparing Wills, Power of Attorneys, Health Care Proxies and other advance directives, and estate planning documents. Prior to launching her own practice, Shelley Ann was a partner at Meenan & Associates, LLC, where she represented employees with redressing their workplace issues, including unfair treatment at work or during the application process, and the discriminatory terms and conditions of their employment, as well as representing clients with their estate-related matters.

Shelley Ann has been honored to be a Board Member of the Irish American Writers & Artists (IAW&A) since 2021 and has served as Treasurer for IAW&A since 2023.  She served for years on the Executive Board of the Irish Business Organization of New York (IBO) as Treasurer and then First Vice President. Shelley Ann was proud to serve as the Chairperson of the IBO’s inaugural Women’s Networking Committee and as a member of this committee, which organized networking events and opportunities for women by selecting female thought leaders and speakers to educate, inspire, and motivate attendees. She also was a long-time member of the Board of Directors for the Irish American Bar Association of New York (IABANY). In 2019, Shelley Ann was awarded the Irish Echo 40 Under 40 Justice Ambassador Award, the Belfast Ambassador Medal as part of the Belfast International Homecoming and was honored by the Emerald Isle Immigration Center (EIIC). She has been named by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Employment Litigation: Plaintiff for the New York Metro area from 2016 through 2019, and as a Super Lawyer in Employment Litigation: Plaintiff for 2020-2024.

CONOR BAGLEY

Director

Conor Bagley is a New York-based director interested in tragedies, tragicomedies, and seeing the private, sacred moments in the mundane, with a special place in his heart for Irish drama. His directing credits include Two by Friel by Brian Friel at Off Broadway’s Irish Repertory Theatre, The Adult in the Room at Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago, An Iliad at Atlas Performing Arts Center in DC (a 2018 DC Metro Theatre Arts’ staff favorite for “Outstanding Performance in a Professional Production”), plus Shining City  by Conor McPherson and Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel at Yale University. He has been fortunate to assist and learn from several great directors, including Charlotte Moore and Neil Pepe in New York, and Conall Morrison at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. During Covid-19, he has been directing theatre virtually, including scenes from Jenna and the Whale by Vanessa Garcia & Jake Cline, Borrowed by Jim Kierstead, and Coral Gables by Christopher Demos-Brown (Adrienne Arsht Center’s Miami Monologues). In addition to directing, he has co-produced two shows on Broadway: The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez and Once on This Island, winner of the 2018 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. Bagley is one of Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2019-2020 Directing Fellows.

ANTHONY MURPHY

Director

Anthony C Murphy is the son of a Cork dad and an English mum. He is a dad, driver,
published poet and short story writer. He has worked on the open mic scene as a
performer and a producer in England and New York for over twenty years whilst working for the Royal Mail and as a roadie.

He has a diploma in English Lit and Creative Writing from the Open University.

He has published a novel Shiftless.

SARAH FEARON

Director

Sarah Fearon is a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts, and New York University. Her film credits include Reversal of Fortune, Liebestraum, Martin Scorsese’s The Departed and The Comedian. Her short plays TED talks NYC, Air Rights and 2B have been presented at The Players Theater, Origins 1st Irish Festival, The Electric Picnic in Ireland and The Cell theater. Her work has been seen in Irish America Magazine, at the American Irish Historical Society Irish Press Awards, Funny Pages at the Stone House in Brooklyn, Rockaway Artists Alliance, West Side Comedy Club, Gotham Comedy Club, The Metropolitan Room, The Emerald Inn, Stand Up NY, the Irish Arts Center Sundays at Seven and many benefits in NYC. Her character Snazzy Peabody, a real estate legend in her own mind, can be found on SarahFearon.com. Sarah is a real estate salesperson at The Corcoran Group.

JOHN MUNNELLY

Director

John Munnelly is an award winning songwriter, author, artist and performer. Born in Cavan, Co. Cavan, Ireland to Mayo ‘Muinteoir’ parents. John was brought up to go to mass on Sundays, study, take piano lessons and drink loads of tea.

In 2017 John had an idea to add value back to music by creating something that had inherent physical artistic value. He recorded an acoustic EP on CD titled “XU” which stands for Expanding Universe. As a visual artist he designed and hand-printed each individual CD and included a fanzine style lyrics insert. Each CD package is a unique, numbered, limited edition and not available in any other channel.

He is also an author with memoir pieces published in the 2018 New York Writers Coalition book “From Page to Page” & Vol 1 of the ‘Voices of Lefferts’ Journal. John teaches technology on a part time basis and also developed his own Songwriting Boot camp at the Irish Arts center in NY.

He is perennially creative and his latest project more entrepreneurial. John is the ‘chef’ cook & bottle-washer at Hattwood Hot Sauce. His sauces have become the go-to condiment on the tables of NY & international foodies with customers in France, Ireland, the Caribbean and Australia. Look out for Hattwood Sauce (and John) this Summer at the Down to Earth Farmers Markets through the city and beyond or online at hattwood.com.

For more on John please visit his website.

KATHLEEN WALSH D’ARCY

Director

Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy is a native New Yorker with roots in Offaly and Tipperary. She lived and worked in Dublin for several years. She has worked as a writer, editor, teacher and social worker. She compiled and co-edited Territories of the Voice: Short Fiction by Irish Women Writers (Beacon Press), the first American collection of Irish women’s short stories. Her work has been published in Irish America Magazine, and All American Women (Macmillan). She wrote and produced Inside Stories, an oral history of women in NYC nursing homes, which was performed at the 92nd Street Y, and The Project Theatre in Dublin. Kathleen is active in the New York Irish community. She is a Director of  the Irish Institute, and co-chair of the inclusive, multi-cultural St. Pat’s For All Parade. In 2016, she received the Irish Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad which recognizes the contributions of members of the Irish diaspora.