Jerry Finnegan’s Sister

Though I haven’t done an official count, this may be my most-produced play. It’s been done all over the country, and has successfully launched two theatre companies that I know about. There was even a production in Paris, entitled LA SOEUR DE JERRY KING, because, I guess, there are no French Finnegans.

It’s a pretty simple little play, a great challenge and great fun for two young actors. Brian Dowd is 23 years old, and has had a mammoth crush on his best friend’s sister Beth for most of his life. In the play, Brian takes the audience members on as his confidants, tells them that he has just heard that Beth Finnegan is going to be married, and ushers them through a number of incidents in his life, such as it has been, with the breathtaking dynamo who lives on the other side of his driveway. He also tells them that, before the evening is out, he will finally, finally tell her how he feels about her. The actors play the characters as children, adolescents, teens, and young adults, and as the culminating moment in the play approaches, audience members find themselves so involved in Brian’s plight that they invariably roar with delight at the curtain call. The above photo is from the 1991 New Century Theatre production, featuring Chris Connell and Jenna Moscowitz, directed by Jack Neary.

Cast:

Brian Dowd, early twenties

Beth Finnegan, early twenties

Setting:

Unit set which fluidly accommodates various locations, principally the driveway between the Dowd and Finnegan houses. The play has also been performed with no set and one chair.

Press:

"From a simple premise, Jack Neary invents a rich and endearing story of a young man’s infatuation...I simply love this story. It is the hidden tale of the boy next door to the girl next door. There is not one false note in Neary’s voice as playwright...Search your experience. This story could go anywhere, right? It does. It comes back to a simple question, though. Will Brian ever ask Beth out? The play’s ending is, hands-down, the best I’ve seen in such comedies. JERRY FINNEGAN’S SISTER makes you wonder how romance ever works. Then you believe there is little else." Larry Parnass, Daily Hampshire Gazette, Northampton, Massachusetts

"JERRY FINNEGAN’S SISTER is more than a Boy Meets Girl story. We’ve all felt that vulnerable, that foolish, wanting something or someone that much. The play is sweet, and charming. A gem." Debbie Enblom, Channel 7, Boston

"The laughs are plenty and easy to come by in JERRY FINNEGAN’S SISTER. The play zips along merrily to its abrupt, but perfect, conclusion." Tribune Review, Latrobe, PA

"Only a small number of people have been fortunate enough to escape the anguish, embarrassment and self-recrimination involved with unrequited love. These few people may sympathize, but will not empathize with the rest of us who have. Those who have suffered this affliction need to see Jack Neary’s play, JERRY FINNEGAN’S SISTER, in order to relive that experience in the company of kin and kind for a catharsis of laughter and tears." Times Herald-Record, Stony Point, NY