Award-winning Producer & presenter
Distillation - by Luke Casserly
Co-production with Solas Nua & Abbey Theatre
commissioned by Solas Nua (dramaturg Rex Daugherty) - world premiere production at Dublin Theatre Festival
The Honey Trap - by Leo McGann
world premiere production from Solas Nua in Association with The Kennedy Center
Three Helen Hayes Awards
Ten Helen Hayes Award Nominations
The Smuggler - by Ronán Noone
“the year’s best theatre” - The New York Times
“one of DC’s coolest site-specific shows ever”
-DC Theatre Arts
“Rex Daugherty continues his string of well oiled productions that are quickly making Solas Nua a formidable presence in the midsize DC theatre scene.”
The Playboy of the Western World - by Bisi Adigun & Roddy doyle
North American Premiere at Solas Nua
“Best Productions of the Year” - DC Theatre Arts
“Best Ensembles of the Year” - DC Theatre Arts
Two Helen Hayes Nominations Outstanding Lead Performer Outstanding Supporting Performer
One moment Now - by Murmuration
Solas Nua presents North American premiere of Murmuration
Eaton DC
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Panti Bliss - If These Wigs Could Talk
co-presented by Solas Nua and Studio Theatre
THISISPOPBABY and Abbey Theatre production
The Frederick Douglass Project - by Psalmayene 24 & Deirdre Kinahan
World premiere - commissioned by Solas Nua - Dramaturgy Rex Daugherty
“Best Production of the Year” -The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, DC Theatre Scene, DC Theatre Arts
Six Helen Hayes Award Nominations
Wild Sky - by Deirdre Kinahan
DC premiere - sold out run & extended performances
“But the most remarkable thing about Wild Sky isn’t it’s good writing, clever direction, enchanting music, or terrific acting. It’s the fact that the play is staged in an actual living room of a private house.” - DC Theatre Arts
In the Middle of the Fields - by Dierdre Kinahan
World premiere - Commissioned by Solas Nua
“Washington’s finest purveyor of site-specific theater….remarkably adept at finding the right space for the right play, and there is no better group to bring live theater back to the District.” - Washington City Paper
“lighting up DC cultural landscape”
DC & Toronto
co-presented by Bru Theatre and Solas Nua
14 city North American tour
co-presented by Fishamble and Solas Nua
a zombie apocalypse survival experience
DC, Oklahoma City, Sante Fe, Atlanta
DISTILLATION
a Solas Nua, Abbey Theatre, and Luke Casserly Production
commissioned by Solas Nua
in addition to the world premiere production at Dublin Theatre Festival, Rex has produced two North American tours of Distillation, with performances in New York City, Buffalo, Albany, Toronto, St. Paul, Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Washington, DC.
Created by Luke Casserly
Perfume by Joan Woods
Sculpture by Ger Clancy
Dramaturgy by Rex Daugherty
Costume by Doreen McKenna
Additional Costume by Síofra Caherty
Video by Robert Higgins
Sound by Sam Hardiman
Stage Management by Grace Carter
Artistic Documentation by Fergal Styles
Production Photography by Patricio Cassinoni
Distillation premiered as part of Dublin Theatre Festival 2023. A co-production by Solas Nua & Abbey Theatre, commissioned by Solas Nua.
A performative journey that takes you to the Irish bog landscape through scent.
Distillation is a response to the recent cessation of the peat harvesting industry in Ireland. Over the past year, Luke Casserly has collaborated with renowned perfume maker Joan Woods to create a unique distillation of the Midlands bog – the place where he grew up – as the starting point for an olfactory encounter which looks at our human relationship to place.
Dedicated to the future of our broken landscapes – in the hope that by listening to them, we might be able to better understand them.
“This is a thought-provoking show, that stays in the mind long after, like the sweet woody smell of the bog perfume that lingers on the wrist.”
“★★★★
This ode to our landscape will give you a new perspective on Ireland’s bogs. All of the senses are engaged: not just sight and hearing but also touch, smell and even taste.”
“not easy to pigeonhole. It’s part educational TED Talk, part community-building and part campfire story, during which Casserly speaks at times in the voice of the bog.”
“The performance is detailed, calculated, delicate, compelling, and weird. The small moments of strangeness have a way of elevating the work. Distillation reminds us that storytelling can take many forms and shapes, blending mediums and genres. Theater is still alive and well with experimental creativity.”
“★★★★
Genuinely inventive.”
“beautiful one-man show gives the land agency...Distillation is not the theatrical equivalent of doomscrolling. What Solas Nua is offering, in addition to tea and tiny vials of Woods’ perfume, is a space to think and a sense of hope...Distillation may sound oddly specific, but what’s so wondrous about Casserly’s play is those specifics tap into relatable universals, cracking open a mental space for audiences to think about their own relationships to familial traditions, family-owned homesteads, and the 21st-century siren song to take better care of the planet.”
The Honey Trap
by Leo McGann
world premiere production - in association with The Kennedy Center
As Artistic Director of Theatre at Solas Nua, Rex produced the world premiere of The Honey Trap, where it won the most Helen Hayes Awards of any play of the 23-24 season. The play would go on to receive an Off-Broadway production at The Irish Repertory Theatre.
Directed by Matt Torney
Producer & Choreographer - Rex Daugherty
Scenic Design - Nadir Bey
Lighting Design - Alberto Segarra
Sound Design - James Garver
Costume Design - Heather Lockard
Prop Design - Katherine Offut
Dramaturgy - Adrien Alice Hansel
Helen Hayes Awards & Nominations
Outstanding Production
Outstanding Direction
Outstanding Choreography
Outstanding Lighting Design - Award Winner - Alberto Segarra
Outstanding Costume Design
Outstanding Ensemble
Outstanding Performer - Award Winner - Jonathan Holmes
Outstanding Supporting Performance - Award Winner - Lise Bruneau
Outstanding Supporting Performance
“smoking hot...a riveting world premiere”
“The Honey Trap is one of the finest productions of the year...I am so impressed by the chic execution of every detail of this production — you don’t often see dramas with this high level of artistry here in DC. ”
“brilliantly illuminates postwar realities and the search for closure...keeps viewers begging for more right until the stage lights go out, all while simultaneously peeling back layers of an extremely nuanced historical conflict.”
“The Honey Trap is one of the best plays of the 2023-2024 DMV season. It is just November and there are many more productions to come, but this world premiere is that good.”
The Smuggler
by Ronán Noone
Envisioning this play immersively staged in one of North America’s top rated cocktail bars, Rex produced and starred in this solo performance that critics called “one of DC’s coolest site-specific shows ever.”
The show enjoyed a completely sold out run and multiple sold out extensions. It also raised thousands of dollars for non-documented immigrants and secured over 30 asylum-seeking families pro-bono legal council.
“The Year’s Best Theatre”
“Rex Daugherty is so good as the bartender that you forget how evil he is”
“It is possible for a good solo show to deliver some of the greatest magic in theater...The Smuggler mixes pulpy crime story, slapstick comedy, and gut-punch social commentary, shakes them up, then pours out into an explosive cocktail that deserves to be enjoyed slowly.”
“one of DC’s coolest site-specific shows ever...a spellbinding, up-close-and personal drama about the struggle for survival and self-worth of documented and undocumented immigrants in America today...It’s a first-rate fusion of play, place, and player that those fortunate to get into will be reminiscing about over drinks years from now.”