Growing up with romantic family stories and later facing the reality behind them can lead to the many bittersweet moments of irony that define Irish, particularly Irish-American, literature and theater.

“The Grand O’Neal,” a comedy written by a Gorham minister, shares a man’s quest for his roots in the old country, where he believed his grandfather had been a hero in the Irish Republican Army during the 1919 War of Independence.

“Where do I look to find a little grandeur, a little bit of bigness in my life?” wrote playwright David Butler in his author’s notes. “Our family stories are rarely what we’ve been told…reality so often intrudes on the myths that define us.”

L/A Arts is presenting the play, performed by Portland-based AIRE (American Irish Repertory Ensemble), on Saturday, March 31, at Lost Valley Ski Lodge in Auburn as part of a dinner-theater evening out.

Advanced tickets cost $33, or $30 for students and seniors, and includes dinner. Tickets are available through L/A Arts online at www.laarts.org or by phone at 782-7228.

Doors open at 6 p.m., with a pub-style dinner beginning at 6:30. The menu includes fish n’ chips, shepherd’s pie, and bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes). Gritty McDuff’s is providing the brew, with part of its proceeds going to L/A Arts.

The evening’s entertainment will open with fiddle music by Janet Lynch, one of AIRE’s members, but not appearing in the “Grand O’Neal,” said Susan Reilly, AIRE’s managing director.

AIRE originally performed the 90-minute play last year as a fundraiser for the First Parish Congregational Church in Gorham where Butler presides as minister. The funds helped send the church choir to Ireland. AIRE again staged the play to a packed house in Portland’s Bull Feeney’s pub, where Irish storytelling nights occur regularly, said Reilly.

“A lot of the play takes place in a small country pub,” said Reilly. “We all have myths that we grow up with and live with. But what is reality and does it matter? How do you deal with those myths when you find out that they’re not true?”

Without giving away the play’s ending, Reilly suggested that the answer lies somewhere in creating a new myth.

“We are interested in plays that depict the Irish or Irish-American experience,” said Reilly. “There is a depth of emotion that plays from the heart, and wherever you find tears, you find laughter.”

The acting troupe also holds an admiration and affection for the Irish language, said Reilly. “There is a lyricism to Irish speech and a musicality that’s just stunning.”

Butler, who seems to have that Irish gift for storytelling, has written two other full-length plays and two books, in addition to penning his weekly sermons. “The Grand O’Neal draws on Butler and his wife Maureen’s experiences during a four-month sabbatical in Ireland, where the couple holds dual citizenship.

“Our encounters there have been much less dramatic but no less surprising,” said Butler, who considers himself a “great devotee of Irish pub culture.”

AIRE has a core group of actors, which include Reilly and Butler. Reilly’s husband, Tony Reilly, also acts and serves as the artistic director. Maureen Butler belongs to the repertory as do Janice Gardner and Paul Haley.

Go and do

WHAT: “The Grand O’Neal”

WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday, March 31

WHERE: Lost Valley

TICKETS: Advanced tickets cost $33, or $30 for students and seniors, and includes dinner