OUT For The Weekend 2012 by Event Media

Welcome Let me start out by welcoming you all to Kilkenny for this, our third OUT For The Weekend festival! Last year we built on the success of our inaugural festival and this year we have done the same. Thanks to the very generous support of The Community Foundation For Ireland and The Councils of the City & County of Kilkenny we have been able to offer up a more diverse line up of performance, art, theatre, music and workshops to cater to everyone of all ages, genders and persuasions... and the best bit is that we’ve been able to keep most of our events completely free of charge! We’re focusing this years festival on the Parliament Street area of Kilkenny City, and we are delighted with the support we are receiving for the businesses in that area - not to mention from the people, businesses and organisations throughout the county. Expanding on our lineup from last year we are very proud to have The Irish Queer Archive on display in the Abbey Business Centre. Containing the most comprehensive collection of material in Ireland relating to homosexuality and general queer studies, the Archive provides a fascinating insight into the social, cultural and political history of the LGBT communities in Ireland during the latter half of the 20th century. Another coup for the festival is Devious Theatre’s acclaimed new show Phantasm by young Kilkenny writer John Kennedy. The drug-addled romantic comedy opened at Solstice during Cork Midsummer Festival and this will be its debut performance in Kilkenny. Another first for OUT For The Weekend will be the Mr. Gay Kilkenny and Ms. Gay Kilkenny qualifying rounds. With the winners from Kilkenny going on to the national finals, we’ve certainly established ourselves as the annual LGBT event in Kilkenny. I’m honoured to be heading up the amazing team behind OUT For The Weekend. So much preparation has gone in over the past few months and without their hard work we would not be here today. I’d like to finish by thanking the OFTW production team, all our acts, volunteers, sponsors, advertisers, supporters and friends. I hope you all enjoy the festival! Alan Slattery Festival Director

Friday 24th August Irish Queer Archive Opening

WHERE

LGBT Diversity and Kilkenny County and Borough Council are teaming with the Irish Queer Archive to present the exhibition, A Liberating Party, as part of this year’s festival. We are very proud to bring this critically acclaimed exhibition to Kilkenny where it will be exhibited at The Abbey Business Centre, Abbey Street, from 25th - 28th August this year.

WHEN

Charting the emergence of LGBT Pride in Ireland since the early 1970s, historian and GCN founding editor, Tonie Walsh, has curated an evocative exhibition of materials drawn from the collections of the Irish Queer Archive/Cartlann Aerach na hÉireann at the National Library of Ireland. Also included in the exhibition is Everybody’s Diary, a ledger of ongoing Pride testimonials launched in 2003 and that has toured the country inviting contributions.

ABBEY BUSINESS CENTRE

6 PM

ADMISSION FREE

The mixed-media exhibition, entitled A Liberating Party: Emerging LGBT Liberation in Ireland 1974-1993, was originally commissioned by Thisispopbaby for the Queer Notions cultural strand of Dublin Pri de 2009. It has since toured to Tallaght Library, Cavan County Library and Wexford Arts Centre. The exhibition will be opened with a cheese and wine reception by the OUT For The Weekend team. Everyone is welcome. Admission is free and open to the general public.

‘Phantasm’ by Devious Theatre Kilkenny’s foremost pioneers of alternative theatre for young audiences, the widely acclaimed Devious Theatre Company bring their new show to Cleere’s Theatre for this year’s festival. Their new show Phantasm is written by John Kennedy, who previously wrote the hugely popular show Shifting in 2011. Phantasm is a one act romantic comedy that charts the relationship between teenage weed dealer Adam and his number one customer Frankie over one particularly stormy night. The Show runs from Thursday August 23rd to 25th. More information can be found at the Devious Theatre website - www.DeviousTheatre.com

Captain Anchor , DJ Alex , DJ Kaz & Niamh Captain Anchor was born on the Scottish cabaret and boylesque scene. Kilkenny’s supreme boylesque performer, he loves to combine live music with dance and choreography and some show stopping costumes. Captain Anchor has recently performed at Pantibar and Dragon Bar in Dublin, as well as at Brighton Fringe and the London Burlesque Week in 2010 and 2011. You’re in for an unforgettable show! Priding himself on mixing the widest and craziest selection of hopping tunes, Alex hails from Limerick where he was a regular at D.I.E. and MiXed club nights. A lovely young fella with a fine taste in hats, he’ll be presiding over the Friday night in the Nixon. If you like spinning a toe, you may check him out t’fuck! DJ’s Kaz and Niamh are new performers to the festival this year and we are very happy to welcome them with open arms. Originally from Kilkenny and Westmeath respectively, they travel from Dublin to help us

WHERE

CLEERE’S THEATRE

WHEN

7 PM & 10 PM

ADMISSION 8 EURO

WHERE

THE NIXON ON WATERGATE

WHEN

8 PM - TIL LATE

ADMISSION FREE

Daichead Bliain ag Fás Notable LGBT Dates 1971-2011 1971

Gay Liberation Society, inspired by New York’s Gay Liberation Front, founded at University Street, Belfast.

3 Oct. 1973

All-Ireland gay conference held at New Univeristy of Coleraine, Co. Antrim. The spark that lit the fuse!

16 Feb. 1974

Sexual Liberation Movement, based at TCD, hosts Symposium on Homosexuality. Three hundred attend. Event leads to foundation on Sunday 17 February of Union for Sexual Freedoms in Ireland (USFI), an all-Ireland, pan-sexual organisation hoping to campaign on various issues includingabortion, contraception, gay law reform and divorce. Hugo McManus and Margaret McWilliams are first openly gay people to be interviewed on Radio Éireann. Not long after, the Northern Irish Gay Rights Association (NIGRA) launched at Belfast and Irish Gay Rights Movement (IGRM, later icorported into National Gay Federation) launched at Dublin. Both organisations quickly set up telephone befriending services. Cara Friend and Tel-A-Friend (now Dublin Gay Switchboard) continue to operate almost forty years later.

27 Jun. 1974

Eight lesbians and gay men proclaim “Homosexuals Are Revolting!” and “Lesbians Love” at the Department of Justice and British Embassy, Dublin. First public gay event on the island of Ireland.

24 Jul. 1975

David Norris, English lecturer at TCD, becomes first openly gay person to appear on Irish television.

1976

The Good Karma, Ireland’s first homo-social club, operates at Leeson street, Dublin. Radical Faeries group, Gay Against Repression, campaigns in Dublin.

1977

UK’s Gay Sweatshop stage Mr. X and Any Woman Can at The Project Arts Centre, Dublin. Staging leads to protests and decision by Dublin Corporation to withdraw theatre’s annual grant of IR£6,000.

1978

First Irish lesbian conference at Trinity College, Dublin; An all-Ireland affair, too. Liberation for Irish Lesbians (LIL) founded at Resource Centre, Rathgar Road, Dublin. For several years it would organise social and political events on Thursdays at the Hirschfeld Centre.

17 Mar. 1979

The Hirschfeld Centre, Ireland’s first comprehensive LGBT space (and one of the earliest of its kind in the world), opens to acclaim at 10 Fownes St, Dublin 2. So many people crowd in, the building has to close following day for floor restructuring. Formally dedicated the following year on Gay Pride Day by Dr. Noel Browne, former Minister for Health and first politician to raise issue of decriminalisation in the Dáil, 1977. Building would be destroyed by fire early on morning of 4 November 1987. Refused National Lottery grant and only partially re-opened for offices of GCN until sold -amidst huge controversy- in 1999.

1981 & 1982

Liz Noonan, lesbian feminist, first openly gay person to stand for election to Dáil Éireann, representing Dublin South-East. Gays Against Imperialism set up in Dublin. The small group of activists, led in the main by Cathal O’Ciarragáin and Mick Quinlan, ‘identified gay liberation with national liberation’ and was involved in both H-Block and Armagh campaigns.

Daichead Bliain ag Fás Notable LGBT Dates 1971-2011 28 Jan. 1981

The Joint Board of UCC refuses recognition to the college’s Gay Society. UCC Gay Soc had been founded before Christmas (1980). It would spend eight years seeking formal college recognition.

Upwards of two hundred women and men from all over Ireland attend the (1st) NATIONAL GAY CONFERENCE at Connolly Hall, Cork. Preciently themed ‘Gays in the ‘80s – Which way forward?’ the conference also attracts speakers from the USA and UK. Little print or broadcast media coverage. Further ‘national’ conferences were held at Dublin (1992) and Belfast (1993), becoming in the process more talkshops than information exchange (according to Out for Ourselves).

15-17 May. 1981

21 Oct. 1981

European Court of Human Rights finds in favour of Jeff Dudgeon (Dudgeon V. UK Government) by a 15-4 majority that Northern Ireland anti-gay laws conflict with European Convention on Human Rights. Brian Walsh, ROI judge, dissents.

17 Dec. 1981

Identity, Ireland’s first (and to date only) queer literary journal, is launched by NGF Publications Group. Founding editor is Kieron Hickey, well-known independent film director. The quarterly has a cover price of 40p with an editorial of fiction, poetry, humour, and analysis of the politics of gay liberation. Gay News (London) applaudes the first issue of “32 large, well-printed pages…impressively diverse…”. Eason’s refuses to stock the publication if the cover contains the words ‘gay’ or lesbian’. A huge financial drain on NGF, Identity found it impossible to acquire sufficient advertising and funding, and only lasted two years.

17 Dec. 1981

RTÉ employee Charles Self stabbed 14 times in his own home. Murder leads to massive Garda ‘witch hunt’ in Cork and Dublin. Gardaí interview/harass close to 1,500 gay men, unwittingly outing many ‘interviewees’ at home and work. A decade would pass before relations improve between Gardaí and the LGBT communities. Murder unresolved to this day.

1982

Aug. 1982

Aer Rianta employee Declan Flynn (33) savagely beaten to death in Fairview Park. His murder is one of many in a spate of gay-hate bashings and murders in Belfast, Cork and Dublin.

19 Mar. 1983

Anger at suspended manslaughter sentences in the case of Declan Flynn (viciously mutilated and killed by five youths ranging in age from 14-18yrs) and the ensuing victimisation of gay woman and men leads to the first public protest against anti-gay violence. Close to 1,000 walk from Liberty Hall, past Flynn’s assailants on North Strand, to Fairview Park. Significant public and political outrage at court decision.

22 Apr. 1983 22 Apr. 1983

The Supreme Court, Dublin, citing prevailing Christian morality, upholds anti-gay legislation by a 3-2 majority in David Norris V. Attorney General.

First proper LGBT Pride march/ parade in Dublin (indeed on the island of Ireland).Several hundred attend the “Gay Rights Protest March” on “Pink Carnation Day”. At the GPO, activists Ciarán McKinney (Dublin Gay Men’s Collective), Tonie Walsh (NGF) and Joni Crone (Liberate Irish Lesbians) address the ecstatic rally; Joni rededicates the GPO as the ‘Gay Persons’ Organisation’.

Daichead Bliain ag Fás Notable LGBT Dates 1971-2011 Nov. 1983 16 Feb. 1984

Women’s Community Press launched at Dublin.

Access Community Television on RTÉ broadcasts first Irish television programme scripted and produced by gay people. The half hour programme includes moving testimonies from Patricia Kilroy and Phil Moore, both instrumental in setting up the Parents’ Enquiry support group for parents of

gay hildren.

Mar. 1984

Kerry man Cyril O’Brien opens The Loft, a self-styled ‘disco bar’ over The George bar on Sth. Gt. George’s St., Dublin. Within a year the ground floor space would also cater to a mainly gay male clientele.

May 1985

In the midst of considerable public hysteria and as the government of the day prevaricates on providing non-judgemental sexual health information, the voluntary umbrella group Gay Health Action launches first public information leaflet on HIV and AIDS. One of GHA’s founders, Mick Quinlan, continues to work in sexual health education to this day.

May 1985

NGF (National Gay Federation) president, Tonie Walsh, is the first openly gay person to stand for election to Dublin Corporation (now Dublin City Council), representing Rathmines on a socialist platform of tenancy rights, devolved local government and urban renewal.

Sides D.C., first commercially-run gay (and ultimately mixed homo/hetero) dance club is opened on Dame Lane, Dublin, by Kerryman John Nolan. Site now occupied by O’Brien’s Trinity Hotel. March 1986 RTÉ refuses to air a radio ad for OUT magazine, for fear of inciting or condoning “criminal activity”, i.e. ‘homosexual behaviour’. Two years earlier, the same broadcaster had featured the magazine’s launch in a youth magazine programme on television. Ireland’s first commercial gay mag, OUT folds after four years. St. Brigid’s Day, 1986

1986

The Dublin Lesbian & Gay Men’s Collectives publish Out for Ourselves: The Lives of Irish Lesbians and Gay Men. Running to 224 pages, the book constitutes the first detailed collection of Irish “coming out” stories, along with a comprehensive (if slightly partisan) record of the Irish lesbian/gay civil rights movement up to that date. Published by the Women’s Community Press and launched with considerable brio and emotion at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, it remains out of print.

Daichead Bliain ag Fás Notable LGBT Dates 1971-2011 Easter Monday 1987

1987

Vincent Hanley, dj and major Irish tele-personality, buried at Clonmel after high profile AIDS-related death. Unnamed individuals smash the windows of his traumatised elderly parents’ house.

TCD English lecturer, David Norris, is the first openly-gay person to be elected to Seanad Éireann.

4 Nov. 1987

The Hirschfeld Centre is destroyed by fire. A week later, Sides DC also combusts in suspicious (and unproven) circumstances.The print media claim an ‘anti-gay backlash’. Others suggest a ‘discarded fag’.

10 Feb. 1988

Two years in planning and ten days late, Ireland’s first newspaper-style monthly, Gay Community News, is published by NGF on a budget of IR£300.

Oct. 1988

European Court of Human Rights finds in favour of David Norris (Norris V. Attorney General).

1989

Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, one of the first of its kind in the EU.

Jun. 1993 1997

Sexual Offences Act introduces an common age of consent of 17yrs; Sex between men is decriminalised.

Ó Ghlíomáil go Giniúint: Foclóir na Collaíochta, first Irish language dictionary devoted entirely to sex lexicon, published. Compiled and ed. by Dáithí Ó Luineacháin, M.A. Finally filling in the gaps, so to speak.

1998 & 2004

30 Nov. 2000

Employment Equality Acts (anti-discrimination in employment).

Gay male age of consent in Northern Ireland lowered to 17, bringing it into line with ROI [Sexual Offences Act].

2000 & 2004

Equal Status Acts (anti-discrimination in provision of services).

16 Jun. 2008

The eleven year-old Irish Queer Archive is transferred to NLI. State takes ownership of LGBT heritage.

2010

Civil Partnership and Cohabitants Act becomes law. Government sets up an inter-departmental committee on the legal recognition of transsexuals.

5 Apr. 2011

First publicly celebrated civil partnership in the Republic of Ireland.

The Homosexuals Are Revolting Often considered a cultural and political backwater, Ireland nevertheless experienced the ripple effects of Stonewall ’69 and the women’s movement from the get-go. Provoked and encouraged by events States side and indeed the burgeoning civil rights movement on its own doorstep, Queen’s University Belfast played host to the foundation of Ireland’s first gay civil rights group, Belfast Gay Liberation Society (GLS), which was quickly followed by the establishment of a similar group, Sexual Liberation Movement (SLM), at Trinity College, Dublin. These two pioneering groups would later spearhead the first all-Ireland get together of lesbians and gay men, and facilitate the emergence of a pan-sexual civil rights organization on the island of Ireland. On Saturday June 27th 1974, eight members of GLS and SLM organized the first public gay rights demo at the Department of Justice and the British Embassy in Dublin. There the brave little group, that included both Jeff Dudgeon and David Norris (who would go on in later years to respectively and successfully sue the UK and Irish governments over nasty Victorian legislation), proclaimed “Homosexuals Are Revolting” and “Lesbian Love”. Pride has manifested itself in many self-deprecating, wonderful, angry, joyous, emotional and even traumatic moments since that first outing. Co-incidentally, at the same time across the Irish Sea, the Gay Liberation Front was busy organizing London’s own gay rights march/parade. In subsequent years Dublin Pride was generally marked by a press statement from the Irish Gay Rights Movement, usually drawing attention to the unjustness of the afore-mentioned anti-gay criminal legislation. The human and economic resources necessary to organize a significant Pride day – let alone week of events – only became available with the emergence of the Hirschfeld Centre, Dublin’s LGBT resource in Temple Bar, when the National Lesbian & Gay Federation (then known as NGF) organized the first largescale demo in Dublin’s city centre on Saturday 28th June 1980, four days after Trinity College English lecturer, David Norris, launched his constitutional action in the High Court. Do twenty people constitute ‘large scale’? It sure felt like that to those of us out on the streets, compelled by the innocence and anger of youth and the certainty of our ‘cause’ as we wandered around the city centre with hundreds of pink carnations, asking people to wear them as a sympathetic buttonhole and then palmed them with leaflets explaining the history of the Stonewall Riots and the assertion that “Gay Rights: It’s Time, Gay Rights Are YOUR Rights!”. Records of the Dublin Pride organising committee of 1980 (and indeed later years), kept at the Irish Queer Archive/National Library of Ireland, are a testament to the righteous anger, defiant pride and ever-increasing visibility of our LGBT brothers and sisters. And remarkably (given the grim economic times) they are also an exercise in determined, anti-commercial diversity: cinema screenings, pub crawls, a picnic at Merrion Square, ecumenical service, bus outing to Glendalough, art show, all-night disco (with unwaged rates)…all on a budget of a few hundred punts.

The Homosexuals Are Revolting At the start of the 1980s it wasn’t a great time to be publicly gay in Dublin, let alone anywhere else in Ireland. Lesbians were invisible to all intents. Guys were routinely beat up and murdered just for being gay, and in the absence of equality legislation there wasn’t much one could do about it. As for transsexuals....? The horrific murder of young Declan Flynn in Fairview Park and subsequent release of his assailants on suspended manslaughter sentences (after having impressed the judge with their homophobic vigilante credentials) angered people sufficiently to mass an enormous public demonstration against anti-gay and antiwomen violence. Between six and eight hundred people (depending on one’s sources) marched on a freezing cold, bitter March 1983 from Liberty Hall to Dublin’s Fairview Park. It was a transformative moment that would feed directly a few months later into Ireland’s first, proper Pride march; setting in motion a tradition of marches and parades that we have become so familiar with today. That first Gay Pride March – as it was tellingly known – brought together over two hundred people from Belfast, Cork and Dublin on a fabulously sunny Saturday afternoon (Although the Gardaí were miffed about our demands to trot down newly pedestrianised Grafton Street, the reaction from people was generally good). At the finish on O’Connell Street, Ireland’s first public lesbian, Joni Crone, was one of three speakers to address an electrified audience, also rededicating the G.P.O. as the ‘Gay Person’s Organisation’. Throughout the following decade and the lead up to 1993, before law change and the subsequent introduction of minority protection, those early Pride events felt more like marches and protests than the parades and parties they have now become. One’s sense of Pride was truly shaped by protest. This exhibition is presented as a series of signposts and markers along the forty year- old road to self-determination and sexual liberation by Ireland’s sexual minorities.

A Concise History of IQA Post Stonewall, Irish lesbian and gay groups and activists have laboured to document their history; a history that ultimately touches on all of Irish life in the 20th century. Well-preserved yet incomplete records bear witness to the nascent lesbian and gay civil rights era of the early 1970s. Organisations like the Northern Irish Gay Rights Association (NIGRA), Irish Gay Rights Movement (IGRM) and the National Lesbian and Gay Federation (NLGF) maintained a tradition of preservation with keen consideration, often at considerable expense and with limited human resources. As one of the largest, oldest and continuous lesbian/gay corporate organisations on this island, NLGF has been to the forefront of maintaining some semblance of an archive. From the late ‘70s onwards this was confined to a rudimentary press clippings service and some limited research by, amongst others, activists Edmund Lynch and Tom McClean. Like many corporations NLGF has also managed to acquire or subsume the interests and records of other smaller, often more specialised, groups. One example of this is the entire archive of Out, Ireland’s first commercial monthly gay magazine (1984-1988). The Out holding typically includes proofed manuscripts, original artwork, administrative and financial files, photographs, illustrations and file copies. From 1980 onwards a larger group of people in NLGF helped maintain and preserve documents and cuttings. NLGF capitalised on years of acquisition by holding onto a huge number of international titles that were surplus to ILGA’s requirements when the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) moved its informationn secretariat from Dublin to Stockholm in 1982. This collection constitutes the bedrock of the archive’s library of international titles dating back to 1951. The archive and reference library was put on a more organised footing in Midsummer 1997 when NLGF and GCN moved into new premises on South William Street, Dublin. At that point, civil rights activist and historian Tonie Walsh, along with librarians Linda Forry and Plunkett Conroy, began a systematic re-organisation of its holdings. A limited public office was set up in a short time, facilitating researchers, students and journalists in addition to servicing the research needs of journalists at Gay Community News. Although it struggled financially in the following years with finding suitable, affordable office and storage accommodation, NLGF lost no time in appointing a group of academics, historians and writers to focus on exploiting the collections and making suggestions for a future safe home. This IQA group consisted of Dr. Eibhear Walshe, lecturer in English at UCC; Dr. Mary McAuliffe and Dr. Katherine O’Donnell, both of Women’s Studies at UCD; Joan Murphy, an RTE archivist; librarian Elizabeth Kirwan of NLI; and Tonie Walsh, coincidentally a former president of NLGF and founding editor of Gay Community News. Extensive overtures and negotiations with Gerry Lyne (since retired) of the Department of Manuscripts at the National Library of Ireland ultimately bore fruit when it was agreed in 2008 to transfer the collections to NLI. The Irish Queer Archive contains the most comprehensive collection of material in Ireland relating to homosexuality and general queer studies. There are over a quarter million press cuttings from the late 1960s onwards, a library of several hundred international titles (the earliest, a US title, dates from 1951), a complete set of every lesbian/gay title (periodicals and once-offs) published since 1974 on the island of Ireland, and a fascinating collection of audiovisual material, photographs and slides, flyers, posters, badges and other ephemera, in addition to private papers, diaries, journals and organisation records.

A Concise History of IQA

Further information may be gleaned from the National Library website; www.nli.ie. IQA holdings that have been made accessible are described as Manuscripts Collection List No. 151. A Liberating Party: Emerging LGBT Pride in Ireland Researched and curated by Tonie Walsh. Text ﾂｩ Tonie Walsh, February 2010, Revised July 2012 窶連ll images ﾂｩ authors as indicated / Irish Queer Archive collection at National Library of Ireland IQA and OUT For The Weekend gratefully acknowledge the support and permission of the National Library to reproduce materials from its holdings; in particular all at the Department of Manuscripts. We are also grateful to the board and directors of Dublin LGBT Pride for permission to use the essay Homosexuals Are Revolting; a slightly different version originally appeared as Reeling in the Years in the Dublin LGBT Pride 2008 Programme. If we have inadvertently used copyrighted material without permission we apologise in advance. For further information on this or any aspect of the IQA collections, please contact irishqueerarchive@ireland.com. To view the Irish Queer Archive contact the National Library at Kildare Street, Dublin. | www.nli.ie | www.irishqueerarchive.com

Saturday 25th August Irish Queer Archive

WHERE

WHEN

ABBEY BUSINESS CENTRE

10 AM - 6 PM

ADMISSION FREE

Rosie Howick presents ‘Kylie & Katy Go Gaga’ , DJ Iano , DJ Razor Returning after a smash hit performance in Set Theatre at last years OFTW, Rosie Howick is bringing her new one of a kind show to Kilkenny. With her jaw dropping costumes & pitch perfect vocals Rosie Howick is the next best thing to the pop queens themselves. Rosie has headlined many Prides with her amazing tribute show. This is the spectacle of this year’s festival. Do NOT miss out. Ian has been the resident DJ for the festival and other OFTW events since 2010. His style ranges from cheesy pop to edgier and cooler grooves. He’s also been an active member on the production team since 2011 creating poster designs, coordinating events and generally being an awesome team player. Ian is especially looking forward to the 2012 festival as it will be the biggest year yet! The sharpest DJ in Kilkenny, DJ Razor has been playing the hits since he was a lad of sixteen. Six years on, he still has a huge grá for playing music to those in need of a great night and those looking for the shift all over Kilkenny county. When not playing the hits he likes to watch classic 90’s cartoons such as Batman, X-Men and the Animaniacs for good measure. His 90’s mixtape is not to be missed!

WHERE

CLEERE’S THEATRE

WHEN

7 PM & 10 PM

ADMISSION 8 EURO

WHERE

THE NIXON ON WATERGATE

WHEN

8 PM - TIL LATE

ADMISSION FREE

Devious Theatre’s Phantasm We are very proud to present Devious Theatre’s Phantasm as part of OUT For The Weekend. Devious Theatre were born in 2006 due to an overwhelming need to entertain. We perform different works in different spaces for different audiences using different methods, every time. We don’t like labels. Thus, our artistic credo is mostly ADHD based and fairly guerrilla. To this end, our goal is to kidnap as many young people away from gigs and cinemas and pubs and drag them to the theatre. They can bring their own cans if they want. In 6 years, we have produced 14 shows (with a lot of sold out signs put to use), brought 2 of them to Dublin, 2 of them to Cork, won a PPI Award for Radio Drama, became the first theatre artists in residence in Kilkenny Arts Office, the second Irish theatre company on Twitter (cursed Performance Corporation!) and the first to be nominated for an Irish Blog Award. We’ve also created a lot of new work and built up a very lovely audience. And we plan on doing a whole lot more. Previous works include the Irish stage premiere of Night Of The Living Dead, the In The Future When All’s Well Season (Scratcher, Shifting, Smitten), the Dario Fo Season (Accidental Death Of An Anarchist, Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!) and the Irish stage premiere of Cannibal! The Musical. NOTE: There are different performance times over the three days, with two performances on some days.

Thursday August 23rd: 8pm Friday August 24th: 7pm & 10pm Saturday August 25th: 7pm and 10pm

Cast: Hazel Doyle, Colin O’Brien Directed by John Morton Produced by Ken McGuire Production Design: Niamh Moyles Stage Manager: David Thompson Running Time: 45 minutes Contains smoking and strong language.

Cleere’s Theatre, Parliament Street, Kilkenny Bookings on 056 - 7762573 Online: http://phantasm.eventbrite.com/ Tickets: 8 Euro

Sunday 26th August Irish Queer Archive

WHERE

WHEN

ABBEY BUSINESS CENTRE

10 AM - 6 PM

ADMISSION FREE

WalkabOUT After a long weekend of partying, a walk in the lovely surroundings of Kilkenny Castle Park is just the breath of fresh air you’ll need before the final night’s activities! Join up with our team as we take a lovely nature stroll through Kilkenny’s most beautiful tour spot. Time to stretch those legs and get OUT and about!

WHERE

THE MAYOR’S WALK

WHEN

11 AM

ADMISSION FREE

Rock OUT

WHERE

One of our most popular events, Rock OUT, returns this year to stake its claim as Kilkenny’s best battle of the bands competition. The final packed out Set Theatre last year and this years event promises do the exact same as the hottest, new young acts duke it out for our panel of judges. Who will follow in the footsteps of last years winners Rescue Remedy? There can only be one winner. Get ready to rock OUT!

WHEN

DRUM YOUTH CENTRE

3 PM

ADMISSION 2 EURO

Mr. Gay Kilkenny and Ms. Gay Kilkenny , All Time DJ’s , Adam Leahy Forget the All Ireland, this is the greatest competition to hit Kilkenny all year! We will be crowning Kilkenny’s King and Queen of LGBT. A panel of specially selected judges will evaluate each and every competitor and in the end only two will be left standing! Wearing your gladdest rags, bring an escort and get ready for the party of the festival! Kilkenny’s costumed dynamic duo of dance return to OFTW after some sterling 90’s night stylings the past two years. This time, they’re hitting the decade fashion forgot with a furious mix of pop, cheese, dance, hip hop, electronica and funk that you can fast and slow dance to. The All Time DJ’s have been doing incredible themed party nights in Kilkenny since 2010. All time 80’s nostalgia will be thrown into the mix for the throwback show of the festival. Up-and-coming Kilkenny/ Limerick-based comedian and 1998 St. Mary’s Parish Under 12s Tug-of-War Champion Adam Leahy makes his OFTW debut this year. Having hit the heights of unemployment and even further unemployment, Adam first hit the stage in late 2011 performing in various comedy clubs throughout Limerick. Highly recommended by 9 out of 10 people who recommend things – unfortunately for him none of those people work for any major media outlets. This is Adam’s first show in Kilkenny. Please be nice.

WHERE

THE NIXON ON WATERGATE

WHEN

8 PM

ADMISSION FREE

Credits Thanks To...

Richie Cody Melissa Faulkner Berni Smyth Martin Rafter Tracey Morrissey Lindsey Butler Sharon O’Gorman The Foróige Drum Youth Centre Damien O’Brien Clive Davis Johnny Holden Tonie Walsh The National Library of Ireland Perfecto Print Martin Bridgeman Edwina Grace Aishling Hurley Stefan Gordan Doyle Angela Barrett Eimear Bergin The Cork Pride Festival Committee The Staff and Management of The Nixon on Watergate The Staff and Management of John Cleere’s All our acts, volunteers, sponsors, advertisers, supporters and friends :) Brochure Printed with the support of

Production Team... Alan Slattery Kery Mullaly Karen Corcoran Ian Doran Ciarán O’Neill Ken McGuire John Morton Ross Costigan Keith Blake Thomas Horvath Useful Contacts... LGBT Helpline: 1890 929 539 - http://www.lgbt.ie BeLonGTo (Youth Support): 01 670 6223 - www.belongto.org LOOK (Parent Support): 087 253 7699 www.lovingouroutkids.org Teni (Transgender Equality Network): 01 873 3575 - www.teni.ie

Media and Event Partners

Open Heart House (HIV & AIDS Support): 01 830 5000 www.openhearthouse.ie Marriage Equality: 01 873 4183 - www.MarriageEquality.ie OUT For The Weekend: 086 3179744 www.OUTForTheWeekend.ie