Theatre Forum and TheatreNI present Conference 2017
The Everyman, Cork 21–22 June
About the Partners Twist or Stick is brought to you by Theatre Forum and TheatreNI.
Theatre Forum
TheatreNI
Theatre Forum works to build a stronger performing arts community in Ireland. It is the representative association for the performing arts with over 275 members including venues and arts centres, professional theatre, dance and opera companies, performing arts festivals as well as individual directors, actors, artists, dancers, writers, producers and makers. Activities include information provision, networking events, training and professional development, research, practical services and advocacy on behalf of the performing arts sector.
TheatreNI is the representative body to support and develop theatre and the performing arts in Northern Ireland with over 100 members including venues and arts centres, theatre and dance companies, festivals, associates, and youth drama groups as well as individual artists and practitioners.
Director Anna Walsh director@theatreforum.ie
Conference Administrator Paul Donnelly info@theatreforum.ie
General Manager Irma McLoughlin manager@theatreforum.ie
Theatre Forum Festival House 12 Essex Street East Dublin 2 , D02 EH42 www.theatreforum.ie +353 1 677 8779
Principal Funders Theatre Forum receives financial assistance from the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon
TheatreNI will provide a voice for theatre and the performing arts that is heard and valued. Its programme includes training and development opportunities through workshops and professional development bursaries, networking, research, sector-specific information sharing, lobbying and advocacy on behalf of the sector. Executive Director Niamh Flanagan director@theatreni.org Development and Administration Officer Sarah Mulgrew projects@theatreni.org
TheatreNI Cathedral Quarter Managed Workspace Third Floor 109–113 Royal Avenue Belfast, BT1 1FF Northern Ireland www.theatreni.org +44 28 90311 806
Conference Funders & Sponsors TheatreNI is supported by The National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Welcome Built around a call to action, to Twist or Stick, this programme of speakers, panel discussions and debates will explore how the wider performing arts sector negotiates with a rapidly changing economic, social and political environment. We are constantly responding to change in our communities, trying to protect independence, originality and livelihoods, recognising the way artists are changing how they work. In navigating a relevant and exciting future for these art forms, everyone – artist, venue, festival, company or public body – has two choices in every decision: change or stay the same; do something or do nothing; decide what to get rid of and what to protect. As the Chairs of our two membership organisations, we welcome you to our sixth conference co-production. We are especially pleased to be in Cork at Festival time. In 2017, asking how each one of us will play the hand we have been dealt, this conference is a time to collectively reflect on how we will shape our own future as well as those of our organisations and the performing arts community. Peter Daly, Theatre Forum Chair and Louise Rossington, TheatreNI Chair
#TwistorStick
Curator’s note A conference, when it works, should lie somewhere between a good party where you meet old and new friends and a productive meeting that leaves you full of conviction, decisions and actions. Each offering in this year’s conference is a question in the making – what parts of performing arts on this island needs to be protected the most? What happens when we embrace and think about change? What needs to be done differently? Spanning the global changes of borders and peoples to the internal working of a collaborative creative process, we as an artistic community often embrace the new, but maybe sometimes not enough. Throughout this year’s conference, I would like you to think about what you would protect and change, for yourself and alongside others. To borrow from Agnes Quackels (who borrowed from someone else): “Institutions do not act, people act, and we are the people”. Ali FitzGibbon 2017 Conference Curator
Wednesday 21 June 11:00–12:30
TheatreNI Members’ Meeting
11:00–12:30
Benchmarking and Strategy Discussion
Speakers Heather Maitland, Val Ballance, Adrian Lear, Paul Fadden
11.30–13.30
Registration
The Everyman
12:30–13:30
Lunch
Sponsored by Ticketsolve
13:30–13:45
Welcome
Theatre Forum & TheatreNI Chairs welcome delegates. Speakers Peter Daly & Louise Rossington
13:45–15:00
Twist or Stick An Artist’s Perspective
As the 21st Century progresses, who we call artist and how we call what they do is changing. Many of our leading talents are ‘slash artists’ moving seamlessly across artforms, through roles on stage and screen, and across borders. With careers straddling Dublin to Broadway, live and film performances, performing and writing, Stephen Jones and Seána Kerslake will talk about their experience of developing their work and artistic practice, the juggling act of moving between different industries and the opportunities this presents in this changing world. Speakers Stephen Jones & Seána Kerslake in conversation with Peter Daly
Sticking With It
Reflecting on the growth of political interest in a creative and forward-looking economy on both sides of the border, award-winning producer Andrew Eaton will explore how the performing arts intertwine with other industries, drawing on his own perspective from within film and television. Speaker Andrew Eaton
Playing to Different Rules
The global political landscape is changing. Borders are being breached and closed. Exploring the role of the artist in telling new and more complex stories about personal, national and international identity, internationally renowned choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan will discuss his work as ignoring borders, concentrating on what makes the connection and what effect working internationally has on his practice. Speaker Michael Keegan-Dolan Followed by Q&A chaired by Sarah Durcan
15:00–15:15
Coffee Break
15:15–16:15
Artist or Audience? Friend or Foe?
All forms of performing arts are increasingly made collaboratively, bringing together artists from different disciplines and forms and combining artists with non-artists. This muddies questions of ownership and definition but also liberates everyone involved. How do artists navigate the inexactness of this work and does it offer a richer, more diverse picture? Chair Róise Goan Panel Louise Lowe, Judith Dimant, Megan Kennedy, Jessica Kennedy
16.15–17:45
The Buck Stops Here
Questions are often raised about whether the artistic or executive lead is calling the shots. Others challenge the space in our company infrastructure for new and independent voices, arguing for new collaborative approaches in which no one person is responsible for the artistic or strategic direction of companies or venues. What are the different ways in which we can empower and show leadership and how do we nurture a sector fit for future growth? Chair Julie Kelleher Panel Selina Cartmell, Neil Murray, Gary Keegan
18:00–19:00
Drinks Reception
Drinks Reception to announce Tourbook in The Everyman Bar
20:00–late
Dinner in Firkin Crane
22:30
Bus Transfer
Bus transfer from Firkin Crane to Neon Western venue (Marina Development Park) for delegates attending performance.
Thursday 22 June 09.00–10:00 Networking and Conference Round Tables
Informal conversations with selected conference speakers
10:00–11.00
Turn and Face the Strange
When you are the CEO of the world’s oldest and largest arts festival, how do you renew and challenge while remaining sensitive to the broader cultural, social and political context in which your event takes place. Shona McCarthy will draw on experiences in her current and previous roles to reflect on what leadership means and how festivals renew, change and articulate purpose. Speaker Shona McCarthy
Ch-ch-ch Changes
Festivals are the anchor to our cultural calendar. It is often easy to miss the constant evolution. This discussion throws light on the role and function festivals play in contributing to change – changing communities and social expectations; instigating and responding to changes in the cultural landscape, and dealing with internal change management. Chair Lorraine Maye Panel Shona McCarthy, Richard Wakely, Aislinn Ó hEocha, Ruth McCarthy
11:00–11:15
Coffee Break
11.15–12.00
Casting a Critical Eye
With traditional theatre and dance criticism in print media under threat and new channels of communication opening up, a panel of experienced critics and commentators will explore the changing position and role of critique. What new modes of dialogue are emerging between public, media and artists? What challenges and opportunities exist for the future of criticism? And what role do both commentators and makers have in protecting or advancing the need for an ongoing public discourse on the work that is put on our stages? Chair Peter Crawley Panel Helen Meany, Duska Radosavljevic, Judy Murphy
12:00–12:15
Twist or Stick Open Call
In response to a callout, speakers each have three minutes on the theme of Twist or Stick.
12.15–12.45
In the Intervening Time…
Richard DeDomenici makes work that’s social, joyful, topical and political – although rarely simultaneously – specialising in urban-absurdist interventions. Drawing on some of his most recent experimental projects, such as his nondenominational non-hierarchical confession booth Shed Your Fears at Tate Modern, his attempts to spread revolutionary messages via helium balloons in Newcastle, and his numerous ongoing attempts to degentrify London, DeDomenici will explore how cultural interventions have a role in societal change. Speaker Richard DeDomenici
12:45–13.45
Lunch
Lunch in Cork Opera House
14.00–15:00
Twisting in Another Direction
‘The superficial scramble for cultural diversity is not addressing the deep causes of exclusion and the power imbalance in the arts’, wrote Tania Cañas earlier this year, asking if, at its heart, there is a flaw in how far the arts infrastructure will remodel or change itself to let other voices be heard. What are the changes in perception needed to enable proper equality and access in artistic expression? Speaker Tania Cañas
Seats at the Table
Our society is changing but do our companies and our stages reflect that change and do our audiences see themselves in the stories we tell? This session will explore the complex decisionmaking and considerations of how individual artists, organisations and the sector as a whole involves and engages with communities with different identities and histories. Chair Mary McCarthy Panel Tania Cañas, Petal Pilley, Lynne Parker
15:00–15.30
Conference Closing Session
What will you keep or change? What will you protect or do in a new way? These questions will shape an interaction with delegates throughout the conference. Devised by Hilary O’Shaughnessy with Ali FitzGibbon, prompts and responses will be gathered and reviewed during this final open session. When you leave the conference, what will you do next?
15:30–15:45
Closing Remarks
Speaker Biographies Tania Cañas Tania Cañas is the Arts Director at RISE Refugee, a lecturer and PhD candidate at the Centre for Cultural Partnerships at The University of Melbourne as well as a member of the Editorial Board at the International Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal / PTO Inc. She has had her creative work published through Currency Press Australia as well as academic journals. She has presented at conferences both nationally and internationally, as well as facilitated community theatre workshops at universities, within prisons and youth groups in Australia, Northern Ireland, Solomon Islands, United States and most recently South Africa.
Selina Cartmell Selina Cartmell is the Director of the Gate Theatre, where her inaugural programme starts from July 2017. As a freelance artist, Selina has directed a diverse range of work from Greek tragedy and Shakespeare, to international work and contemporary Irish drama, in theatres including the Abbey Theatre, the Gate Theatre, the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Theatre for a New Audience, New York. Her productions have been nominated for 35 theatre awards, winning 10, including three for Best Director. She directed three award-winning productions for the Gate: Catastrophe, Festen and Sweeney Todd, described in the Guardian as ‘a new dawn for the theatre’. In 2004, she established Dublin based Siren Productions, a multi-award winning company conceived to innovate the classics and create relevant and dynamic new work, integrating theatre, dance, visual arts, architecture, film and music. In 2007, Selina was mentored by world-renowned director Julie Taymor under the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Most recently she made her film debut with The Date, a Short Shot Film Award funded by RTÉ and Filmbase.
Peter Crawley Peter Crawley is a journalist and critic with The Irish Times. He is the former news editor, online editor and editor of Irish Theatre Magazine. He taught Contemporary Irish Theatre in Context at Trinity College Dublin. He is co-editor, with Willie White, of No More Drama, a book on contemporary international performance, and is writer and editor of The Collaborative Arts Performance Pack, an interactive lectureperformance. He recently contributed to Shared Space: Music Weather Politics, a publication of the Prague Quadrennial, and in 2011 curated Voyage and Return, a symposium on Irish theatre and Diaspora, for Dublin Theatre Festival and Trinity College Dublin.
Richard DeDomenici Richard DeDomenici makes work that’s social, joyful, topical and political – although rarely simultaneously. He specialises in urban-absurdist interventions that create the kind of uncertainty that leads to possibility. DeDomenici’s BBC4 adaptation of his inexplicably popular Redux Project was described by reviewer Matt Trueman as one of the smartest, strangest, subversive half hours of television he had ever seen. He has performed in 30+ countries, and this autumn unveils his most ambitious commission yet for the Radical Independent Art Fund. Drawing on some of his most recent experimental projects, such as his non-denominational non-hierarchical confession booth Shed Your Fears at Tate Modern, his attempts to spread revolutionary messages via helium balloons in Newcastle, and his numerous ongoing attempts to de-gentrify London, DeDomenici will explore how cultural interventions have a role in societal change.
Judith Dimant Judith Dimant MBE is Executive Producer at Complicite where she has worked since 1993. Her work with Complicite includes The Encounter, Lionboy, Shun-Kin, A Disappearing Number, The Elephant Vanishes, Mnemonic, The Three Lives Of Lucie Cabrol, The Chairs, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and the revival of A Minute Too Late. Judith has produced seasons in London’s West End and On and Off Broadway and driven the Company’s more recent focus on creative learning and participatory work, including recent project Like Mother, Like Daughter and the award-winning TEA with Geraldine Pilgrim. She also designed and leads the new Complicite Associates programme through which the Company supports brilliant emerging and mid-career artists, and as part of which scheme Judith produced Bryony Kimmings’ A Pacifist’s Guide To The War On Cancer. Before joining Complicite, Dimant was press officer at the Royal Court Theatre, Administrator for Glynis Henderson Management (touring companies including STOMP) and for four years, she programmed comedy and ran the Press Office at the Pleasance Theatre Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Speaker Biographies Sarah Durcan Sarah Durcan is the Global Operations Manager of Science Gallery International, the non-profit organisation catalysing the growth of the world’s first universitylinked network dedicated to public engagement with science and art. She has a background in theatre producing and financial management and worked for nine years as the Executive Producer for award-winning Irish theatre company, The Corn Exchange. She was the Acting General Manager of Dublin Theatre Festival and then joined Dublin Fringe Festival as General Manager. As a consultant producer and strategic advisor, she has worked with ARCANE Collective Dance Company and Theatre Lovett on their international tours. Sarah holds a BA in Communications from DCU and an MA in Cultural Policy and Arts Management from UCD. She has served on the boards of Theatre Forum and GAZE Film Festival. Since November 2015, she has been involved in organising the #WakingTheFeminists campaign to achieve gender equality in Irish theatre by 2021. In July 2016, Sarah was appointed to the Board of the Abbey Theatre.
Andrew Eaton Andrew Eaton has more than 50 producer credits, including Ron Howard’s BAFTAwinning film Rush and most recently The Crown for Netflix. Andrew was born in Derry in 1959 and grew up in Derry and Belfast. After graduating from Cambridge University, he worked for the BBC in London making documentaries. In 1994, he set up Revolution Films with director Michael Winterbottom. Andrew and Michael became one of the most successful producer/ director teams in Europe. Starting with Roddy Doyle’s award-winning television serial Family for the BBC, they went on to make 30 films together, including 24 Hour Party People, A Cock and Bull Story, A Mighty Heart, Wonderland and In This World, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. They have also made award-winning television programmes, including Red Riding, The Road to Guantanamo, The Unloved, Everyday, The Trip and The Trip to Italy.
Ali FitzGibbon Ali FitzGibbon is an independent producer, programmer and arts consultant. She has worked in professional theatre and multi-artform programmes in Ireland and the UK for over 20 years, working with partners in the UK and Ireland, Netherlands, Japan and Italy. Director of the international arts organisation and festival, Young at Art from 2003 to 2016, in 2005, she created the world’s first Baby Rave and in 2012, she was a co-producer of Land of Giants, a major outdoor event in Belfast as part of the Cultural Olympiad. She curated the All-Island Performing Arts Conference in June 2016 and is also an Artistic Assessor for the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She is currently undertaking research at Queen’s University Belfast on the role of theatre artists in arts policy in the UK, where she has been an Associate on the MA in Arts Management and Cultural Policy since 2012. www.alifitzgibbon.com
Róise Goan Róise Goan has worked variously as a curator, producer, writer and director. In 2007, she founded Project Brand New, a platform for new work across disciplines. In 2008, she was appointed Director of Dublin Fringe Festival, which she led for five years of unprecedented artistic growth. During her time at Dublin Fringe Festival, she established Fringe Lab, a year round studio and artist development programme, and presented the professional debuts and breakthroughs of Emma Martin, Dead Centre, ANU, Shaun Dunne, THEATREclub, The Company, HotforTheatre and Sonya Kelly among many others. Since 2014, she has built a portfolio of freelance work. She was co-Cultural Programme Lead on the Three Sisters’ bid for European City of Culture 2020. She produced She Knit The Roof for Earagail Arts Festival in 2015 and works regularly as a strategic consultant with Prime Cut. She has consulted for Element Pictures. Ovalhouse London, RTÉ, Dublin City Council, The Arts Council, The Irish Times, Dublin Tenement Museum and others. Alongside her work in the performing arts, she has written for TV, including the Celtic Media award-winning series Aifric, and recently directed/produced Revolution Radio for 2FM. She serves on the boards of Macnas, The Lir, and #WakingTheFeminists.
Stephen Jones Stephen Jones is an actor and playwright from Tallaght. Notable theatre credits include: Maz & Bricks, DruidMurphy, I Keano, Stones in his Pockets, Alone it Stands, Dubliners, Danny and Chantelle: Still Here, This Lime Tree Bower and Signatories. His film and television credits include: Between the Canals, King of the Travellers, Scratch, Love/Hate, Amber, Ripper Street, Damo & Ivor, Pheasant Island, The Bloody Irish and Red Rock as the dangerous gangster Laser Byrne. Stephen will appear in the new RTÉ sitcom Nowhere Fast later this year. Stephen was the recipient of the Stewart Parker Trust/BBC Northern Ireland Radio Drama Award for his play From Eden. His play A Certain Romance was a Druid ‘Debut’. Stephen will next appear in 100 More Like These, a one man show, at The Viking Theatre in early July and then at the Dublin Theatre Festival in Class, a new play by Inis Theatre.
Speaker Biographies Gary Keegan Gary Keegan is a theatre maker, producer and dramaturg based in Dublin. Gary is co-artistic director of Brokentalkers, a multi-award winning theatre company known for its innovative devised performances. Most recently the company produced The Circus Animals’ Desertion (Dublin Theatre Festival) and This Beach (Munich Kammerspiele/Tiger Dublin Fringe). Other productions include Have I No Mouth (Total Theatre Award Winner, Edinburgh Fringe 2013), The Blue Boy (Grand Prix Winner, Kontakt Festival, Torun) and Silver Stars, all of which have toured internationally. Gary also works extensively within the field of participatory theatre, collaborating with diverse communities to produce original, socially engaged performances. Recent projects include Natural History of Hope, a collaboration between artist Fiona Whelan, Brokentalkers and Rialto Youth Project and The Passion Project, a large scale, intergenerational, two-day event based on the Passion of Christ and performed by over 100 local performers from the Dublin suburbs of Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard. As a dramaturg, Gary is currently working on projects with Junk Ensemble, THEATREclub, Talking Shop Ensemble and Louise White. Gary is currently developing a new show for Brokentalkers with singer Mary Coughlan which will premiere in 2018.
Michael Keegan-Dolan Michael Keegan-Dolan was the founder and director of Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre 1997–2015, an international dance and theatre ensemble based in Co. Longford. This company was best known for several ground-breaking productions, delivered in a unique style blending dance, theatre and music, including three Olivier Awardnominated productions: Giselle (2003), The Bull (2005), and The Rite of Spring (2009). Giselle won an Irish Times Irish Theatre Award and The Bull won a Critic’s Circle Dance UK Award. Rian, created in 2011, toured nationally and internationally for three years, and won a Bessie Award (a New York Dance and Performance Award) for Best Production. In 2012, he directed and choreographed Julius Caesar for English National Opera. In 2015, he created The Big Noise, for the GoteborgOperans DansKompani. He was Guest Artistic Director of National Youth Dance Company at Sadler’s Wells London for the 2015–2016 season. Michael’s new company, Teaċ Damsa (House of the Dance), was founded in 2016. Swan Lake / Loch na hEala premiered at Dublin Theatre Festival 2016, won the Irish Times Irish Theatre Award for Best Production, and will tour extensively in 2017 and 2018. He is an associate artist at Sadler’s Wells London.
Julie Kelleher Julie Kelleher is Artistic Director of The Everyman, Cork, where she is responsible for the programme and artistic strategy. She also directs plays for the company, most recently The Factory Girls by Frank McGuinness, David Greig’s The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart and Lovers by Brian Friel. She holds a BA in Drama and English, and an MA in Drama from UCC. She has worked as an actor, director and freelance theatre producer with numerous Irish arts organisations, companies and artists such as Painted Bird, Conflicted, BrokenCrow, Kinsale Arts Week, Cork Midsummer Festival, Hammergrin, Corcadorca, Meridian, Dublin Theatre Festival, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, The Performance Corporation, Gare St. Lazare, Once Off Productions, Landmark Productions, and Siren Productions. Julie is a member of the steering committee for Corcadorca’s Theatre Development Centre at Triskel Arts Centre, and is a board member of Theatre Forum.
Jessica Kennedy Jessica Kennedy is an award-winning choreographer and dance artist based in Dublin. She is Co-founder and Co-Artistic Director of dance-theatre company Junk Ensemble. Previous Artists-in-Residence at The Tate, the multi-award winning company have built a reputation in Ireland as dance innovators, with their work touring to the UK, Europe, Ireland and New York. Jessica trained in the USA, Dublin and London, completing her degree in Dance & English Literature in London. She has performed extensively with dance and theatre companies in the UK and Europe, including Blast Theory (UK), Retina Dance Company (UK), Tanz Lange (Germany), Firefly Productions (Belgium), Storytelling Unplugged (Romania). In Ireland, she regularly collaborates with theatre company Brokentalkers (Circus Animals’ Desertion, Frequency 783, The Blue Boy, In Real Time, On This One Night) and has performed in productions with the Abbey Theatre, the Ark & the Pavilion Theatre. She was awarded Best Female Performer for Dublin Fringe Festival 2006. Jessica co-created the internationally acclaimed short film Motion Sickness in 2012 and has choreographed for and performed in numerous film, theatre and opera work. She has lectured at various universities in Ireland and also performs in the band Everything Shook. Jessica was Dancer in Residence at RUA RED Arts Centre in 2012 / 13.
Speaker Biographies Megan Kennedy Megan Kennedy trained at Alvin Ailey Dance Center in New York City and received a BA Honours from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Choreography for live performance includes Villette (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Town is Dead (Abbey Theatre), Tasting Blue (Project Arts Centre), Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades Opera (Edinburgh Festival Theatre), Bram Stoker Festival, Marble & Bread (Dance Limerick), eX Choral Ensemble. Performance and choreography for film includes The Wake (Invisible Thread), Óiche Nollaig na mBan (RTÉ Television), Blind Runner (Junk Ensemble/Dance Ireland), Wonder House (Dublin Film Festival), Her Mother’s Daughters (Winner Best Actress Capalbio Festival Italy / Dance on Camera NYC / RTÉ Dance on the Box). Megan is Co-Artistic Director of multi-award winning Junk Ensemble. She has performed with Retina Dance Company (UK), Tanz Lange (Germany), Firefly Productions (Belgium), Storytelling Unplugged (Romania), Blast Theory (UK) and in Ireland with Brokentalkers (The Blue Boy, On This One Night), CoisCéim Dance Theatre (Faun, As You Are), Abbey Theatre (Romeo & Juliet), Mouth on Fire (Everlasting Voices), Bedrock Productions (Pale Angel) and productions for the Ark and the Pavilion. Megan was Dance Artist-in-Residence in Limerick in 2014 / 15. She is a Fellow of Salzburg Global Seminar and the chair of Dance Travels.
Seána Kerslake Seána Kerslake is an actress from Tallaght. She trained at The Factory (now Bow Street). Her theatre credits include: From Eden, Hooked and The Bruising of Clouds. She will be appearing in Druid Theatre Company’s upcoming production of Eugene McCabe’s King of the Castle at the Dublin Theatre Festival. Seána’s film and television credits include: Dollhouse, for which she received an IFTA nomination for ‘Best Actress’. She received her second IFTA nomination in the same category for playing the title role in A Date For Mad Mary. She played the leading role in RTÉ / BBC3 comedy Can’t Cope Won’t Cope and begins filming as the lead in new feature The Hole in the Ground this summer. Other film credits include: Life’s a Breeze, The Lobster, We Ourselves, Falling, The Hard Way, The Long Shot and Darkroom. Seána was the recipient of The Bingham Ray New Talent Award at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2016.
Louise Lowe Louise Lowe makes site-specific and immersive art works within communities of space, place and interest. Since co-founding ANU in 2009, Louise has directed all of the company’s productions to date, including the multi-award winning: These Rooms (Art:2016) in collaboration with CoisCéim, Sunder, On Corporation Street (Home Manchester / Culture Ireland), Pals (National Museum of Ireland), Reflecting The Rising (RTÉ), Rebel Rebel (National / International Tour), Beautiful Dreamers (Limerick City of Culture), Angel Meadow (Home Manchester), Thirtéen, Dublin Tenement Experience, Vardo, The Boys Of Foley Street (Public Art Commission), Laundry, World’s End Lane, Fingal Ronan (New York) Memory Deleted and Basin. Other directing credits include: Test Dummy (Theatre Upstairs), Deep (Cork Opera House), The End of the Road (Fishamble), Across the Lough (Performance Corporation), Secret City, Right Here Right Now, The Baths, Demeter Project: Cultural Olympiad Production (Prime Cut Productions), The Bell Room, Come Forward to Meet You and Evensong (Upstate). Louise teaches devising at the LIR Academy (Trinity College Dublin). She was awarded the Captain Cathal Ryan Scholarship Award and the International Artist Residency at the Robert Wilson Centre, New York. She has currently been awarded an Arts Council England, Ambition for Excellence Award.
Heather Maitland Heather Maitland has led Theatre Forum’s benchmarking project for the past 12 years. She is an arts consultant, author, trainer and Associate Fellow at the Centre for Cultural Policy Studies at the University of Warwick. Her current projects in Ireland include creating arts and culture strategies with Blu Zebra for three district councils in the north, a cultural audit and mapping project for Dublin City Council with Annette Nugent and large-scale quantitative research into audiences and non-attenders with disabilities for Arts and Disability Ireland. She is also working as audience development advisor for two Creative Europe projects. Heather worked with over 100 organisations on audience, business and art form development as head of two of the UK’s audience development agencies. She has nine books on arts marketing and audience development to her credit. She has delivered seminars and training programmes throughout the UK, Ireland and worldwide.
Speaker Biographies Lorraine Maye Lorraine Maye has a wealth of experience in festivals, having worked in a variety of different roles for events both nationally and internationally including the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast, Cork Film Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Temple Bar Cultural Trust where she managed Culture Night for six years and programmed events throughout the area. Having initially joined Cork Midsummer Festival as Festival Manager in 2013, she is now the Director of the Festival.
Mary McCarthy Mary McCarthy is Director of the National Sculpture Factory, Cork and Chair of Culture Ireland. The National Sculpture Factory (NSF) is an organisation, which provides and promotes a supportive and enabling environment for the making of art and the realisation of creative projects. It supports artists and their practices through studio facilities, residencies, lecture programmes, cultural exchanges, masterclasses and professional development as well as by initiating ambitious commissions and opportunities. Previously, Mary was the first Executive Arts and Culture manager for Dublin Docklands Development Authority. While in that role, she was responsible for the integration of the arts across the Dublin Docklands organisation and for the development and implementation of their arts and culture strategy. Prior to that, she was Director of Programmes and Deputy Director for Cork 2005, the company established to manage Cork’s designation as European Capital of Culture. While there, she was responsible for the initiation of many large-scale civic programmes as well as new works and commissions. Mary is currently Chair of Culture Irelands EAC, and a Board member of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). She has previously been an international expert panelist to assess future Capitals of Culture and frequently moderates international forums and events.
Ruth McCarthy Ruth McCarthy is Artistic Director of Outburst Queer Arts Festival in Belfast. She has worked with the performance-led festival since it started in 2007 as a community initiative to support social change through quality arts development and programming. Formerly a TV and radio producer with the BBC, she is a frequent contributor to media features and university panels on queer arts and creative activism. For the last two years, she has been working closely with the British Council to support the development of international queer arts networks and creative partnerships in the Global South, particularly in countries where institutionalised and violent homophobia and transphobia are pressing issues. She is a member of the British Council Arts and Creative Economy Advisory Group and a Director of the Black Box venue in Belfast.
Shona McCarthy Shona McCarthy is the Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society – the charity which underpins the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. Originally, from County Down, Shona has dedicated her career to championing and developing the arts and culture. From 2011 to 2014, she was Chief Executive of the Culture Company, leading on Derry-Londonderry’s transformational year as UK City of Culture, creating and delivering a world-class, citywide cultural programme for 2013. Prior to that, she was Director of the British Council Northern Ireland leading a team of 40 to oversee international programmes of work across schools, arts and Higher Education to build positive international cultural relations. She was the CEO of Imagine Belfast, heading up Belfast’s bid to be European Capital of Culture. She was Head of Exhibition at the Northern Ireland Film Council and spent many years as Chief Executive of Cinemagic Film Festival for young people; and the Foyle Film Festival. In 2007, she was the Northern Ireland recipient of a NESTA cultural leadership award, which took her to live and work in India with Seagull Foundation for the Arts in Calcutta, and in 2014, she was Northern Ireland’s recipient of the Eisenhower Fellowship. As well as her Fringe commitments, Shona is also Chair of Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast, and Walk The Plank, a Salfordbased Creative agency specialising in spectacular outdoor arts and pyrotechnics.
Speaker Biographies Helen Meany Helen Meany is an arts journalist, critic and consultant. She has extensive experience of writing and broadcasting on theatre and of presenting critical writing programmes in universities and at international performing arts festivals. She reviews theatre in Ireland for the Guardian, and has contributed to Variety, the Irish Times, Winter Papers and theartsdesk.com, among many other publications. Currently an Advisor to the Arts Council of Ireland on literature and publishing, Helen was a journalist and arts commissioning editor with the Irish Times for many years. From 2005–11 she was Editor of Irish Theatre Magazine, and Curator of Critical Voices, the Arts Council’s international programme of events and public debate on culture and ideas, 2005–6. In addition to Master’s degrees in Cultural Leadership, Journalism and Ancient Greek Literature (Classics), she recently completed a Diploma in Personal and Executive Coaching. Helen is Chairperson of Dublin Dance Festival and is on the board of the Douglas Hyde Gallery.
Judy Murphy Judy Murphy moved to Galway from her native Co Clare in the 1980s to study for an Arts degree at UCG (now NUIG). Except for one year spent in Dublin doing a postgrad in journalism in DCU, Galway has been home since, thanks in large part to its lively arts scene. For the past 12 years, she has been with The Connacht Tribune, one of the country’s largest regional newspapers, where she works as arts editor, feature writer and a sub-editor. Before that, she had a long freelance career writing about and reviewing theatrical productions for local and national media outlets, including RTÉ, The Sunday Times, Irish Examiner and Irish Times. Her job as arts editor with The Connacht Tribune involves liaising with local and national groups, writing previews and interviews as well as reviewing productions.
Neil Murray Neil Murray is a theatre producer and Director of the Abbey Theatre. From 2005– 2016, he was Executive Producer at the National Theatre of Scotland where he oversaw the creation and expansion of the NTS from a standing start into a major international touring company. Neil was particularly involved in the international work of the NTS which toured to China, USA, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Poland and Ireland. He was instrumental in their work transferring, commercially, to the West End of London (Let The Right One In) and Broadway, New York (the ‘Alan Cumming’ Macbeth). In addition, he developed and managed co-productions with companies as diverse as The National Theatre of Great Britain, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Barbican and Royal Court Theatres, London, Campo (Ghent, Belgium), Parco (Tokyo, Japan) and TEAM (New York). Prior to the NTS, for six years, Neil was the Director of the Tron Theatre, Glasgow where he was responsible for producing Tron Theatre Company productions and programming all visiting work. Neil has also worked for 7:84 Theatre Company Scotland, the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow and Granada Television, Manchester.
Aislinn Ó hEocha Aislinn Ó hEocha joined Baboró International Arts Festival for Children in a new role as Executive Artistic Director in May 2015. She oversees all areas of the organisation as well as programming the annual international festival in October each year and year round activities. Baboró, Ireland’s only festival dedicated solely to children and their families, is now in its 21st year and serves 18,000 people each year. Aislinn’s passion for children’s work began back in 2001 when she worked with Baboró as Venue Manager for that year’s festival. She went on to gain a wealth of programming, management and marketing experience whilst General Manager of glór in Ennis and, later, as Artistic Director of The Source Arts Centre in Thurles. Aislinn previously worked in software and banking industries. She holds an MSc in European Studies and a Bachelor of Arts.
Speaker Biographies Hilary O’Shaughnessy Hilary O’Shaughnessy is the Lead Producer for Playable City at Watershed in Bristol. Hilary leads on the Playable City Award, manages the international network and designs and facilitates the international ideation laboratories across five continents in cities as diverse as Lagos, Montreal, Tokyo, Seoul and Sao Paulo. Her background spans theatre, game and interaction design both as a performer and producer.
Lynne Parker Lynne Parker is Artistic Director and co-founder of Rough Magic. Productions include: The Train, The House Keeper (Best New Play 2012), Phaedra, Don Carlos (Best Production 2007), The Taming of the Shrew (Best Production 2006), Improbable Frequency (Best Production, Best Director, 2004), Copenhagen (Best Production 2002), Spokesong, Pentecost, Northern Star, The Sugar Wife, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Digging for Fire, Love and a Bottle, Danti-Dan, Top Girls. Other theatre includes Beowulf (Tron), Northern Star, Children of the Sun, The Provoked Wife (Lir Academy), Heavenly Bodies, The Sanctuary Lamp, Down the Line (Abbey Theatre), The Drawer Boy (Galway International Arts Festival), Catchpenny Twist (Tinderbox), The Girl Who Forgot to Sing Badly (Theatre Lovett), Macbeth (Lyric), productions for 7:84 Scotland, Druid, Gate, Bush, Almeida, Old Vic, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Corn Exchange, RSC, Traverse, Birmingham Rep, B*spoke. She is Associate Artist of Charabanc, received the 2008 Irish Times Irish Theatre Special Tribute Award and an Honorary Doctorate from Trinity College Dublin in 2010.
Petal Pilley Petal Pilley is the Artistic Director of Blue Teapot Theatre Company where she creates pioneering theatre for artists with an intellectual disability. Significant highlights include the original commission of Christian O’Reilly’s award winning play Sanctuary for Blue Teapot which she directed. Sanctuary was subsequently developed into a feature film which, to date, has been screened at 12 international film festivals, collecting three awards along the way. Petal developed Ireland’s first accredited Performing Arts School for people with intellectual disabilities, which is a project strand of Blue Teapot.
Duška Radosavljević Duška Radosavljević is a writer, dramaturg and Reader in Contemporary Theatre and Performance at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has written hundreds of reviews for The Stage Newspaper both as a member of the Stage Edinburgh team between 1998–2010 and as a regular contributor. She also writes for Exeunt. As an academic, she has published articles in journals such as Contemporary Theatre Review and Performance Research, among others, and in various book collections. She is the author of the award winning TheatreMaking: Interplay Between Text and Performance in the 21st Century (Palgrave 2013) and editor of Contemporary Ensemble (Routledge 2013) and Theatre Criticism: Changing Landscapes (Bloomsbury Methuen 2016). Duška has also worked extensively as a dramaturg including a three year stint at Northern Stage in Newcastle as well as numerous freelance collaborations with writers, directors, dancers, choreographers, circus artists and street performers nationally. Her latest collaboration as a dramaturg was with Robert Icke on his Olivier-winning Oresteia in 2015. As a practising dramaturg and theatre critic, Duška believes that theatre criticism is a form of dramaturgy rather than journalism.
Richard Wakely Richard Wakely is the Artistic Director of the Belfast International Arts Festival, a leading annual festival event of contemporary arts and ideas. Prior to taking up this post in 2013, he was a freelance producer and arts management consultant and produced for and represented several dance ensembles and independent artists including Claire Cunningham (Scotland), Sol PIcó (Spain), Junk Ensemble, Fearghus Ó Conchúir, Ríonach Ní Néill and Nick Bryson and Damian Punch. He also founded and co-curated an annual season of new contemporary dance from Ireland at Dance Base as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Previous posts include Commissioner for the China–Ireland Cultural Exchange Programme for the Irish Government, Managing Director of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and General Manager of Hampstead Theatre, London. Between these latter two theatres he transferred, produced and co-produced 18 productions into London’s West End including Dolly West’s Kitchen by Frank McGuinness, Burn This by Lanford Wilson (with John Malkovich), Dead Funny by Terry Johnson and Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me by Frank McGuinness (also Broadway, New York). Richard is a board member of Dance Ireland.
Theatre Forum Advert 27.5.16.qxp_Layout 1 27/05/2016 4:55 p.m. Page 1
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Thank You We have to thank lots of people for their help and assistance in organising the 2017 conference including Julie Kelleher, Sean Kelly and The Everyman team bolstered by such hard-working volunteers, Lorraine Maye and the Cork Midsummer Festival team, welcoming hosts Firkin Crane and Cork Opera House as well as all our funders and sponsors. The board directors and executives of both Theatre Forum and TheatreNI would like to thank you, our members, speakers and guests, who support and contribute so much to make our conference a success.
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