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DLI NEWSLETTER 22 APRIL 2021
LATEST NEWS
 
It is encouraging to see groups of 15 can meet outdoors for cultural activities from Mon 26th April. 
 
Joanne Keane (DLI PRO) asked Senator Malcolm Byrne to put the question to Minister Catherine Martin T.D., at this week's Oireachtas Committee Meeting on Tourism, Sport, Arts, Media and Culture, about the easing of restrictions for live theatre/rehearsal. It’s great to have the voice of amateur drama heard and have a note of positivity for you! 
 
 
 
 
 
SAVE THE DATES 31 JULY  -7 AUGUST ??!!

The signs are good regarding the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, and the gradual easing of restrictions as Summer 2021 approaches. So, our DLI Summer School team of new Director, Ollie Kenny, with DLI Chairman Willie O’Brien, Christine O’Brien and Elaine McLoughlin, have been putting their heads together to come up with ideas as to how the 55th DLI Summer School might take place in Limerick this year. We all missed it so much in 2020. 
 
Our main priority would of course be to adhere rigidly to suitable Covid-19 precautions throughout the week to ensure the safety of everybody on campus at all times.  So, the Summer School experience, would of necessity differ from previous years with these precautions in place.  However, we can guarantee that the lasting impression you would take away from the week would NOT be different, in that you would have spent invaluable hours with top-class tutors in your chosen course. No changes there!
 
This is where you, our members, come in.  We have a plan, we have the tutors booked, we have UL booked.  However, we need to know if there is an appetite out there for the DLI Summer School this year, in whatever form it might take, presuming that the vaccine rollout is successful, and that restrictions are eased sufficiently. 
 
Please let us know your thoughts on summerschool@dli.ie, and we’ll take it from there!
 DLI INSURANCE SCHEME
The DLI Insurance scheme for our member groups runs in conjunction with JLT/Marsh Insurance.  As a concession to the effects of the pandemic on live performance, they have extended the 2020-21 cover by two months until 30 June 2021.  If your group took out cover with them in April 2020, you should not renew your policy for 2021-2 until end June.  
 
Get in touch with our Chairman, Willie O'Brien, with any queries related to this:
 
 
 
 
MEET OUR NEW DLI BOARD MEMBERS!
Edward Hayden, new DLI Magazine Editor, writes:
 
I hail from Graignamanagh, Co. Kilkenny and am the chairperson of the New Ross Drama Workshop in Co Wexford. I am also a very active member and officer of the Duiske Players in my native Graignamanagh, playing many and varied parts with the group over the years, such as Mortimer in Arsenic & Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring and Arnold Crouch in Not Now Darling by John Chapman and Ray Cooney.
 
New Ross Drama Workshop is a group with over forty years of experience in drama. Its’ success is indicative of the wealth of talent within the group from its inception right up to the present day. The group has been very active on the one act festival circuit in recent years, having won first place in the Confined section of the 2019 All Ireland One Act Finals with Notes on Falling Leaves by Ayub Khan Din. I played the part of ‘Man’ in this tender two- hander elegiac play. The group previously competed on the circuit and did very well with their productions of Spectre by Don Nigro, The Tinker’s Wedding by John Millington Synge and Interior Designs by Jimmie Chinn.
 
Over my years with New Ross, as well as appearing in the One Act circuit productions, I have also played many really enjoyable roles in the group’s full length plays, including Chris in All My Sons, Teddy Heelin in Big Maggie, Dinzie Conlee in Sharon’s Grave and Cripple Billy in The Cripple of Inishmaan.
 
In 2019, at the invitation of the Keane family, I curated and performed in a one man show celebrating the writings and characters of John B. Keane, with all proceeds raised going towards the Carlow/Kilkenny Cancer Homecare team.
 
Aside from drama, I have also appeared in recent productions of Funny Girl and Ghost with the New Ross Musical Society and in Beauty and the Beast with Watergate Productions in Kilkenny.
 
I am very much looking forward to working with the DLI Board and know for sure that 'There’s no people like show people!!'
 
edward@edwardhayden.ie
 
 
 
 
PHILIP HOWLIN
Philip, our new Festival Liaison Officer, writes:
 
My first interest in Drama, like most people of my age, came through my local Courtnacuddy DG and the ’Fit-Ups’ visiting our area in the 1950s and 1960s.  My early fascination was Backstage, and in 1967/68 I was part of backstage crew for our 4th year play in St Peter’s College.  Then, after joining Macra na Feirme in Meath, I developed a love for one acts through taking part in their Drama and Variety productions for more than six years.
 
 In 1982 I came to work in Wexford but my job entailed unsocial hours and my drama activities were confined to attending local and festival productions. A change in job in 1996 meant more time, and I joined Davidstown/Courtnacuddy Drama Group.  My highlight was playing “Bull McCabe” on 12 occasions in local halls around Wexford, Kilkenny and Wicklow.
 
In 2001 I was to play “Da” in Hugh Leonard’s play but Foot and Mouth (a virus) interrupted Drama (sounds familiar?).  When normality returned, I was asked to play a small part in Rathnure Pantomime and Musical Society’s production of Beauty and the Beast and stayed on for 15 years taking part both on and offstage in 23 productions.  In 2012, I was cast to play one of the soldiers in Passion Play in Camross DG, and ended up playing Philip, the Apostle.
 
Directors who influenced me over the years were:
 
Ned Power and Fr John O’Brien in St Peter’s College: They both indulged me in my fascination for backstage.
 
Pat Smyth in Navan who introduced me to One Acts.
 
My brother John Howlin, and Billy Doyle in Courtnacuddy who introduced me to Keane, Leonard, Synge.
 
John Reilly and Liam Sharkey in Rathnure who wrote characters specially for me.
 
Michael Stafford, Des Waters, Mary Brown in Camross, who, with their differing styles, have given me a great love of all things Dramatic.
 
Of course I must never forget all the hundreds of backstage and onstage performers I met over the years who made every moment in drama enjoyable.
My ambition on the DLI Board is to do my bit to ensure that Amateur Drama can continue to thrive in years to come. I’m looking forward to it!!
 
philipahowlin@gmail.com
 
 
BOLAND : JOURNEY OF A POET

 
 
Words by Eavan Boland

Edited by Colm Tóibín


Directed by Garry Hynes


Performed by Siobhán Cullen

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
'If there was a narrative to my life in those years, then let this be the sound of it.'
 
Eavan Boland is one of Ireland’s great poets. Boland: Journey of a Poet is the story of her life as she told it, through her own poetry and autobiographical prose.
This world premiere theatre production will be live streamed from The Mick Lally Theatre in Galway and performed by Siobhán Cullen (Once Upon a BridgeThe Cherry Orchard, DruidShakespeare: Richard III).
 
LIVE STREAM 22-24 APRIL
ON DEMAND 27 APRIL-2 MAY 
 
Tickets www.druid.ie
 
Inspired by Eavan Boland’s mother, the expressionist painter Frances Kelly, Boland: Journey of a Poet will feature on stage the Irish artist Debbie Chapman who will paint a portrait of Eavan Boland during the live stream performances. The poster for this production also features one of Frances Kelly’s paintings, a portrait of her daughter Eavan Boland as a young girl.
 
 
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Drama League of Ireland  •  Mill Theatre  •  DUBLIN, 16

http://www.dli.ie

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