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As we head into Summer 2021, hope is in the air at last in the wider world, and in our own drama world. In our previous ezine we asked for your thoughts on the possibility of the DLI Summer School going ahead this year, and there was a very positive trend emerging in your replies! So, see more about the potential line-up of tutors and courses in this newsletter.
Photo L-R:
Row 1: Eugene O’Sullivan (Recording Secretary), Joanne Keane, Michael Johnston, Willie O’Brien
Row 2: John Lennon, Karen Carleton, Mairéad Broderick (Chairperson), Ollie Kenny (Secretary)
Row 3: Hubert McMorrow, Mary Torsney, Rachael Cullinane Elliott, Máire Ní Riain
At their recent meeting, the soundings from the ADCI/DLI '6&6' Joint Committee about the feasibility of the One Act Circuit this autumn were reasonably optimistic, so watch this space for further news on that. The 2021-2 Committee are pictured above.
Congratulations to Imelda McDonagh, newly elected President of the Association of Drama Adjudicators (ADA). Imelda is, of course, well-known to all on the one act and full length circuits. We wish her well in her new ADA role.
A Message from Regina Bushell, Director,
RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival Athlone
To The Festivals Circuit
As the director of the RTE All Ireland Drama Festival, I wish to thank you all for your support in ensuring that the loss of the drama festivals in our communities due to the Covid pandemic is marked in our history forever.
One of my goals as director is to continue to raise awareness and appreciation nationally of what the amateur drama movement in Ireland offers to the thousands of people involved in this voluntary artistic creative activity.
For me it continues to be a life long involvement over 45 years at many levels in both Athlone Little Theatre and the All Ireland Drama Festival.
Like all of you, I am missing the connections, festivals, drama groups, and live performances.
I am living in hope that we will get this pandemic under control and we will see a return to live performances in theatres right across the country, the return of all festivals in the months ahead and that we will meet on the circuit and in Athlone in 2022.
Here is the link to our video:
https://youtu.be/ByqVSihS4rw
And here are are the hashtags - please share them across all social media and ask your friends to share them far and wide.
Could you all please use #RTEDramaFest and #RTEIntervalAct and tag @rte (Twitter), /explorerte (Facebook and Instagram)? And also @AllIrelandDram1 (Twitter) and /AllIrelandDramaFestival (Facebook).
Kind Regards
Regina Bushell
087 2857304
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Summer School Director, Ollie Kenny, and his team are working on providing the usual rewarding DLI Summer School experience within the safest of environments. We will update you on developments, but, in the meantime, here are our proposed tutors and courses.
Summer School 2020 was cancelled, but five of the tutors booked for then are ready to run with their courses this year. Belinda Wild and Peter McAllister are unable to commit in 2021, so Catherine Simon Sheridan will replace Belinda with a course for those new to acting and directing, while we hope that Aaron Monaghan will be available with a course to replace Peter's.
All queries to summerschool@dli.ie
Catherine Simon Sheridan is founder and Artistic Director of Drama Works Ireland which facilitates multidisciplinary theatre training in educational settings, primary & post primary as well as community based practice for professional companies and organisations. She is also founder and Artistic Director of Roscommon County Youth Theatre since 1999 and resident facilitator with Leitrim Carrick Youth Theatre and a Board Member with the National Association of Youth Drama.
Catherine has worked extensively throughout Ireland & abroad specialising in drama facilitation & directing with children, adolescents, & adult groups. Other areas of work include performance, film, movement & choreography, writing, street theatre & face painting.
Dare to Dream -Dare to Direct
Geoff O'Keeffe
For those with little or no experience who wish to immerse themselves into the world of directing, to those with some plays under their belt who wish to find new ways of working, this hands-on practical workshop allows you to consider the various elements of a director’s practice.
During the week we will negotiate the text, and develop scenes that have clarity, vision and truth. Techniques will be demonstrated, giving participants an up-close insight of how a working director might bring the page to the stage. Learning will be active with participants having the opportunity to direct work over the course of the week and within a supportive and nurturing environment we will evaluate, consider and reflect. While the course concentrates on the director’s creative response to the work with a company of actors, we will also look at the practical areas that a director needs to consider.
The Actor is the Theatre: Declan Drohan
For those with some acting experience, this course is an introduction to the dynamic principles of the Michael Chekhov Technique, through ensemble and solo performance. We will work to discover connectivity between imagination and physical expression. Exploring psychophysical performance, inner and outer activity, we will seek to establish the grounds by which sensation and feeling can be summonsed in performance. If transformation is the goal for the actor in performance, how can it be achieved?
Wayne Jordan's course is for experienced directors, and will deal with creating original material and exploring short texts/scenes with a focus on the elements of the body, space and objects.
Participants will be introduced to approaches and methods drawn from the traditions of material research and object theatre, and will explore how they might apply these approaches to their own work and context. The course will be structured around the creation of a series of short compositions and exercises to be presented to each other throughout the week.
Participants will be expected to direct, perform, give critique and create original material.
And Then You Act!
Ciarán McCauley's class will concentrate on Movement and Physical Theatre. All theatre is physical, at the very least the actor has to walk on stage but, HOW do they move? In this course we will explore and investigate the fundamentals of movement on stage. We will ask many questions and look to ourselves for answers. The course will take you on a journey of self-discovery and personal development in your role as Interpretative Artist.
We will also have space for attention to voice, with an introduction to a range of warm-up routines and exercises to develop breath control and strength for projection and clarity. The course will be vigorous and by its very nature physical. The emphasis will be on doing, but in an atmosphere which is nurturing and rewarding.
Pius McGrath is Assistant Technical Manager at University Concert Hall ,UL, and his course will focus on Lighting and Sound.
Further information on course content will be available later.
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FUNDRAISER FOR MILL THEATRE
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Please support Rathfarnham Theatre Group's streamed performance of EDEN by Eugene O'Brien on 14 May. It will raise much-needed funds for the Mill Theatre, Dundrum, home of the DLI Office & Library.
Rathfarnham Theatre Group
Fundraiser
on behalf of
dlr Mill Theatre,
Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin
EDEN by Eugene O’Brien
Friday 14 May 2021 8.00 pm
TICKETS €8.00
Booking at www.milltheatre.ie
Streaming on dlr Mill Theatre’s
YouTube channel
Directed by Maria Burke King
Helen O’Brien as Breda
Columb Casey as Billy
Billy and Breda haven't had a night out together in years. Tonight, Breda has lost weight, gained a babysitter and a new outfit and is ready to sweep Billy off his feet down at Flanagans. But Billy has other plans - most of them involving Imelda Egan.
Eugene O'Brien's heartbreaking two-hander is the portrait of good times gone bad for two people who have promised to be together forever.
OVER 18- ADULT CONTENT
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED.
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John and Maura Clancy from Corofin Dramatic Society have devised a one woman show dealing with Covid related issues.
It’s a monologue from five different womens' points of view written and directed by John, and performed by his wife Maura Clancy.
clancy.maura@gmail.com
https://youtu.be/Wsod1hzjWPM
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