Next Stage 2018 Participants

Shanna May Breen is an Offaly-born Dublin-based theatre maker who is invested in devising theatre with groups of exciting people in interesting places.  Previous works have seen her track Ireland’s obsession with alcohol while drinking a bottle of Jameson live on stage, climbing a glacier to develop a show about “journey” and dueting with a toy polar bear to create a per-formative lecture about global warming. Shanna was most recently awarded the Next Stage Wild Card Award by Dublin Fringe Festival for The Sound of Phoenix, a travelling soundscape of the Phoenix Park that the listener experienced on a moving 1950’s bus. Her true love and obsession is to make art that does not yell answers but whispers questions quietly.

Shanna completed her MA in Advanced Theatre Practice at The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in 2014 and her BA in Devised Theatre at Dartington College of Art in 2010. Throughout Shanna’s academic research she mainly examined the notion of the ‘Uncanny’ in live contemporary performance.

Luke Casserly is a theatre-maker from Co. Longford, based in Dublin. Luke presented efficacy 84 at the Dublin Fringe Festival 2018, an experimental piece examining the Kerry Babies Case from 1984 as well as the limitations of memory through theatrical form. Luke works as a freelance director, designer and performer, and was recently the recipient of the Pan Pan International Mentorship Bursary, where he developed a new piece looking at themes of authorship and connection in a corrupt and unstable society. Luke recently directed Viva Voce by Lauren-Shannon Jones as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival 2018. Luke was recently selected to be an inaugural Young Curator at the Abbey Theatre for 2018/19 where he will co-curate a Summer Festival of work in the Peacock Theatre in 2019. Luke graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 2017 with a First Class Honours degree in Drama and Theatre Studies.

I’m a Belfast-based theatre-maker and playwright, and a REVEAL artist with Prime Cut. I’ve worked in theatre for nearly 20 years: as an actor, facilitator, stage manager, teacher, academicresearcher. I have a PhD on the theatre of Stewart Parker. I also teach Drama at Queen’s and work as a dramaturg. My practice is shaped by my perspective as a mother of three young children, a partner, a daughter,and part-time carer for a parent with dementia. I’m from County Down, have lived/studied/worked in Dublin, Belfast and Oxford.For REVEAL I’ve written a play exploring how poetry and language shape our sense of self and understanding of our past, and the destructive effects of dementia. I’m currently developing a piece for solo performer based on the life of Lucia Joyce to be presented in a new work showcase at the MAC, this November/December.

In 1993 I went to Moscow for a year to study at the State Institute of Cinematography.

I think I got there because few others turned up for the initial audition. I loved my time and training in Russia, where I met some wonderful people: actors, directors and teachers. By 1996 I lived in Dublin and it was then that Loose Canon had staged Julius Caesar in the Crypt.

Now I live in Cork and creating theatre here has been like starting out all over again. I am currently looking at the history of brass bands and singing in a key way out of my range in a piece that has yet to take shape and which we call The Underground of Happiness.

I’m from Cork but Dublin has been, where I first started out as an actor. I can’t wait for the Next Stage as well meeting some old friends and new.

Gemma is an experienced theatre-maker committed to the exploration of new ways of presenting the emotional and instinctual language of theatre inspired by real life events and experiences. During 2018 Gemma directed Somethings a piece devised with an all female ensemble of actors with ID presented as part of the Abbey 5×5 programme, and Looking for Bang-Bang, originally created in 2004 from the oral history of older people in Dublin re-worked for the International Literature festival Dublin.

Gemma studied acting at Manchester Metropolitan University where she developed a passion for experimenting with the form of theatre. She has worked with internationally renowned companies such as Cirque Du Soleil and Punchdrunk Enrichment and was part of the devising team for their immersive production Beneath the Streets.

Gemma is a co-founder and artistic director of Shadowbox, directing productions including Outside nominated for the Irish Times Theatre Awards.

Kate is an Actress and Writer from Dublin. She is a graduate of The Gaiety School of Acting and Bow Street Academy for Screen Acting. Theatre credits include The Snapper by Roddy Doyle, ASSASSINS by Stephen Sondheim and The Great Gatsby adaptation by Alexander Wright, all at Gate Theatre Dublin. The Train by Rough Magic Theatre Company and Town is Dead by Philly McMahon & Ray Scannell at The Abbey Theatre. The Dead adapted by Performance Corporation and Little Gem by Elaine Murphy, national tours. Kate won the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2015 for Breathless by John McKenna and was nominated in 2017 for Town is Dead. As a writer, Kate has won the Writers Guild Zebbie Award for the radio version of her play The Wickedness of Oz and an Oscar Wilde New Writing Award for her play Stella full of Storms. Kate also recently appeared in Fair City and Striking Out, both for RTE.

Kate originally trained in Modern Ballet at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, graduating in 2014. After her training in ballet she worked with companies Scottish Ballet and Ballet Ireland.

She began her contemporary practice in 2015 when she embarked on an MA in Trinity Laban, London. Whilst there she performed with Transitions Dance Company, working with a variety of different choreographers, and was a recipient of the Leverhulme Trust Scholarship.As a freelance artist she has collaborated with various choreographers including Dog Kennel Hill Project, Ohad Naharin (with thanks to Arts Council Ireland), Kerry Nicholls, Diana Loosmore and Ania Straczynska.

In 2018 she began making her own work with funding from Dance Ireland and DLR Co. Council., where she developed her research in time-consciousness within dance. She also has an active teaching practice in both ballet and contemporary, working with a variety of ages.

Her interest in finding different ways to understand the world we live in brought her to her studies in Mathematics with the Open University, where she is currently specialising in quantum and fluid mechanics.

Hili is a stage director, writer, and theatre curator currently based in Helsinki, Finland. She is one of the artistic directors for Tampere Theatre Festival, and has worked as artistic advisor and director for several Finnish theatre companies.

Hili works mainly with contemporary drama and performance, audio dramas & pod casts. She has directed plays by e.g. Elfriede Jelinek, Zinnie Harris, and E.L. Karhu, as well as written adaptations and performance scripts of Ibsen’s and Checkov’s plays. Thematically her interests deal with intersectionality, futures thinking, and platform economies.

In 2017, Hili received a 5-year artist’s grant from the Arts Promotion Centre of Finland.

Hili is in awe of the artistic work of directors Susanne Kennedy and Philippe Quesne, and playwrights Alice Birch and Tracy Letts.

Thommas is an actor/writer from Dublin’s North Inner City.

He is graduate of the Gaiety School of Acting where he was awarded the Gaiety Theatre Bursary.

Thommas is co artistic director of The Breadline Collective. Their critically acclaimed maiden production Say Nothin’ to No One premiered at Theatre Upstairs last August. It was written by Thommas and starred himself and Ericka Roe. It was nominated for The Stewart Parker award and won the first ever Stewart Parker Development award. It remounted at the Axis, Ballymun and will have a run at Project Arts Centre this November. Say Nothin’ to No One was the first volume in Thommas’ St. Mary’s Mansions Trilogy. The second volume Well That’s What I Heard premiered at Theatre Upstairs this June.  At this year’s Dublin Fringe, Thommas will premiere his new play The Fattest Dancer at St. Bernadette’s.

Anna is a dance artist based between Ireland and the UK. She graduated from London Contemporary Dance School in 2009 and has since worked as a freelance performer.

Most notably, Anna has worked with Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre/Teac Damsa (Michael Keegan-Dolan, IE) since 2011 and is currently touring award-winning production, Swan Lake/Loch na hEala (2016) nationally and internationally.  Other companies include Still House (Dan Canham, UK), United Fall (Emma Martin, IE), Catherine Young (IE), Laura Murphy (IE) and Scottish Dance Theatre (UK) including worldwide tours.

Anna is a keen writer and joined the Springback Academy in 2017: a group of writers chosen to review and receive mentorship as part of Aerowaves’ Dance Festival. She now writes for their new online dance magazine, ‘Springback Magazine’.

Anna is most interested in the challenge of creating space within her practice and performance for new possibilities to occur.

Performer/theatre-maker & song-writer, trained in Fine Art, Dramatherapy (M.A.) & at Gaiety School (2007-9). She regularly performs as ‘Sister Sarah’ at Glitter HOLE and Spicebag (Queer Caberet nights)

Theatre performance includes: ‘Shame’ (Peacock, Dublin Fringe ’18). ‘It Folds’: Brokentalkers/Junk Ensemble (Peacock, Bristol Old Vic & Edinburgh Fringe). ‘Foxy’: Verdant (Project Arts Centre). ‘Eoghanín na nÉan agus Íosagán’: Axis. ‘Pride and Prejudice’:  Gate (Dublin & Hong Kong tour). ‘A Murder of Crows’: Barnstorm. ‘City of Clowns’, ‘40 Songs of Green’: Barabbas. ‘Hamlet’, ‘A Doll’s House’: Second Age.  ‘Miss Julie’: Landmark Productions.

Developments: ‘Observe the Mothers of Ireland Marching Towards the Stage’: (Sarah Kinlen & Tara Derrington) Abbey Theatre. ‘One Day’: Dick Walsh Theatre. ‘Jigsaw’: Maisie Lee/Noelle Brown (Riverbank theatre). ‘Busk’ (Sarah Kinlen & Maisie Lee) Cork Midsummer fest. & Theatre Machine @ Project. ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Youngish Woman’ (Sarah Kinlen) Fishamble New Play Clinic:. Multiple TEXT|Messages (Project).

Sarah’s really looking to The Next Stage.

Nathan is a Trawlwoolway man, from larapuna country, North East Tasmania. Since the 1830’s, Nathan’s family have been known as the Maynard’s and in that time have developed a strong connection with the Furneaux Islands, where they were sent in exile from their homelands of mainland Tasmania.

Before Nathan discovered his love for writing, he worked in land management for sixteen years. These days Nathan balances his life between his family, community, culture and writing. Nathan currently resides on the east coast of Tasmania.

Nathan received the 2018 Tasmanian Theatre best writing award for his play The Season (Tasmanian Performs). His efforts went on to bag him the 2018 Green Room award for new writing for the Australian stage.  The Season also won the Green Room award for best production.

Nathan’s second play A Not So Traditional Story, is currently touring Tasmanian Primary schools and will be received by 19,000 students.

Margaret is a writer and performer. Her previous acting credits include Anna Karenina at the Abbey Theatre and Jezebel and Digging for Fire for Rough Magic Theatre Company. She wrote, produced and performed her first full-length play, The Humours of Bandon for the Show in a Bag initiative at Dublin Fringe Festival 2016 (Winner of the Bewley’s Little Gem Award and nominated as Best Performer at the Fringe Awards). Fishamble has since presented her play nationally and internationally for over 110 performances including a critically acclaimed sold-out run at Edinburgh’s Dance Base for Edinburgh Fringe 2017. Margaret won the 2017 ZeBBie award for Best Theatre Script, was a recipient of the Pavilion Theatre’s Patron Artists’ Bursary 2017 and was selected as one of 30 play submissions to participate in Fishamble’s A Play for Ireland initiative. She is a current member of the ITI’s Six in the Attic for ‘18/’19.

Donncha is an actor/producer originally from Galway. He founder member of Glass Doll Productions and credits include I Am My Own Wife (Actor), Inhabitance, Broadening, Won’t Somebody Think Of The Children and Camera Shy (Producer). He has also produced My Dad’s Blind (Anna Sheils-McNamee) and produced/performed in Dummy (Morb – Nominated Best Performer/Georgianne Aldrich Heller Award/Spirit of Wit, Fringe Festival Awards 2017) and Pocket Music (Show In A Bag – Winner Little Gem Award, Fringe Festival Awards 2011)

Theatre credits include F.A.T.D.A.D. (The Complex), Rapunzel, Robin Hood & his Merry Men, Little Red Riding Hood & The Big Bad Wolf, Peter Pan (Gaiety Theatre), Annie (Cork Opera House), Coast (Red Bear Productions), Eejit Of Love (Studio 42), I, Keano (Olympia Theatre), Cabaret (Bruiser Theatre Company, Belfast), Aladdin (University Concert Hall/Robert C Kelly), An Enemy Of The People (Gate Theatre),  Big Love, Julius Caesar (Abbey Theatre), Silver Stars (Broken Talkers), Boy With A Suitcase (Barnstorm), Serious Money (Rough Magic/AIB SEEDS), Durang Durang (Brazen Tales), Twelfth Night (Fast and Loose), Bent (Struts&Frets)

Donncha has also credits in choreography, set design and costume design.

Katie is currently artist in residence at Belltable, Limerick. Writing credits include Dubliners Women adapted from James Joyce (National Tour), The Olive Tree (National Tour, HIFA Festival, Zimbabwe), Mirror, Mirror Off The Wall (The New Theatre) and Counter Culture (National Tour, Edinburgh Fringe) developed as part of the Show in a Bag series. ​

As an actor Katie toured extensively with JOYCED! by Donal O’Kelly, and was nominated for The Stage Award for Acting Excellence at the Edinburgh Fringe. Other recent stage credits include Shivvie (Ledwidge – TNT National Tour), Player King/Osric (Hamlet – AC Productions), multiple roles in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (TNT International Tour), Goneril (King Lear), The Nurse (Romeo and Juliet – Smock Alley National Tour) and Ellen Byrne (Lockout – The New Theatre).

She is one of the organisers of PalFest Ireland, an arts festival in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Maeve O’Mahony is a performer and theatre maker with MALAPROP and a graduate of Drama and Theatre Studies at Trinity College Dublin. Productions with MALAPROP include: Everything Not Saved(Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Project Arts Centre, Dublin Fringe Festival winner of the Georganne Aldrich Heller Award 2017) JERICHO (Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Bewley’s Café Theatre) and LOVE+ (New Diorama Theatre; HOME Manchester; Camden People’s Theatre; Project Arts Centre, Dublin Fringe Festival winner of the Spirit of the Fringe 2015). Maeve has also performed and devised with Collapsing Horse (Science Fiction Radio Hour, Conor: at the end of the Universe, The Aeneid) and Sugarglass(Outlying Islands, The Seagull, Ethica). Other Productions include: Fighting Words (Peacock Theatre); Boys and Girls (TeatrMayakovskya Moscow, 59E59 Theatre New York, Project Arts Centre); All Talk (New Theatre).

Camille is an award-winning Actor, Writer and Artistic Director of Brazen Tales Productions. She is a graduate of the Philippe Gaulier school, LA’s iO West Improv school, The Gaiety School of Acting and University College Dublin. With Brazen Tales she wrote & performed in How To Be Angry (Best Ensemble & First Fortnight nominees, Dublin Fringe 2017) and her one woman show Big Bobby. Little Bobby (Winner First Fortnight Award, Best Performer & Little Gem Nominee, Dublin Fringe 2015) which, toured extensively . She has performed and devised work for stage and screen with companies such as Fishamble, Rough Magic, Collapsing Horse, Read Bear, The Gate & TV credits include Republic of Telly, Callan’s Kicks and Bridget & Eamon (RTE). Camille is researching and developing two new projects with thanks to an Irish Arts Council Theatre Bursary and support from Mermaid Wicklow Arts Centre.

A freelance producer with a background in box office and arts administration (with some dance performance), Carla is also founding member of MALAPROP, a Dublin-based collective of emerging theatre-makers. She is an Associate Producer with THISISPOPBABY and has recently worked on CAGED (FemmeBizarre) and OVERFIRED (StefanFae and Lady K) as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2018, Veronica Dyas’ My Son My Son, and as festival producer for Live Collision International Festival 2018. Other producing credits include Everything Not Saved (Dublin Fringe 2017), LOVE+ (Project Arts Centre 2016), BlackCatfishMusketeer (Dublin Fringe 2016), and Briseis After the Black (Dublin Fringe 2016). She has also worked with Dublin Fringe Festival, 10 Days in Dublin Festival, Dublin International Film Festival, Temple Bar TradFest, The Lir Academy, and The Ark.

Carla has a BA in Modern Irish and Film Studies, and graduated with an MA in Cultural Policy and Arts Management in 2017.