Next Stage 2024 Participants

Kate Bauer is a queer Irish theatre-maker and artist. She graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies, and a MA in Shakespeare Studies from King’s College London & Shakespeare’s Globe. She is co-founder for award-winning eco-theatre company, Bradán, having won the Dublin Fringe Axis Green Arts Award 2022 and the Staging Change X VAULT Festival Award 2021 for their gig theatre productions. As Resident Director for drag collective Haus of Bollix, Kate and the team have toured their productions across the UK and were awarded the VAULT Spirit of the Festival Award in 2023. Kate has a collaborative, intersectional feminist approach to her work, which involves live music and physical theatre. Community work is paramount to her practice and alongside facilitating workshops, she is currently developing multiple exciting projects including an interactive performance art piece. Kate’s painting, I’m Lightning, is currently being exhibited at the Newland Gallery in Worthing.

Al Bellamy is a neurodivergent, Director based in Dublin, with a love for social justice and reimagining Folklore. Directing credits include veiled (Mary’s Abbey, 2019 The National Leprechaun Museum), The Amanda (Saoirse) Show (The DLR LexIcon Theatre, 2022) Yellow (Draíocht Blanchardstown, The Granary Theatre Cork, D15 Schools Tour, Neuroconvergence and National Festival of Youth Theatres 2022 – 2024) and Home Sweet Home (The Granary Theatre Cork, 2024 for Cork Midsummer Festival). In 2023, they also gave a Masterclass in Disability Inclusive Theatre to final year and MA Directing Students in the Eduard Smilgis Theatre, Riga, Latvia. They received a 2022 Arts Council Agility Award for Mythics – a Neurodiverse collective, a 2023 Arts Council Theatre Bursary to create a holistic methodology for disability-inclusive theatre and in 2024 received an Arts Council Arts Participation Project Award for their project Home Sweet Home in Cork Midsummer Festival 2024.

Ikaro Cavalcanti is a Brazilian dancer, teacher, choreographer, and producer, with a degree in Physical Education from the University of Pernambuco, specializing in modern/contemporary dance and jazz. From a very young age, Ikaro has been deeply dedicated to dance, earning several awards in competitions and making a name for himself in the artistic scene. His passion for the art led him to be selected for the prestigious “Marcelo’s Move” exchange program in Switzerland, where he significantly expanded his artistic repertoire. During the program, Ikaro also worked as a teacher and participated in performances in Switzerland and Austria, collaborating with renowned artists. His international career reflects a rich fusion of bodily practices, including capoeira, Brazilian folk dances, and jazz. Ikaro uses dance not only as a form of artistic expression but also as a means to explore and discuss its social impact, establishing himself as an innovative and relevant voice in the performing arts field.

Cara is an actor/writer from Cork. She is a graduate of the Bachelor in Acting Studies, Trinity College and the The Programme Screen Acting Course, The Factory. Highlights from her acting career have been performing with Brokentalkers and Conflicted Theatre Cork, screenwork like RTE/AMC’s “Kin” and Sony’s “Freud’s Last Session”. During the pandemic, her debut play “Influenced” was selected for rehearsed readings by Prime Cut Productions and the SJT in Scarborough. She received a seed commission from The Lyric Theatre to write her second play “Brambles”. The Pavilion Theatre awarded Cara residencies in 2022 & 2024 to develop “Brambles” and her third play “Capture”. She was recently selected for Cork Theatre Collective’s “Space To Think” residency. For screen, Cara wrote and produced her debut short film, “Not Today Not Tomorrow”.

Writer/theatremaker Carys D. Coburn was the winner of the Verity Bargate Award 2017 for Citysong – co-produced by Soho Theatre, the Abbey Theatre, and Galway International Arts Festival. Other plays include Absent The Wrong (Best Production at Dublin Fringe 2022) and HOTHOUSE (Best Production at Dublin Fringe 2023). One of the founders of MALAPROP, their work together won acclaim for its distinctive blend of nerdiness and tenderness. Work with young people is a major strand of their practice, and their interdisciplinary practice spans opera libretti (Elsewhere, Horse Ape Bird) and queer cabaret extravaganzas (THISISPOPBABY’s WAKE).

Sophie Coote (she/her) is a producer, from Dublin, who works across dance, theatre and work for young audiences. She is the current assistant producer for Luke Murphy’s Attic Projects, having worked with the company since 2021. In January 2024 Sophie produced Honey & Lemon’s (Millie-Daniel Dempsey and Amy Robyn Lyster) dance show DOUBLE ACT (Project Arts Centre Dublin). She produced the Irish tour of Sibéal Davitt’s Minseach in 2023/2024. Other 2023 credits include: Emily Kilkenny Roddy’s RUINING THE ACT (Producer, Dunamaise Arts Centre and The Complex Dublin), The National Youth Theatre 2023: Like We Were Born To Move (Line Producer, The Abbey Theatre) and Blue Thunder: Irish Tour 2023 (Line Producer, Donegal/Dublin/Galway/Roscommon/Westport). Sophie was the line producer and schools liaison for Ready Steady SHOW!, The Civic Theatre’s platform for young people, from November 2021 to June 2023.

Luke Andrew Feeney is a passionate performing artist. Building on a scholarship to the Millennium Dance Complex, USA (hip-hop dance, 2016), he continued to learn my craft training and performing with Avant Garde Dance Theatre Company (UK), Fly Dance Company and Dance2Connect (Ireland), residencies with Dance Ireland and Shawbrook Dance and mentorship from pioneering dancers from Ireland, Europe and USA (Nikkipop (Ukraine), Robozilla (USA), Kerrie Milne (Ireland), Matt Szczerek (Ireland).

His recent work: Arts Council Funded “The Nest” program with Draíocht, Blanchardstown (solo choreographed by Monica Muñoz, 2024), “Fused…” (blending hip-hop dance with non-hip hop music such as “West Coast Cool Jazz” and “Classical” music at the Irish Youth Dance Summer Festival and Winter Gala, 2023/24), “Never Mind the Weather”, 2021/2022 (Theatre for young audiences with Fizz and Chips Productions), “RACECAR”, 2021 (performed at the Lasta Festival, glór, Ennis, choreographed by Kerrie Milne). He has also immersed himself in the hip-hop battle scene across Europe travelling and “battling” regularly with increasing success.

Born in Co Louth, Anthony is an actor/theatre-maker & a graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. Some of Anthony’s screen credits include: Skeevy Steevie in HARRY WILD; Receptionist in THE WOMAN IN THE WALL; JW O’Keeffe in CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS; Garda Officer in KIN & Phil Rogers in RED ROCK. Some of Anthony’s stage credits include: John in A DAY IN MAY; Zangara in Rough Magic Seeds ASSASSINS; Quintessence Theatre’s National Tours of THE CURIOUS CASE OF ALBERT CASHIER (2023); CRACKS (2018) & THE STAR OF CHESTER’S LANE (2021) among others Anthony’s one-man show, UNGUARDED (writer/performer) completed a 15 venue National Tour Spring 2024, before being awarded the “Outstanding Contribution to Irish LGBT Theatre” Award at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival 2024 He is Producer/Performer with Quintessence Theatre & he is also the Artistic Director of Act Out Youth Theatre in Meath.

Rebecca is a Script Editor and Dramaturg with over a ten years’ experience developing work for stage and screen. Prior to joining Keeper Pictures as Development Assistant she was Development Executive for Kennedy Films working across their slate of documentary, TV drama, feature film, and animation projects. For seven years she was Literary Manager for the Lyric Theatre Belfast (The Stage’s UK Theatre of the Year 2023), where she managed the theatre’s slate of commissions and talent development initiatives, including five iterations of the New Playwrights Programme. Rebecca sits on the Board of the Irish Theatre Institute, the ITI’s Playography Advisory Panel, and the Board of Commedia of Errors Theatre Company.

Ezra Maloney is a writer/director based in Dublin. In 2023 he was selected to attend a writer’s masterclass at The Abbey Theatre with Pulitzer Prize-winner Martyna Majok, and received the Edmund Lynch Bursary from the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival to produce his debut play Pre-Ops. The play won the Seán Meehan Award for Representation in Theatre, and was nominated for Best Ensemble Cast, and Best Actress. In 2024, he was awarded a development bursary from the Irish Writers Centre. He writes about intergenerational relationships, addiction and its relationship to Irishness, and transgender issues. He is currently finishing his second play.

Nessa Matthews is an actor, director, writer/maker from Co. Louth. As an actor, she trained at LAMDA (fDa Distinction). Acting Credits include: Film & TV: The Tourist, Season 2 (BBC, Stan, Netflix), The Ick (An Pointe Productions), Sineater (Sean Clancy), Fair City (RTÉ), Inspector Jury (ZDF), Hen (Janna Kemperman). Stage: Standing in Lifts with Strangers (Bewley’s Theatre), Will I See You There? (Murmuration), Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play (Rough Magic), The Roaring Banshees (Devious Theatre), Phillip Pullman’s Grimm Tales (Philip Wilson, Southbank, Grimm Tales LTD), Gatecrashing (Theatre 503). As a writer/maker, she co-created/wrote/performed the award-winning INFINITY for stage (Dublin Fringe Festival 2018, First Fortnight 2019, VAULT Festival 2019). Other writing credits include solo show, WAY BEYOND THE BLUE, as part of a residency at Theatre Upstairs in 2015. She is currently developing Doomscroller which had it’s first Work in Progress showing at Scene & Heard 2024, and SoundStage. She was an associate artist at Axis Ballymun through the Axis Assemble scheme in 2021, and is supported by the arts council through the Agility Award. As a director, most recent credits include MADE FROM PAPER (in association with Mermaid Arts Centre and the Arts Council, recipient of the DTF Futures Fund in 2021 and supported by Scene + Heard/Fringe Lab). It will premiere this Christmas. Other credits include: Bunny Bunny (Smock Alley, Camden Fringe, Wexford Arts Centre), In Loco Parentis (Smock Alley), Kinder Egg Spirits (Smock Alley), Arachnophobia (The New Theatre).

Chris Moran is a theatre director and writer from Co. Wicklow. His practice uses archival research to explore queer history and Irish identity. Chris was a 2022-3 TRANSFORM Associate Artist at the Mermaid Arts Centre. He has worked with many of Ireland’s leading theatre companies including the Abbey, Gate, ANU, and THISISPOPBABY. Chris participated in the 2022 Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg TalentLAB Residency, developing a play about eugenics in Ireland. Last year he assisted at Berlin’s Schaubühne. He has attended artist development programs with the European Theatre Academy, ENOA, Bayreuth Festival, and Emma Rice’s Wise Children. Chris also writes theatre-in-education plays for young people in Europe and Ireland, most recently The Song Collector at Galway Theatre Festival. Chris supports writers, last year directing a Druid Debut at the Galway International Arts Festival. Chris is currently developing projects exploring international traditions of performance as political protest, and queer Irish photography.

Laura is an award winning choreographer, a performer and a teacher. Taking an expansive approach to dance, she has developed a multi-disciplinary dance practice, working in stage performance, film, installation and socially engaged projects. With her trademark all female casts, her work has been described as gentle and eccentric. Laura Murphy Dance has been widely presented to include Tanzmesse (DE), Fira Tàrrega (ES), Edinburgh Fringe (UK), Judson Church (US), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (RO), Dublin Dance Festival and Cork Midsummer Festival (IRL). Laura has been a recipient of numerous National Arts Council awards, several prestigious national and international residencies. She was awarded Best Movement Director, The Irish Times Theatre Awards 2017. Laura currently teaches on the BA Drama and Theatre Studies at Trinity College, Dublin. In 2024, Laura premiered her new multi-media work ‘This is it | 8 dance portraits’ at Dublin Dance Festival, and will tour her outdoor work ‘Abacus’ to festivals in Colombia in November.

Orla Murphy is a critically acclaimed Writer-Director of theatre and film whose debut stage play ‘Remember to Breathe’ won a Lustrum Award at the Edinburgh Fringe then toured nationally in 2016 & 2019. Orla is currently developing “Shelter” a drama about community, swimming and housing, for an upcoming staged reading supported by an Arts Council Project Award under the guidance of mentors Mark O’Rowe and Clare Monnelly. A recent graduate of the Irish Theatre Institute/ISPD’s ‘Explore:Design” Programme, and the Mill Theatre’s Playground initiative and a Pavilion Studio residency, Orla has found the mixture of workshops and peer-to-peer learning to be inspirational and thought-provoking. She is looking forward to building on that learning and to forge new connections during the Next Stage process.

Ultan is an actor and writer from Donegal. He is a founding member of LemonSoap Productions with whom he was written and acted in various productions including Marmalade Row, It Is Good We Are Dreaming, Piglet and the audio series Fruit starring Aidan Gillen, Kathy Kiera Clarke, Linda Martin, Marion O’Dwyer and Michael Fry. His audio drama Pistachio starred three time Oscar nominee and Hollywood legend Piper Laurie. He was an Activate Residency recipient at The Backstage Theatre Longford to develop with HK Ní Shioradáin their new musical, The Faggot Manifesto, which explores our modern queer Dublin. His play Lavender Hill was longlisted for the 2022 Bruntwood Prize. His latest work Boyfriends premiered in the Project Arts Centre to rave reviews and a sold out run and he is the current writer in residence at An Grianán Theatre.

Liam Rees is a director, dramaturg, and theatre maker. He was commissioned by HOME to create The Enlightened, a live-digital hybrid performance about true crime cases taking place simultaneously in the UK and India, which was invited to Schoene Aussicht Festival in Stuttgart. His latest work, The Land That Never Was, deconstructs confessional storytelling to tell the true story of Gregor MacGregor, a conman who made up and sold a country that literally did not exist. He also directs new writing including Sycamore Grove at Bedlam Theatre/Edinburgh Fringe, The Devil Drinks Cava at the Oran Mor, and It’s Criminal at the Tron Theatre. He has previously worked in assisting roles with Omar Elerian/Munchner Kammerpspiele, Milo Rau/NTGent, Ontroerend Goed, and BRONKS.

Olivia is a new play director based in Brooklyn. Off-Broadway: Made by God (World Premiere, Irish Repertory Theatre) We Are Not Well (NYU Tisch/Clifford Odetts Commission), Anatomy of a Suicide (NYU Tisch/Strasberg) International: Venus in Fur (Rough Magic, Project Arts Centre), We Can’t Have Monkeys in the House (The Peacock at The Abbey), Beside the Sea (Composed by Ian Wilson, Irish/UK Tour) Disconnected (The New Theatre/Smock Alley Theatre), Each Day Dies with Sleep (The Lir), Tribes (Assc. Director, The Gate), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Assc. Director, Rough Magic/Kilkenny Arts Festival), Unwoman III (Assc. Director, The Rabble, Dublin Fringe Festival). Regional: tiny father (World Premiere, Assc. Director, Chautauqua Theatre Company), Ironbound (Assc. Director, Geffen Playhouse). Artistic Association and Leadership: Chautauqua Theatre Company Directing Fellow, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab West, St. Ann’s Warehouse, PlayGround-NY Company Member, SEEDS Resident Director at Rough Magic Theatre Company, Contemporary Artist-in-Residence at The National Gallery of Ireland. Education: BFA NYU Tisch, MFA The Lir, National Academy of Dramatic Art, Trinity College Dublin.

Eftychia Spyridaki (Effie) is a theatre and performance maker from Greece, currently based in County Meath, Ireland. Her work explores the intersection of social justice issues and ancient Greek poetry through collaborative storytelling. Effie’s practice is deeply informed by her volunteer work with the elderly, refugee communities, and Youth Theatre groups across Ireland and Greece. As Dead Centre’s Associate Artist in 2022, Effie led a modern adaptation of Aeschylus’ Suppliants, created in collaboration with asylum seekers in Direct Provision. Her directorial credits include Those in the Tomb (Venice Open Festival 2019), Paler, Still by Oonagh Wall, Exit, Pursued by a Pint,by Kat Ennis (Scene and Heard 2023), Passports: A Conversation by Ayesha Syeddah (Dublin Fringe Festival 2023), and the dlr Mill Theatre’s Youth Theatre group. Effie has also assisted in directing notable productions with ANU (Wakefires, 2022), Dead Centre (Good Sex, DTF 2022), and Landmark Productions (Bedbound, 2023).

Dan Colley is an independent theatre and film maker with a focus on ensemble-devised work and adaptations. He trained as a facilitator with Youth Theatre Ireland, the principles of which are a cornerstone of his practice.

His shows ‘Lost Lear’ (premiered at DTF 2022) and ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ (premiered at Dublin Fringe 2019) continue to tour internationally including to New York, the Hague, Stockholm, Wellington, Auckland and all over the UK and Canada. His film ‘The Painted Man’ produced by Samson Films was in the official selection of Galway Film Fleadh and was nominated for ‘Best Arthouse Short’ in the Fastnet Film Festival.

As Artistic Director of Collapsing Horse (2013-19) he directed nine original productions, created a series of ten radio plays, and an exhibition in the National Museum with the Ombudsman for Children’s Office.

Dan was Co-Artistic Director of the Kilkenny Cat Laughs comedy festival from 2017-19.

Dan was the Creative Director of ‘Danse Macabre’, a large-scale processional street theatre piece for Macnas. Dan directed and co-created TWENTY FIFTY with Fionnuala Gygax, an online interactive theatre piece part of DUETS in Dublin Fringe 2020.

Dan was awarded the Arts Council’s Next Generation Bursary Award in 2016. He is Theatre Artist in Residence in the Riverbank Arts Centre and on the board of the Dublin Fringe Festival. He is also a proud alumnus of The Next Stage.

Photo credit Patricio Cassinoni