UCC in association with Corcadorca and TDC presents Fiona Kearney, Director of the Glucksman Gallery as part of the Autumn 2019 season of Perforum talks. The title of the series is “Research/Practice: Curating & Producing”. The talk is chaired by Dr. Yvon Bonenfant, Head of Theatre at UCC. It takes place at 6pm on Wednesday, 16th October in TDC (approx. 2 hours duration). All Perforum events are free and open to the public.

Fiona Kearney received a double first class honours in French and Philosophy from University College Cork and went on to graduate first in her class at Trinity College Dublin with an M.Phil in Text & Image studies. Fiona began her curatorial career as Programme Co-ordinator at the National Sculpture Factory and then directed the visual arts programme of the Triskel Arts Centre, Cork. She was part of the design team for the Lewis Glucksman Gallery. In November 2003, she was appointed Director of the Glucksman. In July 2008, she was the Irish commissioner for European Night at the Rencontres d’Arles international photography festival. Throughout her academic and professional career, Fiona has received several distinguished awards including the designation of college scholar by UCC, the NUI Prix d’Honneur from the French Government, a UCC President’s Award for Research on Innovative Forms of Teaching, and a Fulbright scholarship. In June 2006, she was awarded the Jerome Hynes Fellowship on the Clore Leadership Programme, the highest award offered to an individual by the Arts Council of Ireland. In January 2009, she was appointed by Minister Martin Cullen to serve as a member of the Arts Council of Ireland for a five year term.

Perforum Coordinator: Dr. Marie Kelly (kelly.marie@ucc.ie)

Wednesday, 18th September (6pm-7:45pm) at TDC

Anne Clarke founded Landmark Productions, one of Ireland’s leading theatre producers, in 2003. Since then, the company has produced thirty-one plays – including seven Irish premieres and seventeen world premieres – in Ireland, and its productions have been seen on major stages overseas: at the Barbican, National Theatre and Royal Opera House in London; at the Edinburgh International Festival; and at St Ann’s Warehouse and at BAM, New York.

Anne has a long association with a number of Irish writers including Enda Walsh, Mark O’Rowe and the creator of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, Paul Howard. Recent productions include the European premiere of Theatre for One, co-produced with Octopus Theatricals and presented by Cork Midsummer Festival and the Cork Opera House; Enda Walsh’s Ballyturk and Arlington with regular co-producing partners Galway International Arts Festival; Louise O’Neill’s Asking for It, co-produced by the Everyman in association with the Abbey Theatre and CMF); Mark O’Rowe’s The Approach; and, with INO, the Donnacha Dennehy / Enda Walsh operas The Last Hotel and The Second Violinist.

Anne is also a board member of Cork Midsummer Festival and The Lir Academy. She received the Special Tribute Award in The Irish Times Theatre Awards for 2015, in recognition of her work as ‘a producer of world-class theatre in the independent sector in Ireland’.

Perforum Coordinator: Dr. Marie Kelly (kelly.marie@ucc.ie) Perforum events are open to the public. Admission is free.

Strive Theatre are delighted to be back in the Theatre Development Centre at Triskel developing new work. They are looking forward to spending the week completing the second phase of Strive Theatre’s Play Development Scheme for Shaunna Lee Lynch’s new play Wishful Thinking. The script has been in development since the start of the year. The premiere of Wishful Thinking will be staged in The New Theatre, Temple Bar as part of The Dublin Fringe Festival in September and return to Cork for a week long run in The Cork Arts Theatre from November 12th to 16th as part of their Emerging Artists’ Programme. Wishful Thinking is a comic play with social and cultural resonance.

Siobhan is in her late twenties and has just returned home to her Mom’s house in East Cork having tried to make it as a journalist in London. She is fed up with where her life has led. Returning to her family home she is forced to re-evaluate the choices she has made.

Mags chose to stay in her hometown and now has a young family. After her mother’s death last year, she has clung to new age, self-help philosophies to help her cope with grief. She is delighted with the distraction and rewards she feels she’s gaining from adopting the advice.

Angela Griffin is Siobhan’s mother. She has found solace from the self-help industry and has begun practicing new-age spiritual practices to help her accept her sister’s passing. She is now transitioning to a new stage in her life and is searching for fulfillment and meaning through more eccentric avenues.

Siobhan is at a major transition period in her life—she is reconsidering her whole being, seeing herself as a failure. Focused completely on herself, she is ignorant to her mother and cousin’s struggle. Mags and Mrs. Griffin try to encourage Siobhan, the newly nihilistic, out of her slump. They go on a comical journey exploring different aspects of an industry that is ever more becoming a replacement for religion.

For this week-long residency we will be focusing primarily on the script, aiming to give the playwright a full perspective on what is written, to allow her render the final draft before entering into a collaborative production process. This work has been developed with the support of Fringe Lab, The Dublin Fringe Festival, Corcadorca’s Theatre Development Centre and Cork Art’s Theatre’s Emerging Artists Programme.

The Friday showing takes place at 1:10pm in TDC. It’s free and open to all.