Ireland
2020 - 2022
I had planned to move to Ireland to obtain my Master’s degree in Theatre Practice and Performance at the University of Galway, but I had not planned on doing so during the COVID-19 crisis. However, the restrictions challenged me to come up with creative and unique projects, allowing me to question performance methodologies such as practice-as-research, digital theatre, and 360 degree videos. I had never been so challenged artistically and academically; it was a great period of experimentation.
The Players (2022)
A short experiment on time, space, and play.
Created when we were bored at work and needed a creative outlet.
Cornered Waves (2021)
Waves of feeling. Waves of crisis. Waves of motion. The Selkie searches for their coat in every corner of the house.
This piece was a part of my practice-as-research dissertation at NUI Galway on performative movement and stillness in 360-degree videos using the myth of the Selkie in a contemporary COVID-19 setting. Ultimately my thesis dissertation focused more on defining and questioning the methodologies of practice-as-research, but this was still an interesting experiment in digital technology and performance practice.
“My Body Remembers” - Nochtaithe Scene (2021)
How do we remember pain? How can we be witnesses in the present to the tragedies of the past? Using concepts from performance art and inspired by oral testimonies from survivors of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, I directed a scene exploring legacy and embodied memory using gesture, tempo, and repetition.
This scene was a part of a larger theatrical project called Nochtaithe (meaning Unveiled as Gaeilge), devised by students in the Drama and Theatre Department of University of Galway and led by Dr. Miriam Haughton. This project is a creative response as part of the University of Galway curriculum to the Tuam Oral History Project, led by Dr. Sarah-Anne Buckley and Dr. John Cunningham. More information on the project and the archive can be found here.
Nochtaithe premiered at the Bealtaine Festival in May 2021 and later that year at the Liverpool Irish Festival for the strand In:Visible Women. The full video can be found here.
“Rehearsal during lockdown and the creative potential it brings” (2021)
Colm Mac Con Iomaire plays the violin while students Leanne Anderson and Sarah Dooley perform to Emer's Dream inside the Quadrangle Building at NUI Galway. Photo: Aengus McMahon.
In this essay for RTÉ Brainstorm, I discuss the challenges and opportunities of rehearsing online and physically distanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. I argued that using techniques from physical theatre and performance art allowed students to create movement and shapes within their own space - the very foundation of theatre.
Galway Theatre Festival Blog Posts (2021)
As an intern for GTF 2021, one of my duties was to write blog posts for the festival for marketing and audience engagement.
Since I was given the freedom to chose my own topics for the blog posts, I decided to write responses to the shows I saw, my research on theatre and accessibility for future festivals, and my thoughts on the future of digital theatre.
Cooking with Dolly (2021)
What does the clone mean to women? What do women mean to the clone?
In this performance, I utilize different aspects of "cloning", from reproduction, repetition, and mimesis, to explore constructions of womanhood through psychoanalysis and performance.
I Hate This Digital World (2020)
I curated a digital art exhibit for a class at University of Galway focusing on curation and the archives. The piece is about experiencing a new city during a pandemic using the UoG Macnas Archives and images from Saolta Arts. Featured in the special online issue of the journal European Capitals of Culture: The Art of Reimagining published in March 2021. The online journal with links to my work can be found here.