Due to a phenomenal response to the Call Out for 2024, the Nomad Venue Network has selected two recipients of the 2024 Nomad Commission Award:
Deirdre Kinahan
About the project:
“I am absolutely thrilled to take this Commission from NOMAD to write a play exploring the current response of Irish society to immigration. This is a national conversation of great importance and I believe Theatre can engage as a place of empathy, truth, love and a deep exploration of fear and how it might fester. To have the play written to tour feels incredibly fitting. I have worked with so many of these Theatres over the years and thank them so much for this opportunity.” Deirdre
Bio
Deirdre Kinahan 2024 Deirdre Kinahan is an award-winning playwright. She is a member of Aosdána, Ireland!s elected affiliation of outstanding artists. Deirdre collaborates with artists and theatres all over the world, is literary associate to Meath County Council and has a large canon of regularly produced plays to her credit. Deirdre is published by Nick Hern Books.
Best Known Plays include: The Saviour, The Unmanageable Sisters, Rathmines Road, Moment, Halcyon Days, Bogboy, Hue & Cry, Spinning and her Irish Revolutionary Trilogy Wild Sky, Embargo and Outrage.
Deirdre works predominantly with the Abbey Theatre, Landmark Productions and Fishamble Theatre Company in Ireland but also collaborates with theatres in the UK, Europe and America. Recent works include The Saviour for Landmark Productions & Irish Repertory Theatre NYC 2023, An Old Song Half Forgotten for the Abbey Theatre & Sofft productions 2023, TEMPESTA Glassmask Theatre 2023, In the Middle of the Fields for So-las Nua Washington DC 2021, The Visit for Draiocht & Dublin Theatre Festival 2021/22, Bloody Yesterday 2022 for Glassmask Theatre.
Deirdre has a number of new Theatre and Screen projects in development, currently under commission to Stat Theatre Maintz in Germany and Fishamble in Dublin. She also has years of experience as a producer and enjoys curating or participating in multi-genre artistic projects for Meath County Council and other national festivals/events. March 2023.
Representation: Emily Hickman at The Agency London.
Xnthony (Anthony Keigher)
About the project:
‘The Very Professional Musical Society’ is a satirical musical set in a mysterious rural village in the west of Ireland. It explores the competitive and absurd world of Irish amateur dramatics.
The story follows the village’s small but fiercely ambitious musical society and their internal feuds, romantic entanglements, and their competition with a rival group in a nearby town.
Xnthony will write the piece after researching rural musical society shows and engaging with their members in 2025.
Bio
Xnthony is an award-winning performer, writer, and producer of musical theatre, cabaret and club experiences. His work, funded by Arts Council Ireland, delves into pop culture, social phenomena, and community life, often revisiting historical moments to spark new conversations.
Xnthony has collaborated with organisations like Roundhouse, Dublin Fringe, National Theatre, and Southbank Centre. His musical, ‘Oliver Cromwell is Really Very Sorry’ premiered at Dublin Fringe Festival in 2022, winning Best Ensemble and earning nominations for Best Production, Best SoundScape, and Best Costume at the 2022 Irish Times Theatre Awards.
About the project:
‘The Very Professional Musical Society’ is a satirical musical set in a mysterious rural village in the west of Ireland. It explores the competitive and absurd world of Irish amateur dramatics.
The story follows the village’s small but fiercely ambitious musical society and their internal feuds, romantic entanglements, and their competition with a rival group in a nearby town.
Xnthony will write the piece after researching rural musical society shows and engaging with their members in 2025.
About Nomad
The Nomad Venue Network is a partnership of eight regional venues. The network was established in February 2006 to cultivate a partnership approach towards producing and touring between venues and professional production companies.
Nomad Network: Backstage Theatre, Droichead Arts Centre, An Grianán Theatre, Hawks Well Theatre, Mullingar Arts Centre, Ramor Theatre/Cavan Town Hall, Riverbank Arts Centre, Roscommon Arts Centre.
Tours by NOMAD Network include MÁM & Swan Lake//Loch na hEala (Teaċ Daṁsa) and Tarry Flynn & Bailegangaire (Livin’ Dred), The Far Off Hills (Loco & Reckless Productions), The Dead School.
The NOMAD network is supported by The Arts Council.
