We were deeply saddened by the death of our friend and colleague, Nancy Swortzell, in July, whose inimitable energy and devotion to the field of Theatre for Young Audiences in New York University and beyond has been an inspiration to us through many years of collaboration and friendship. She will be sincerely missed.

Graffiti will be celebrating Culture Night 23^rd September with family story-making workshops in The Swortzell Studio in Graffiti Theatre. We welcome children aged 3-8 and their parents to join us in creating original stories together – just turn up “once upon a time” between 4pm and 6.30pm and join in until the next “happily (or not!) ever after” No need to pre-book.

This Autumn we are reviving last year’s very popular production of  The Shape of a Girl, by Joan McLeod. We are inviting secondary schools to see this moving performance in our own theatre during the month of October. There will be a public performance on Thursday 6^th October at 7.30pm.  Please phone Graffiti to reserve your tickets.

Walking Man by Jody O’Neill, a Graffiti commission, had a very successful run in May. This “production of magic and wonder” (Irish Theatre Magazine) played to wonderful audiences here in the beautiful environment of our own theatre and also toured to schools. Our thanks to writer Jody O’Neill, designer Olan Wrynn, actor Damian Punch and musician, Dylan Gully, whose imagination and commitment, with our Associate Director Síle Ní Bhroin and the whole Graffiti team, brought Walking Man to life.

Among our favourite performances were for the packed family audiences on the 14th May in Graffiti Theatre and also during the Kinsale Arts Week, with family performances in the atmospheric wooden amphitheatre at the Kinsale College of Further Education.

Walking Man keeps on walking (though a little more slowly) so you may get to see him at the Theatre for Young Audiences Gathering in Kilkenny and next year in the Spring – by which time he will have learned enough Irish to tell his enchanting story as Gaeilge too. Writer Jody O’Neill will also be joining us at the Gathering in October.

The BEAG Project of Early Years Arts reached the end of its pilot phase in June and we congratulate our extraordinary integrated team of artists (theatre, music and visual arts) as well as the Project Director for a wonderful season. The team devised and delivered beautiful artistic experiences for the very young in childcare settings in Cork city and county. The final report at the end of this successful and exciting research project was launched in July with an inspiring keynote address from Suzanne Zeedyk (see www.suzannezeedyk.com) and we are hopeful that the BEAG Project will return later this year to develop and delight its young audiences further.

Meanwhile we have been dreaming up more new work for very young audiences, as Blátha Bána/White Blossoms has moved to the design phase. This very beautiful piece of theatre has been in development for some time now and designer Deirdre Dwyer has recently completed a set model, which we hope to be able to build this Autumn. Our ambitious plans for this elegant and ethereal performance may finally come to fruition early in 2012. Fingers crossed…

Last May, we hosted masters and doctoral students from Arizona State University, under the mentorship of Roger Bedard, for an intensive placement here at Graffiti. Over several packed days the ASU students were introduced to the range and depth of Graffiti’s work for, with and by young people. We have long-standing links with ASU and our archives are hosted in the children’s theatre collection of their library – the largest collection of its kind in the world. We think it was an inspiring – if exhausting – placement for everyone!

Emelie and Síle then followed the ASU students to Copenhagen/Malmo for the ASSITEJ World Congress. We were joined by three artists from Meitheal na mBeag, thanks to the generous support of Foras na Gaeilge. The Congress was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with international colleagues too as well as joining in the politics and passion of the whole week. We were especially proud to hear playwright Angela Betzien reading from her new play Where in the World is Frank Sparrow?, a Graffiti commission.

Our busy Outreach Department is gearing up after the Summer break and our Youth Theatre members are gathering again for a new year of workshops and performances. We would like to take this opportunity say goodbye for now to Julie O’Leary, who has been a regular Outreach workshop facilitator in schools and in all three of our Youth Theatres. Julie, who started her theatrical career as a member of Activate Youth Theatre herself, is off to Glasgow to pursue her studies in Physical Theatre. We will miss her very much this year and wish her the very best of luck!

‘We did a good job. Even Sophie hates Sophie.’

 The Shape of a Girl is an internationally renowned play for teenagers. It looks at the topic of bullying where the danger of going too far is always present and asks ‘Where do you draw the line?’ ‘When do you need to do something?’

Against the background of a real-life murder trial played out on television and in the newspapers, Braidie tries to find the words to face up to her own behaviour.  But is she too, like the killers, ‘A girl in the shape of a monster. A monster in the shape of a girl’?

 The Programme:

The programme of work (Performance, Workshop and Teacher Resource Material) is specially designed for Second Year to Transition Year classes and performs to two classes at a time (up to a maximum of 65 students). This programme has been designed to link with three specific areas of the curriculum, SPHE, CSPE and English, to coincide with curriculum planning and to offer active-learning  ideas that  can  be used to explore the idea of power-structures, group-dynamics and self-knowledge. Cross-curricular links are also made with Art and Drama.

We are very much aware of time constraints on teaching hours. However, we feel that this production will ultimately enhance the individual teacher’s classroom work on such vital issues as: 

 * the realities of teenage relationships;

 * aggression and codes of behaviour (bullying);

 * tacit complicity and emotional truth.           

To assist teachers in their class work with the issues raised in the programme, we provide a fully comprehensive teaching pack, free of charge, with each performance booked.

 The 2 hour programme will take place in Graffiti’s premises in Blackpool, Cork (see our website for a location map) and will play to a maximum of 65 students. This production is available to schools in October.   For further information, pricing and booking please telephone: 021 4397111 or email: graffiti@eircom.net

Walking Man by Jody O’Neill

An exciting performance designed for children aged 6-9 presented by Graffiti Theatre Company

Saturday 14th May at 12.30pm & 3.00pm

Graffiti Theatre, Assumption Road, Blackpool, Cork
Booking: 021 4397111
(places are very limited)
€5 per ticket
www.graffiti.ie

Walking Man tells the tale of a man who has spent his whole life rushing around in pursuit of success. With the help of an original live music score, the performance brings us into the world of the Walking Man, a small wooden puppet.

The world may be in miniature by the story is universal.

Activate Youth Theatre will present DNA by Dennis Kelly at the Graffiti Theatre on Thurs. 24th, Fri. 25th and Sat. 26th March @ 8pm each evening. Tickets €8 & €10
This controversial play explores the lives of a group of teenagers who become embroiled in a deadly game of deceit. Not suitable for under 12s.

We are delighted to announce dates for our public performances of THE SHAPE OF A GIRL: 27th & 28th October at 8pm. Tickets: €10 adults €8 students (this production is suitable for ages 13 upwards). To reserve tickets please telephone Graffiti :021 4397111 or email:graffiti@eircom.net.

Members of Activate Youth Theatre will conduct a Long Stand in Blackpool Shopping Centre on Friday 5th November 6-9p.m. This fundraiser is aid of Activate Youth Theatre and will support its ongoing programme of workshops and performances which take place throughout the year. This event is supported by Blackpool Shopping Centre as part of their community iniatives programme.

The Summer has been a very busy one for Graffiti and it looks like the next year is going to be equally packed. Perhaps we can count this as a good thing in the current climate!

Over the Summer we have been developing Walking Man by Jody O’Neill, a new piece which we hope to produce in Spring 2011. Director, Designer, Actor and Production Assistant had a wonderful week working with the text and creating the prototype of the set and puppets. As usual, the Studio was buzzing with so many ideas that the next stage in the process will be to remind ourselves of the storybook simplicity that makes this piece so appealing.

Also in development was the gentle and beautiful Blátha Bána/White Blossoms with a week’s intensive work with visual, musical and theatre artists. We are lucky to have been awarded a grant from Cork City Council for the development of this piece of Theatre for the Youngest and will be returning to it from time to time up to Christmas. Aside from working in an exciting new area – and having great enjoyment in it – we are using the project as a piece of Practice based Research and continuing to build our documentation.

We have another project moving into action – BEAG, the Building Early Arts Group. BEAG is supported by Cork City Council, Cork County Council and the HSE. This is the pilot development of an Early Years Arts Team to work with and in crêches in our area. As we write this we have appointed our Project Director, Margaret O’Sullivan, and are completing our team of three artists.
BEAG will be training in the Autumn and then moving to crêches in the Spring. We are delighted that our work on Blátha Bána/White Blossoms and BEAG is mutually supportive and enriching.

On the other end of the scale, our play for teenagers, The Shape of a Girl by Joan McLeod is already in pre-production and will go into rehearsal in mid-September. All performances will be in our venue.

Graffiti as Gaeilge and our colleagues in Irish language work are really looking forward to the first annual symposium of Meitheal na mBeag (19 agus 20 Samhain, i nGaillimh). We are proud to welcome back to Ireland Ivica Simic, Secretary General of ASSITEJ International, as our distinguished keynote speaker. The full programme will be up on the website shortly: www.meithealnambeag.ie Tá súil againn sibh a fheiceáil ansin!

The Outreach teams are also gearing up for a substantial programme of workshops in schools and for the energetic annual inflow of teens to our three Youth Theatres is about to start.
All three youth theatres will return mid-September. We are delighted with the success and enthusiasm of the members of Fish Tank and have listened to their pleas to give it a permanent home in our Outreach Dept. So here are the times and dates for this year:-
Fish Tank – Tues. 21st Sept. 5-7p.m Age Group 13-15 years
Activate- Wed. 22nd Sept. 7-9p.m Age Group 16-20 years
Physically Phishy – Thurs. 5-6.30p.m Age Group 10-12 years
If you know of someone who would like to join any of our youth theatres please bring them along on the appropriate day

The Great Book Swap @ Graffiti Tuesday 14th September 5.30 – 7.00pm. Admission €5.00
Please come along to this fun evening in aid of Fish Tank Youth Theatre in the Studio at Graffiti Theatre.
Admission fee includes a glass of wine or tea/coffee and the opportunity to bring along any old books that have been gathering dust on your bookshelves and swap them for ones that have been gathering dust on someone else’s bookshelves! All we ask is that you make a small donation for each book you take home. All monies raised from the swap will help towards the running of Fish Tank – our latest youth theatre for 13-15 year olds.
As alcohol is being served, this event is restricted to the over 18s.

JUNE 2010

PRODUCTIONS

Graffiti was delighted to be on the road again with a van full of puppets as Jackie, an old favourite, befriended the 3-7 year olds of Cork. Jackie’s Day, by Sarah FitzGibbon, is a charming and gentle interactive play which investigates the small but significant problems of its central character and her friends. This year’s version played both in Irish and in English (with the same cast), and as well as travelling to schools we have also created a lovely environmental set within a tent in our own theatre.

We are also pleased to have secured the rights for The Shape of a Girl by Joan MacLeod, which will be available in October and November. This Canadian script has been a phenomenal hit world wide. Originally commissioned and produced by Green Thumb Theatre Company, it is not – as you might think – a play about female body-image but a spare, tightly written and beautiful piece of theatre which investigates in a very subtle way the concept of the gang, the excluder and the witness. What do we see – ‘A girl in the shape of a monster: a monster in the shape of a girl’? We’ve wanted to produce this play for several years and are really looking forward to working on it.

Meanwhile, development work continues on Walking Man by Jody O’Neill and on Blátha Bána/White Blossoms which is our new piece of Theatre for the Youngest. Walking Man will have a week’s development rehearsal in August and we hope to prepare it for full rehearsal and tour in the Spring. We hope to premiere Blátha Bána in Summer of 2011. It’s based on a myth . . . but that’s all we’re saying!

Emelie also recently directed a reading of another new commission. Where in the world is Frank Sparrow?, a dark new teenage play by Australian writer, Angela Betzien. This was at The Provincetown Playhouse in New York and was part of their season, New Plays for Young Audiences. It was the only transnational piece and its “gritty Marc O’Rowe meets The X Men” style created a lot of interest!

DRAMA PROJECT

After a successful pilot project, a new programme of curriculum drama workshops based on the Kindertransport story will be available to schools in the Autumn. The workshop places the participants (5th and 6th class students) in the role of Jewish children embarking on their train to safety before the Second World War. It aims to develop the empathy of the students and help them understand and respond to challenging moral dilemmas.

YOUTH THEATRES

In May, the Graffiti Theatre hosted Activate Youth Theatre’s new play, Myrtlehill Terrace, which used real documents form the 1911 census to inspire fictional stories of Cork people one hundred years ago. There is something extraordinary about seeing the original census forms. The handwriting is beautiful and the documents evoke images of a bygone era. They provided the fuel which fired the imagination of the Youth Theatre members. Devised by the Youth Theatre and directed by Geraldine O’Neill and Julie O’Leary, the play Myrtlehill Terrace played in the Graffiti Theatre on 7th and 8th May.
The younger Youth Theatres, the Fish Tank and Physically Phishies, invited parents and friends to observe a final workshop session at the end of the year.

PLAYOGRAPHY NEWS

Playography na Gaeilge was launched recently by the Irish Theatre Institute (supported by Foras na Gaeilge) and Graffiti plays an impressive role in the history of first productions as Gaeilge. ITI published a report of the research findings of the project and we were surprised by (and a little proud of!) some of the results. Graffiti began producing as Gaeilge in 1999 and is now the fourth most prolific producer of Irish language first productions still in existence – though Branar may soon take over that honour! In the period in question (1975-2009) Emelie FitzGibbon was the 7th busiest Irish language director in the country (as well as being on the top list for new plays in English for the same period). Meanwhile Síle Ní Bhroin was the 12th most prolific writer/translator with 5 newly translated plays for Graffiti in that time. Playography na Gaeilge is a wonderful new resource available at www.irishplayography.com

And with no less than five new scripts currently in development, we hope to continue to be featured on Playography – as Gaeilge agus as Béarla! No wonder we are looking forward to a few days off in the Summer!

Bí linn!
Jackie
le Sarah FitzGibbon

Dráma do pháistí 3-7 bliain

As Gaeilge: Dé Sathairn 15 Bealtaine 3.00i.n.
As Béarla: Dé Sathairn 29 Bealtaine 3.00i.n.

Graffiti Theatre, Assumption Road, An Linn Dubh, Corcaigh
Cur in áirithint: 021 4397111 (níl mórán spáis!)
€5 an duine

“Meet our friend Jackie and we’ll play
We’ll tell you about one of Jackie’s days…”

Come and join us!
Jackie’s Day
by Sarah Fitzgibbon

An interactive performance for children aged 3-7

Irish version: Saturday 15th May 3.00pm
English version: Saturday 29th May 3.00pm

Graffiti Theatre, Assumption Road, Blackpool, Cork
Booking: 021 4397111 (places are very limited)
€5 per ticket

Myrtlehill Terrace will be performed by Activate Youth Theatre in the Graffiti Theatre, Assumption Road, Blackpool, Cork on Fri. 7th May @8pm.  There will be two performances on Sat. 8th May – a matinee at 3pm and and evening performance at 8pm. Tickets €10 & €8 (conc.) Bookings 0214397111

The Outreach Dept. of Graffiti Theatre Company are happy to announce the formation of a new youth drama project entitled “The Fish Tank”. This is an 18-week project working with 13-15 year old former members of Physically Phishy Youth Theatre who will be moving on to “The Fish Tank”. We plan to further develop their  acting, writing, improvisation and devising skills through a series of focussed drama workshops leading to  a performance of a devised piece of theatre. The project is facilitated by our Associate Director Síle Ní Bhroin  and Outreach Facilitator Julie O’Leary. This project is funded by Cork V.E.C. Small Grants Fund and supported by Graffiti Theatre Company. We hope it goes swimmingly!

We are optimistically treating the financial insecurity as an opportunity to invest that most precious of resources, time, into our commissions and development plans. We are working with award-winning Australia playwright, Angela Betzien, on an exciting new piece for teenage audiences. Artistic Director Emelie FitzGibbon and Angela have been invited to develop the script as part of the Provincetown New Theatre for Young Audiences series in New York in June this year – the only international script in the series of three. We are all very excited about both the commission and the opportunity to develop it in NY. Meanwhile, closer to home, Cork writer Jody O’Neill, recent winner of the Patrick Murray Bursary, is working with Associate Director, Síle Ní Bhroin, on our other new commission, Walking Man. This charming and unusual piece is for our younger audience. We are enthusiastically hoping to premiere both new commissions in 2011. And in case we aren’t busy enough, we are also in early developmental work on a new piece for a very young audience. As Wolfgang Schneider put it at the TYA Gathering in October, we are seeking to “establish the art of simplicity” and engage the imaginations of the very young. In common with many other production companies Graffiti is holding off on announcing its production schedule until after funding decisions have been made.

Our Outreach department is in full swing with a range of workshops in schools and both ACTIVATE Youth Theatre and Physically Phishy Youth theatre are up and running, with AYT in late development of a very intriguing new devised piece. A new Outreach development is the Fish Tank Pilot Project – the trial of an intermediate Youth Theatre, which started in January 2010, to help the older members of Physically Physhy (10-14 years) make the transition on to AYT (16 +). The Fish Tank is a ‘holding tank’ for members aged 13-15 and will allow this particular age group to develop and express themselves in a way that honours the unique qualities of that age.

Throughout the National Campaign for the Arts and now as we all adjust to difficult financial challenges, Graffiti has ensured that the issue of children’s cultural rights-or, more appropriately, lack of them – is on the agenda of our politicians and supporters. With children and young people bearing a lot of the burden of recession and with so many arts programmes for children wiped out we hope that all the members of TYAI will keep our politicians aware of the inadequacy of children’s cultural provision in this country and its ultimate short-sightedness in the development of a nation.