Abbey Theatre Announces 100 Artists For DEAR IRELAND

The Abbey Theatre has commissioned writers from Ireland, with unique additional contributions from the USA, China and Italy, to each write a monologue, to be performed by 50 actors, and then streamed on the Abbey's digital platforms. Today, 15 April 2020, Graham McLaren and Neil Murray, Directors of the Abbey Theatre, announce the lineup of artists taking part in the theatre's historic project, Dear Ireland.

Graham McLaren and Neil Murray, Directors of the Abbey Theatre said:

'The Abbey Theatre is more than the walls which house its productions, and the work of Ireland's national theatre responds and will continue to reflect the challenges being faced by Irish society. We are artist-led and audience-focused and, in this profoundly historic period for Ireland, we have brought together the voices of 100 artists to provoke a creative conversation with the nation. In addition to making new art for audiences, we felt it was important to act fast, to document this moment artistically, whilst helping theatre makers financially, a community which has been greatly impacted by the closure, cancellation or postponement of many artistic projects.

We want to sincerely thank these artists, who have embarked upon this project at a rapid pace, with open minds and brave hearts in pressurized and exceptional circumstances. Along with playwrights writing from all over Ireland, we are also honoured to include an Irish playwright writing from New York and a playwright from, respectively, China and Italy. We hope Dear Ireland will be a provocation for dialogue, reflection and entertainment.'

Each writer nominated one actor to perform their piece, and the actors are self-taping their performances from social isolation.

The writers involved are as follows:

1. Blindboy
2. Dermot Bolger
3. Pom Boyd
4. Sinéad Burke
5. TKB (Thommas Kane Byrne)
6. Dylan Coburn Gray
7. Karen Cogan
8. John Connors
9. Kit de Waal
10. Shaun Dunne
11. Iseult Golden
12. Stacey Gregg
13. Sarah Hanly
14. Nancy Harris
15. David Ireland
16. Colm Keegan
17. Sonya Kelly
18. Deirdre Kinahan
19. Emmet Kirwan
20. Darach Mac Con Iomaire
21. Manchán Magan
22. Aoife Martyn
23. Owen McCafferty
24. Rosaleen McDonagh
25. Frank McGuinness
26. Meadhbh McHugh (New York)
27. Una McKevitt
28. Phillip McMahon
29. Andrea Molino (Italy)
30. Gina Moxley
31. Jimmy Murphy
32. Zoe Ní Riordáin
33. Edna O'Brien
34. Eva O'Connor
35. Joseph O'Connor
36. John O'Donovan
37. Mark O'Halloran
38. Jody O'Neill
39. Shane O'Reilly
40. Felicia 'Felispeaks' Olusanya
41. Margaret Perry
42. Ursula Rani Sarma
43. Arthur Riordan
44. Ciara Elizabeth Smyth
45. Abbie Spallen
46. Keith James Walker
47. Enda Walsh
48. Michael West
49. Carmel Winters
50. Zhu Yi (China)

Actors involved in the project are as follows:

1. Cathy Belton
2. Andrew Bennett
3. Dawn Bradfield
4. Amanda Coogan
5. Nicola Coughlan
6. Tim Creed
7. Bríd Criomhthain
8. Zara Devlin
9. Mark Doherty
10. Deirdre Donnelly
11. Mike Donnelly
12. Ashleigh Dorrell
13. Caoilfhionn Dunne
14. Clare Dunne
15. Graham Earley
16. Sorcha Fox
17. Eva-Jane Gaffney
18. Denise Gough
19. Brendan Gleeson
20. Peter Gowen
21. Julia Gu
22. Breffni Holahan
23. Seána Kerslake
24. Katherine Lynch
25. Conor MacNeill
26. Amy McAllister
27. Owen McDonnell
28. Lucianne McEvoy
29. Abigail McGibbon
30. Siobhán McSweeney
31. Leah Minto
32. Deirdre Molloy
33. David Moss
34. Marie Mullen
35. Bríd Ní Neachtain
36. Rory Nolan
37. Eoin O Dubhghaill
38. Kathy Rose O'Brien
39. Marion O'Dwyer
40. Jolene O'Hara
41. Patrick O'Kane
42. Clare O'Malley
43. Marty Rea
44. Ericka Roe
45. Owen Roe
46. Camille Lucy Ross
47. Norma Sheahan
48. Joan Sheehy
49. Stanley Townsend
50. Eleanor Walsh

Acclaimed Irish artist Maser was also commissioned to respond to the Dear Ireland call and his beautiful artwork will be woven through the visuals in the films.

Dear Ireland will premiere online later this month. Released over 4 days, the monologues will be screened in four parts at 7.30pm from Tuesday 28 April to Friday 1 May on the Abbey Theatre's YouTube channel. Links and details to follow the week of screening. For updates see abbeytheatre.ie/whats-on/dear-ireland/.

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