Scripts announces full programme of events

After two years of online and hybrid events, Scripts Ireland’s Playwriting Festival is back with a jam-packed programme from July 7 to July 10 in Birr.

This innovative playwriting festival features a host of exciting performances and workshops for lovers of theatre - those who want to create, perform, and watch live new theatre in the beautiful surroundings of a heritage town.

Live performances include Bloody Yesterday by Deirdre Kinehan, Wake by Irene Kelleher, Looking for América by Janet Moran and an exclusive new work called Promenade Performance created especially for the festival in collaboration with Birr Stage Guild. Jay Ryan’s Living with a Fairy is also on the schedule for family audiences.

Earlier this year, Scripts received a record-breaking number of entries (over 130) to its call for submissions for new short plays. This year’s selected writers are Tony Doyle, Sarah McKenna Dunne and Jacqueline Corrigan and Robert Webster. They will receive a week of mentorship with award-winning Offaly writer Eugene O’Brien during the festival. Then, all three plays will be performed as rehearsed readings by a team of professional actors at the Scripts headline event, Nurtured New Works at Birr Theatre & Arts Centre on Sunday, July 10, at 4pm. The winning play will be chosen by a distinguished panel including playwright Christian O’Reilly and Fishamble’s Gavin Kostick. Scripts also continues to collaborate with the national theatre, The Abbey, to support its winning playwright.

This July, there will also be the unveiling of the very first George B. Miller Award, a new collaboration by Scripts and Youth Theatre Ireland. The selected writers will see their new plays for 11-14 year olds performed for the very first time as live readings during the festival.

For those who want to learn more about the art of playwriting, Fishamble’s Gavin Kostick and playwright Chrisitian O’Reilly will deliver workshops focusing on new writing. Former Scripts winner Lesley Conroy will host Family Proofing Your Arts Practice: A workshop on creative solutions to challenges facing parenting artists at Birr Library. David Walsh from Open Minds will also facilitate Unconscious Bias, exploring the way unconscious bias operates and help participants identify it and understand barriers to truly inclusive creativity.

For the full programme and some exciting special ticket offers, visit www.scriptsireland.com

Scripts Ireland’s Playwriting Festival is kindly supported by Arts Council of Ireland, Offaly County Council, Birr Municipal District, Fishamble and Youth Theatre Ireland and Creative Ireland.