Workshop
'Acting is Reacting' - with Andy Hinds
A workshop with Andy Hinds will be held in the Mill Theatre Studio on Monday 13 February 2012 from 7:30 to 10pm.
Places are limited, so if you're interested, contact Joanne to book a place.
The workshop fee is €5 for Members and €10 for non-Members. To reserve a place, contact Joanne Keane on 087-797 7067 or by email at keanejoanne @ eircom.net
Christmas / New Year Party - 13 Jan 2012
'Read All About It' - Winter Newsletter Out Now
A copy of the Winter Newsletter, circulated to Members just before Christmas, is available on the Newsletters page.
In accordance with time-honoured tradition, the Annual Members' Party takes place on 13 January 2012. Dinner is at 9pm in Roly Saul's restaurant beside the Mill Theatre in the Dundrum Town Centre. Pre Dinner drinks are in Dundrum House from 8pm.
As mentioned in the information circulated to members on 6 December, don't forget to get in touch with Jean or Hilary before 30 December so that they have your money to reserve your place at the dinner table for the January party. If you will not see them over Christmas, contact any of the other committee members, Doris, Tony, Joanne, Oran, Muriel or Claire.
In the meantime, have a very Happy Christmas and here's to a great New Year for us all.
Readings for 'The Mai'
Further readings Mon 21 & Wed 23 Nov
'The Mai' (pronounced 'May'), by Marina Carr, will be on the Mill Theatre stage from 27 to 31 March 2012. Directors for the show are Jean Monahan and Oran O'Rua.
Further readings will take place on Monday 21 and Wednesday 23 November 2011 from 7:30m in St Tiernan's Community School, Parkvale. Follow this link to a Google map of the area.
On Monday the focus will be on those interested in reading for The Mai and Robert.
On Wednesday the focus will on those interested in reading for the other parts in the play.
The information circulated by email is available here as a PDF file.
The play has a cast of eight characters - seven female, and one male, as follows*:
- The Mai, aged 30s/40s
- Millie, The Mai's daughter, aged 16 and 30
- Grandma Fraochlán, aged 100
- Robert, The Mai's husband, aged 30s/40s
- Beck, The Mai's sister, aged 30s
- Connie, The Mai's sister, aged 30s
- Julie, The Mai's aunt, aged 60s/ 70s
- Agnes, The Mai's aunt, aged 50s/60s
*Note: age groups mentioned are guidelines only – all are welcome to read!!
Crew required:
- Production Manager
- Stage Manager
- Assistant Stage Manager/Props
- Lighting Designer and Lighting Operator
- Sound Designer and Sound Operator
- Set Builder(s)
- Set Furnisher
- Make-up
About the play
"The Mai" is the moving story of four generations of women in one family in the midlands. An accomplished, beautiful forty-year-old woman, The Mai has always sought an exceptional life. We enter the world of The Mai on the day of her husband's return after an absence of four years. In the midst of their troubled reunion are the idiosyncratic and comical characters that comprise the family. Irreverent and unapologetic, the opium-smoking, 100-year-old matriarch, Grandma Fraochlán, presides over all. The "Spanish Beauty", as she is known, reminds us that the past is looming ever present. Rich in comedic performances throughout, "The Mai" explores how history is inexorably bound to repeat itself - no matter how tragic the results.
About the author
Widely regarded as Ireland's leading female dramatist, Marina Carr was raised in County Offaly. She graduated from University College Dublin with a degree in English and Philosophy in 1987, and has been Writer-in-Residence at the Abbey Theatre and Trinity College, Dublin. Currently a member of Aosdána, she has won many awards for her work including, the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A number of her plays have been translated into French, German and Norwegian.
Further information
If you would like any other information about the play or the readings, please feel free to contact the directors on 086-178 5159 (Jean) or 087-784 4834 (Oran).
Some useful resources from the Links page
For more useful places to visit on the Internet, including maps for rehearsal venues, see the Links page.
Mill Theatre - Front of House volunteers needed
In return for access to the facilities at the Mill Theatre for specified periods each year, the amateur drama groups in the areas around Dundrum provide volunteer support for Front of House. Several members of Balally Players give some of their time each month. To share the workload as evenly as possible, there is a need for volunteers to admit the audience and show them to their seats, if necessary.
If you can give one evening each month to help at the theatre (from 7:20pm), please contact Karen Carleton through the Mill Theatre office on 01-296 9340 or 087-670 1252.
Annual Subscriptions - a little goes a long way
Keeping our growing programme and group alive and well requires the modest subscription associated with membership. It also covers the insurance that each member must have before they can be permitted to participate in staged events.
Treasurer, Óran O'Rua, can give you full details about the Annual Subscription payable by each member of the group and accept payment, when in attendance at rehearsals and events. Alternatively, you can make contact using the email form on the Contact page, or by leaving a message requesting a return call in the voice mailbox of the Balally Players mobile phone 087-694 4088.
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