Druid announces the 2021-2022 Marie Mullen Bursary recipient

Druid has announced director Katie O’Halloran as the next recipient of the Marie Mullen Bursary, an annual award for female theatre artists working in Ireland in the fields of design, directing and dramaturgy.

Named in honour of actor and Druid co-founder, Marie Mullen, the bursary addresses the historic imbalance of female representation in theatre and supports the professional development of women in Irish theatre. The bursary provides a female theatre artist with the time, physical resources and mentoring necessary to support their work.

Katie will have multiple paid work opportunities with Druid over the coming year including the role of assistant director on one of Druid’s major 2022 productions. She will also receive a stipend, mentoring, access to workshops and Druid’s other development programmes such as FUEL and Druid Debuts.

Garry Hynes, Druid’s Artistic Director: ‘Theatre is one of the hardest careers for anyone. For young directors and in these times of COVID-19, it is extraordinarily difficult. That’s why I’m so pleased that this award exists and I’m really looking forward to working with Katie in the coming year.’

Katie O’Halloran, this year’s bursary recipient: ‘Receiving the Marie Mullen Bursary grants me the gifts of time, space and resources to explore new avenues of my artistry. I am really grateful for this opportunity to work with and learn from Druid and Garry Hynes, and feel a strengthening of my own personal responsibility to support the voices of women in the arts for years to come.’

Introduced in 2018, the Marie Mullen Bursary is one of Druid’s theatre development programmes and offers:

• A residency with Druid on a company production
• A one-to-one session with Marie Mullen on working in the theatre industry
• Mentoring opportunities with theatre professionals
• For directors and dramaturgs, a contract to act as dramaturg or director for a Druid Debut
• Opportunities to engage with the Druid Ensemble
• Opportunities to attend FUEL and Druid Academy workshops and events
• A bursary award of €2,000

Previous recipients of the Marie Mullen Bursary:

• 2018-2019: Eleanor White, dramaturg
• 2019-2020: Clíodhna Hallissey, costume designer
• 2020-2021: Emily Foran, director and Sarah Baxter, director

Since completing their bursary years, dramaturg Eleanor White has been appointed Literary Associate at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh; costume designer Clíodhna Hallissey has continued to design with Druid on productions such as Once Upon a Bridge and Boland: Journey of a Poet; director Emily Foran has upcoming productions in An Grianán Theatre in Letterkenny and The MAC in Belfast, as well as festival screenings of her first short film; and director Sarah Baxter continues to work with Druid on productions including The Seagull in 2021 and an upcoming major production in 2022.

Katie O’Halloran is a Dublin-based interdisciplinary director and creator. Her work celebrates theatricality, examines the materiality and effects of borders and confines, and prioritises a thorough probing of the text. She fuses her love of analysing language with detailed vocal and physical work, as she firmly believes that “actors write with their bodies”. She is a co-founder and resident director with Full Measure Theatre in Dublin, and has worked with Dublin Fringe Festival, Fishamble, and the Irish National Opera. Katie holds a BFA (Hons) in Musical Theatre from The Boston Conservatory (concentrations in Directing, Acting, Songwriting) and an MFA (Distinction) in Directing from The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art.

The Marie Mullen Bursary is supported by Thomas Campbell Jackson & Penny Jackson.

For more information on the Marie Mullen Bursary, please follow this link.

Images by Declan Colohan