County Wexford Youth Theatre

County Wexford Youth Theatre

Bare Cheek Theatre Company formed County Wexford Youth Theatre in

September 2003 with the invaluable support of Wexford County Council. To date
CWYT has had 700 members. Currently there are 80 members aged between 11
years and 23 years and 12 aged between 9 and 10 years, divided into four age
appropriate groups. The groups meet each Saturday for 1.5 to 2 hours per group
during school term time.

In addition to the Artistic Director, there are two assistant drama facilitators present
at all sessions, and a liaison officer for CWYT. Members hail from all over the
County. Specialist tutors are regularly brought in to deliver workshops on specific
aspects of performance; e.g. Commedia, Voice training, Percussion, Puppetry etc.
The Youth Theatre receives annual funding from Wexford County Council to run
Youth Theatre Services for the County.

The main activity of the Youth Theatre revolves around workshops in performance,
writing and stage-craft. Most workshops are facilitated by the Artistic Director.

In production, the Youth Theatre over the past few years has been very eclectic.
Tackling plays by writers like Edward Bond, Tim Etchells, Irvine Welsh and Mary
O’Malley and the classics, Shakespeare etc. The members are also quite prolific in
writing their own work and contributing text in devised work e.g. Dog Days Are
Over, Good Kids Drink Milk etc.

CWYT has produced many young artists over the years for example; Charlie
Murphy (Actor), Luke McKenna (Film Maker), Stephen Morris (Visual & Performance
Artist), Pagan McGrath (Actor), Kristian McGrath (Magician) and many more. It is
the youth theatre’s mission to equip members with the skills and education to be
able to confidently move on to the next level of their theatre and performance
training.
Artistic Policy

CWYT provides an outlet for artistic expression among the young people of County
Wexford through the medium of theatre production and performance. CWYT
develops and presents existing, new and experimental work by young people
across the artistic disciplines of drama, music and film. CWYT is inclusive and
apolitical and actively promotes equal access to the arts for all.

Aims
• To enable members to articulate their needs clearly in a safe environment;

• To enable members and leaders to develop personal skills, such as confidence,

social interaction, responsibility, sharing, planning, decision making, and problem
sharing;

• To introduce young people to new and innovative elements of the arts;

• To provide training and education in creative skills for leaders and members.
Objectives

• To develop and nurture young people’s artistic interests, abilities and talents;
• To establish an ethos and atmosphere of trust, support, respect and
democracy;

• To promote the social interaction of members especially those marginalised by

geographical, financial and educational backgrounds;

• To enable the young people to negotiate their own development (personal

and artistic) within a safe environment;

• To introduce young adults to training for the theatre and film industries, helping
them to source agents, find further training at third level, and perform audition
pieces with confidence;
• To provide an alternative for young people to existing, exclusive private fee-
paying Drama Schools;
• To cater for non-performers through instruction in skills which are
complementary to those developed in drama workshops; e.g. stage
management, technical theatre, administration, etc;

• To incorporate other artistic disciplines such as dance and movement, music,

theatre, film making, writing, etc. through workshops by visiting theatre
practitioners;
• To provide a public focus for the work by producing public performances of
established, new and devised works;
• To participate in local, regional and national festivals through venue-based
and site-specific public performances;
• To participate in national and international youth theatre exchanges;
• To play an active role in the work of the National Association of Youth Drama.
Previous Productions

‘Running Into Walls’ - Devised, Theatre Royal, Wexford (April ‘04) St. Michael’s
Theatre, New Ross (July ’04)
 
‘Babes In The Hood’ - Devised, Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford (June ‘05) Granary
Theatre, Cork (July ‘05) 


‘The Scottish Play’ - after William Shakespeare, Wexford Arts Centre (April ‘06) 


‘E=MC Hammer’ - Nicole Foley, Wexford Arts Centre (April ’06)


‘Frank Pig Says Hello’ - Patrick McCabe, Wexford Arts Centre (April & Sept ‘06) 


‘11th September, 2001’ - Michael Vinaver, Wexford Arts Centre (Sept ‘06) 


‘Offending The Audience’ - Peter Handke, Wexford Arts Centre (Oct ‘06) 


‘Romeo & Juliet’ - after William Shakespeare, Wexford Arts Centre (April ‘07) 


‘Attempts On Her Life’ – Martin Crimp, Wexford Arts Centre (May ‘07) 


‘This Is A Chair’ - Caryl Churchill, Wexford Arts Centre (May ’08)


'Four Playreadings; "An Elephant Never Forgets", "Jenny's Friend Ana", Influenced" &
"The Poison" - Young Playwrights Award, Wexford Arts Centre (Jan ’09)


'Once A Catholic' - Mary O'Malley, Wexford Opera House (March ’09)


'Shut Up and Listen To Me!' - Devised, Wexford Opera House (May '09), Marine
Hotel, Dublin (Oct ’09) - Arts Council Young Ensembles Award Winner


'Rent' - Jonathan Larson, Wexford Opera House, (March 2010)


'Dog Days Are Over' - Devised, Westgate Heritage Centre (Culture Night, Sept '10),
Arklow Bay Hotel, (Oct '10), Granary Theatre (Oct ’10).


"Hamlet" - Shakespeare & "The Children" - Edward Bond, Wexford Opera House,
(Nov 2010)


"16" - Devised, Wexford Opera House, (Nov 2010) - Arts Council Young Ensembles
Award Winner


"Good Kids Drink Milk" - Devised by the Members, written by Shaun Dunne (Nov
2011) - Arts Council Young Ensembles Award Winner


"That Night Follows Day" - Tim Etchells (Some CWYT Members acting in this Bare
Cheek production; Feb 2012 & on tour to Dublin & Cork in Nov 2012)


“True Confessions” – Devised, Wexford Arts Centre, (May 2013)


“Olivia Twist” – Devised, Wexford Arts Centre, (May 2013)


“Snow White” – Devised, Wexford Arts Centre, (May 2013)


“That Night Follows Day” – Tim Etchells, National Youth Arts Showcase, National
Library, Dublin (June 2013)


"The Elephant In The Room" - Devised by the Company, dramaturged by Hannah
McNiven, Wexford Opera House (April 2014) - Arts Council Young Ensembles
Award Winner.

“A Midsummer's Night Dream” - Shakespeare, Wexford Arts Centre (May 2015)

“Anya” - Devised, Wexford Arts Centre (May 2015)

“Beaten” - NiRiain, Stella Maris Centre, Wexford (June 2015)

“Love & Information” - Churchill, Wexford Arts Centre (May 2015)

“The Voices” - Etchells, Wexford Arts Centre (May 2015)

Revolt - Devised/M.McCleane-Fay, Wexford Courtroom, Wexford (April 2016)

“Missing” - Devised/M.McCleane, Wexford Arts Centre (June 2016)

“Alice” - Carroll, Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford (June 2016)

“Revolt” (Theatre Version) - M.McCleane, Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College,

Dublin (August 2016)

“Monkey” - Marnie McCleane, in association with Bare Cheek and the FDYS,
Wexford Arts Centre, St. Michael's Theatre (April 2017)

“3 Golden Hairs” - Trad., Wexford Arts Centre (May 2017)

“Showtime” - Etchells, Wexford Arts Centre (May 2017)

“Hamletmachine” - Muller, Wexford Arts Centre (May 2017)

“Benji” - based on ‘Adult Child, Dead Child’ by Claire Dowie, Wexford Arts Centre
(May 2017)

“Enemy” - adapted from Ibsen’s ‘An Enemy Of The People’, Marnie McCleane, Off
Site (Sept 2017)