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Originally from Tipperary, Ireland, I am a storyteller, facilitator, writer, singer, performer in theatre and music. I work as a freelance facilitator and community artist with a number of leading theatre companies in London such as Half Moon Theatre, Little Angel Theatre, Attic Theatre, Artburst, GoLive Theatre, Dream Arts, and Moving Waves.
Alongside my facilitation work, I am an emerging playwright and performer. As part of international group, The Ineka Collective, our show, Pleasure Chapters: No More Salad! was performed in Camden Fringe Fest, Southbank and FemFest. I have written pieces with Prime Theatre, Campfire Theatre and the Irish Creative Collective. I was part of the 2024 writers lab with StageBase and performed with SoulSpire Arts. My debut play the women who cried for a year (and counting) has been performed and read by Masterclass Theatre Trust and The Irish Creative Collective. I am also a regular collaborator with ProEnglish Theatre in Kyiv, Ukraine.
I obtained my BA (Hons) in Theatre & Performative Practices International with Music from University College Cork in 2020. As an Erasmus student, I also attended the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. In 2021, I completed an MA in Applied Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, graduating with distinction.
Today I work in London as a faciliatior, writer, performer and advocate for my community
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Reviews of Writing Practices
“it is a patchwork of emotions and experiences, variously angry and entertaining, incorporating everything from soliloquies by lesbian pirates to lessons in LGBT+ language to instant responses to the Westminster’s blocking of Holyrood’s gender reform bill. It makes an intimate and insightful hour of audio.”
- The Stage, Review of Queer There and Everywhere
“The deep and authentic Irish roots, the ever so complicated mother-daughter relationship - these were really exciting. One of my favourite moments was at the end when the protagonist was talking about all her experiences in the room she had lived in - that was so beautiful and highly relatable.”
- Review and Feedback of the women who cried for a year (and counting) at Stagebase 2024
Reviews of Faciliatior and Community Work
“Mary has been excellent to work with. She is extremely conscientious and aware of the young people and their needs. She displayed an ability to respond to the room appropriately and work positively with the full team. She was very flexible in her approach, which meant that when plans changed or more support was needed in one area, she quickly responded and adapted to the plan and space. This support and intuition helped the young people and project to thrive.”
— Tash Marks - Facilitator and Creative Practitioner
“I found today’s Tarot workshop to be really intuitive. The informative slideshow of Tarot itself and how the cards work. I appreciated the welcoming environment when it came to sharing each others work. Overall it was a very enjoyable workshop and creative outlet. The mix of tarot and writing was perfect. I left feeling very inspired and happy :) Thanks Mary
- Participant at Tea and Tarot at New Deli Theatre 2024
Reviews of Performance
“Mary is an incredible diverse artist. A talented and a very skilful writer. A bold and a very charismatic performer, always ready to take up new challenges whether it’s acting, singing, dancing or devouring food on stage! (Check out her incredible performance in ‘ PLEASURE CHAPTERS: No More Salad!’). She’s a great team player and it’s a real pleasure to work with her.“
- Natalia Meksa - Dancer and choreographer
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As an undergraduate, I was actively involved with a wide range of community and university societies such as Clonmel Junction Festival, Cahir Pantomime Society, UCC Dramat, UCC Musical Theatre Society and UCC Orchestral Society. Throughout, I gained invaluable experience in directing, sound design, acting, stage management, administration, social media marketing and theatre production.
During this time, I began my facilitation journey, working as a facilitator and collaborator with Stagecraft Youth Theatre, Facture Youth Theatre, Cahir Majorettes, Excel Youth Theatre and Cahir Youth Choir, all based in Ireland. In 2016, I was appointed young critic with Youth Theatre Ireland. In 2019, I also served as musical director and assistant director with Youth Theatre Ireland’s Symposium in collaboration with UCC Youth Theatre. In 2020, I directed Legally Blonde with University College Cork’s Musical Theatre Society with the production earning a nomination from The Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS).
My dissertation focused on intergenerational theatre and was entitled Bridging or Widening the Divide: How has COVID-19 Shifted Intergenerational Work in Terms of Creativity, Agency, and Connection in the UK and Ireland. Guided by theory, this work was informed by my own experience in intergenerational theatre. In addition to working with All Change, I designed and implemented my own intergenerational project with Nenagh Youth Theatre and Nenagh Manor Silverstream Nursing Home, which explored the notion of place through creative collaboration, storytelling, and devising. The project was delivered remotely from London through online workshops with both groups who were unable to meet in person.
Examples of my practice during this time include:
• Company Three and Birmingham Young Rep: When This is All Over .
• Dr Nicola Abraham and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Student Knowledge Exchange, where I helped facilitate bespoke workshops in digital practice through music, storytelling and virtual reality in both hospital and care home settings.
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2024
Makaton training
National Youth Theatre - Inclusion Collective 2024 - This is a six month learning experience from the National Youth Theatre on how to expand your current practice to become more inclusive.
2023
Speech Bubbles Training - Learning the tools from Speech Bubbles in how best to support young people in drama.
Little Angel Introduction to Puppetry course - 10 week course on how to use and make your own puppets!
2022
Dementia Friend- Training in assisting people in the community with Dementia
Place2Be - PD-certified Mental Health Champions Foundation programme aims to enhance professionals’ understanding of children’s mental health and introduce approaches that foster positive wellbeing.
2021
Kazzum Arts - Training with Trauma-Informed Practices with young people.
Tender - OCN Level 2 in Peer Mentoring and Facilitation
European Commission - Youthpass - Digital Youth Work course completed
Dream Arts - Parenting with PACE. - A DDP informed approach to parenting children who have experienced developmental trauma
2020
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust - Tier 2 Dementia Training Day for Registered Staff
British Sign - Introducing British Sign Language course completed
2018
Dublin Institute of Technology - As part of a scholarship with DIT. I had the opportunity to train in Opera Voice Performance.
2017
London College of Music - Dip. LCM in Music Theatre Performance
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2021
My undergraduate research study, ‘Arts for all— soft skills development in music and drama education’ was published in Undergraduate Research in Theatre: A Guide for Students with Michelle Hayford (Routledge 2021)
Awarded an Honorary Life Membership from University College Cork and UCC Musical Theatre Society from the society for my work as a director for Legally Blonde and committee member from 2016-2021
Legally Blonde was also the winner of the Best Creative Event at UCC STARS awards 2021.
2020
Legally Blonde was nominated in the 2020 AIMS (Association of Irish Musical Societies)
2017
Semi Finalist in National Competition, The Soloist with the Cross-Border Orchestra
2016
Winner of Tipperary Enterprise Trade Board Talent Search Finals Senior Category
Examples of My Work: Community and Facilitator Work
Examples of My Work: Writing and Performance
See below for examples of my various work in community settings, performance, and writing:
Behind-the-scene highlights of the Nenagh Intergenerational Project with Nenagh Youth Theatre and Nenagh Manor Silversprings Nursing Home.
Storyteller with Roundabout Dramatherapy reading myths and fairytales as part of #ShareAStory.
Sound-designed and sang as part of a DR2016 technical theatre module in UCC. Students were asked to provide a tech team to help produce the final year’s FYP show, Resonate.
As part of my placement with the NHS Imperial Trust, I had the opportunity to create virtual reality videos in a project called, Wonder VR. Here is a Christmas video from 2020.
Other projects I was involved with were Your Story, Your Way, Life , Lyrics, Intergen and Hear me Out!, which were based on music, podcasting, video-making and song-writing.
Performing as Eve in Children of Eden with Tipperary Excel.
Wrote, Voiced and Sang on Ladies Don’t Burn Fingersas part of Queer There and Everywhere with Prime Theatre and Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
Wrote and performed an extract of the women who cried for a year (and counting) at The Space as part of SoulSpire Arts Scrach Night Sept 2024
directior - Saoirse Burns
written and women - Mary Condon O’Connor
he - Riain Cash
Wrote Becoming Miss Universe that was performed as part of Solo Play Day, Monolgues Night with ProEnglish Theatre of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine.
This short piece was about the beauty industry, trends and the pressure we put on ourselves to keep up.
Emily - Sharon Cawood.
Wrote The Meeting Room that was performed as part of Theatre24 with ProEnglish Theatre of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine.
This short piece created from page to stage in under 24 hours. After a fatal car crash, Jane wakes up in purgatory and learns she’ll have to wait three years to move on—unless she joins the LTA Group (Life Transition Assistance). A darkly funny story about facing your past and moving on to the afterlife.
Directed by Alva March
Starring: Val Havrilyuk, Kira Meshcherska, Oleksandra Pylypchuk, Jasmina Sotelo
Podcaster
Creative Spark with Moving Waves 2024
I was a regular podcaster on Moving Waves’ podcast, Creative Spark together we chatted about applied theatre arts and community theatre in London. Our journeys to becoming faciliatiors and tips and tricks for your practice.
I was part of the cast and creative team of the film, Brendan's Voyage, which took part in the 2021 Nenagh Children’s Film Festival at Nenagh Arts Centre.
I led the social media campaign for the Daughters of Dún Iascaigh event, which took place on International's Women's Day 2021. Our social campaign went to the top 15 trending topics in Ireland on Twitter during IWD 2021.
The team subsequently won the 2021 Heritage Sharing award at Ireland’s annual National Heritage Awards.
Director for UCC Musical Theatre Society’s, Legally Blonde.
Creative writing and devised storytelling with nursing home residents as part of my work with Moving Waves
The Pleasure Chapters: I just can’t live on a salad!
Performed, narrator, stage manager and faciliatior for The Pleasure Chapters for the Camden Fringe Festival 2023, Southbank Winter showcase 2023 and becoming an early artist with Femfest in Brightion.
This was a show that is a mix of dance, confronting women’s relationships with food with the body and welcoming back the pleasure that comes with food. With this performance as part of the show included a reflective space and a women’s circle which I was part of the core planning for this.
Contact
For collaborations or workshop enquiries please, contact me by email or any of my social media links.
mary(at)marycondonoconnor.com
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