Waterford Youth Arts was delighted to announce its involvement in NT Connections 2022, run by National Theatre in London.

We were selected to stage a play by the exciting Scottish playwright Stef Smith called REMOTE, which Deirdre Dwyer directed. It was performed in April at Garter Lane, the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, with the potential to head to London later in 2022.

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This is not the first time WYA has been involved in NT Connections over the years; in 1999, WYA was selected to put on a production of The Pilgrimage by Paul Goetzee directed by Deirdre Molloy, to the Olivier Stage at the National.

The fifth Lit Young Writers Festival come and went running from the 17th to the 20th of November with a fantastic range of talks, interviews, workshops, and live music and some midday performance poetry for 15 – 19-year-olds and some all-ages events which went down very well.

Like previous years the team had an exciting range of writers, authors, poets, and creatives involved in this year’s festival - Caroline Busher, Stephen James Smith, Sasha Terofus, John Cummins, aliensincaves and The Black Roses appearing and hosting in-person events in Waterford City and online interviews with Bill Konigsberg (US), Raven aka The Acid Bath Princess (US), Hip-Hop Singer - Uppbeat (IE) and Australian novelist Sophie Gonzales (AUS).

The main event of the festival was an incredible spoken word event in St Patricks Gateway Centre on Friday the 19th of November - A live reading of stories, essays and poetry highlighting a new book called 'Voices from Direct Provision' containing new works written by people currently living in or have lived in Direct Provision in Ireland.

Drawing from their own experiences of the system, the contributors write to create awareness of a campaign, providing voices to the experiences of those oppressed by the system.

Overall, this festival ran well in a safe and secure way and it was a success. To lean more about the festival click on the link below.

Waterford Youth Arts 27th Annual Summer Theatre – Williams Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet was a great success it was only performed four (Mon the 16th – Thurs the 19th of August) of the six nights planned due to bad weather but the director Jim Nolan, the cast and the crew organized and put on four fantastic performances of Romeo and Juliet in Wyse Park in front of a live audience.

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This year twenty-four young people took part in the play and spent six full weeks learning the ins and outs of acting, performing and stage work while having fun and making memories. The cast performed very well and captured the feud between the Montagues and Capulets perfectly the love story between Romeo and Juliet was sold well and the tragic ending was as heart-breaking as you expect.

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Artists Involved – Jim Nolan (Director), Dermot Quinn (Set Deign), Richard Collins (Lighting), Martina Collender (Stage Manager), Sinead Hourigan (Asst. Director), Heather Troy Whelan (Tech Manager), Shane O’Sullivan (Costume Design), Paul McDonald (Sound Design) and Éadaoin Breathnach (Music Design)

After everything that was cancelled in 2020, we were delighted that the finale of the ‘Young Playwrights Programme’ could go ahead on Saturday the 30th of January in an online format which was originally planned as an in-person for last years Lit Young Writers Festival in November.

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The ‘YYP’ was streamed over on our Facebook Channel at 7.30pm, on the night the four great young playwrights (Clare Mee, Alex Hennessy, Saorla Roger and Emily O’Niell) plays ‘If They Would Listen’, ‘Isolation’, Scavengers’ and an Untitled Play received official readthroughs, voiced by several professional local actors and former WYA Youth Drama members.

During the night there were also two Livestreamed Zoom Chats one with the aforementioned playwrights where they talked about the process and the second discussion was with their mentors (Jim Nolan, Nicola Spendlove and Martina Collender) who talked about the project as well as the experience of working alongside the young playwrights.

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Alongside the aforementioned playwrights there was plenty of talent in the acting department with Nicola Spendlove, Megan Kelly, Kieran Walsh, Killian Jacob, Hugo O’Donovan, Gerry Kane, Cian Meaney, Derek Flynn, Brian Cahill, Mary O’Donoghue, Tara Kennedy, Alan O’Toole, Gráinne Kavanagh and Ciara O’Connor.

This was a great evening of theatre and its all up on our Facebook page for your viewing pleasure.

Our last event of 2020 was the screening of our beautiful new short film Emerge on the 6th of December, when it received its official premier over on our YouTube channel.

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This short was a collaboration between seven senior members and Rachel Ní Bhronáin that was devised and filmed between August and November 2020 overcoming the obstacles presented by the pandemic in the process.

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This short film explored themes of disillusionment, identity and empowerment with its own original soundtrack, writing and movement was done by the cast.

If you want to experience this beautiful film, you can view it over on our YouTube Channel by clicking on the link - https://bit.ly/3CSMl4J  its less than five minutes long and well worth it.

Running a festival is challenging and putting on a online festival is even more difficult for different reasons, but this year the Lit Team not only put on their first digital ‘Lit Young Writers Festival’ (which ran from the 17th to the 21st of November) and they did a tremendous job of it as all the events and workshops ran smoothly, the guests were fascinating and the transition from in-person events to digital events went really well.

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This year the team had an incredible line-up of authors, journalists, poets, and musicians including the current Laureate na nÓg - Áine NÍ Ghlinn, E.R. Murray, Amy Beashel, Dave Rudden, Megan Nolan, Colm Keegan, Ciara Ní É, Justin Cullen, Beau Williams.

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But that’s not all, as The Lit Team organized a livestream music performance by the local Hard Rock duo Bankrupt and a performance by local artist Aliens in Caves as well as a beautiful photography exhibition with up and coming photographer and graphic designer Kieran Power.

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The sponsors and collaborators for 2020’s festival was RTE Supporting The Arts, The Arts Council, Waterford Youth Arts, Poetry Ireland, Waterford City and County Council, Children’s Books Ireland, Library Services and Feile Péacóg.

​Waterford Youth Arts and The Brothers Of Charity Waterford’s charming super heroic short film – ‘The Machine’, was officially debuted on the 30th of October at 7pm over on our YouTube channel, feedback was positive with people loving the comic book style, the beautiful message behind the film and the light-hearted humour.

“WHAT A CALAMITY!!! The most extraordinary invention in the history of the world has fallen into the wrong hands!!! Who can stop Dr. Evil Knieval and his many minions??? Did somebody say SUPERHEROS???”

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The Machine was directed by Liam Meagher and devised by the cast; it tells a unique story of heroes trying to defeat a super villain. Interestingly, the film was made using green screen technology, fabulous illustrations, and an original soundtrack throughout. The production was shot by Keith Currams, Artwork is by Declan Pierce and edited by John Loftus with music composed by Éadaoin Breathnach.

Due to everything that went on during the Summer of 2020, we had to cancel our plans on putting on ‘Stolen Time’ (An incredible new production written by Martina Collender and directed by Liam Meagher. The powerful pair who brought you ‘One Hundred Thousand Breaths’ (2016) and ‘If The Lights Change’ (2017) on outdoors in Wyse Park.

So instead we organized a livestream of the show to take place in Garter Lane Arts Centre on Thursday the 27th of August at 8pm. The stream ran without a hitch and the 15 – 19-year-old cast performed spectacularly on the beautiful set designed by Deirdre Dwyer.

Unlike any of our other past productions its still available to watch on our YouTube Channel - https://bit.ly/2R4KKD6. WARNING - Audience advisory is 14 +, NOT suitable for younger audiences, as it contains mature themes.

Since the pandemic struck during Spring / Summer of 2020 and everyone had to socially distance, we adapted our workshops - Creative Writing, Drama, Film and Visual Arts to work digitally through Zoom. Overall the workshops  ran as well as expected and feedback was positive.

​Great turn out for the first WYA production of the decade – Resolutions ‘A one-act play about homelessness from a young person's perspective, which tells the story of three young people who experience homelessness.‘ which ran for three performances on Friday the 24th at 8pm and Saturday the 25th of January at 2pm (matinee) and 8pm in St Patricks Gateway Centre.

All the money raised from ticket sales went to support the work of ‘Helping Hands’ a local voluntary group that feeds homeless people in St. Patrick’s Gateway Centre all year round.

Resolutions was written and directed by Martina Collender with the senior drama members (who were also the stars of the production), Lauren Carbery (Stage Manager), Heather Troy-Whelan (Lighting and Sound), Abi McCormick (Sound Effects) and last but not least Bell the Dog in her first ever role.

​The Harry Potter Experience was one enchanting event for young people aged 7 plus and for the young at heart, when it ran in the Central Library Waterford on the 12th of December. Running for around an hour this magical event was filled with spell casting, lessons games, and sweets. The young witches and wizards also got to interact with some brilliant original characters (played by the senior drama members) with Martina Collender overseeing it all.

The Harry Potter Experience was a collaborative event between Waterford City and Council Libraries and Waterford Youth Arts.

​The third annual ‘The Lit Young Writers Festival’ ran on Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th of November, over these incredible two days some of the best local and national authors, journalists and spoken word stars – ‘Sarah Crossan, Dave Rudden, Natalya O’Flaherty, Colm Keegan, Sarah Marie Griffin, Elaine Feeney, Rose Keating, Megan Nolan, Erin Fornoff and Beau Williams’ hosted a range of incredible events, workshops, discussions, spoken word sessions and poetry jams.

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​To learn more about the festival visit 'The Lit Young Writers Festival's’ website - https://www.thelit.eu/ or follow their Facebook and Instagram pages for all the latest news and information.

‘It was truly horrible and they walked the legs off us’ said nobody after the 3rd annual Horrible Historical Trails that ran on Thursday the 24th and Saturday the 26th of October. ‘Spirits’ were high and the crowd was delighted with this spooktacular piece of theatre.

Horrible Historical Trails was director and managed by Martina Collender and Lauren Carberry, Sound by Josh with Heather Troy-Whelan assisting and written by the Senior Drama Members who also starred in the production.

​Waterford Youth Arts - 25th Summer Theatre Project “We have 11 years to save the planet but, we only have today to save ourselves” was not only our longest title we ever had, was one eye opening play on Climate Change and Mental Health.

Co-produced in association with Garter Lane Arts Centre “Waterford Youth Arts - 25th Summer Theatre Project “We have 11 years to save the planet but, we only have today to save ourselves” this devised production ran on the 21st, 22nd, 23th and 24th of August. Play was composed by Grace Dyas and the Senior Drama Members.

Artists Involved: Grace Dyas, Deirdre Dwyer, Lauren Carbery, James Rockett Neil Keary and Éadaoin Breathnach

​Summer School 2019 has come to a close and over the course of the five days the 4 to 6, 7 to 9 and 10 to 13 year explored a wide array of art forms - Film, Drumming, Drama, Dancing and Puppetry - taking place up in the Arch and Mount Sion Community College.

It was a very fruitful week, as the young people made two short films, created and performed two impromptu plays, learned a couple of dance numbers and some drum patterns which they showcased to their families on Friday evening.

The Junior ‘Works in Progress’ was a magical evening indeed, for young and old alike when the 5 to 15 year old members of Waterford Youth Arts performed in Garter Lane Arts Centre in front of a full house. On the night the audience got to see a circus performance, a “Murder Mystery” play, several dance pieces, three young creative writers, five great films and much more, put on by these great young people. This event was sponsored by Cruinniú na nÓg.

With 21 fantastic acts - including a hilarious musical, a colourful Poi routine, a great couples counselling sketch and a spoken word tribute to Micheal Collins. 2019's Works In Progress was a huge success, As well as being a entertaining evening for the audience the senior drama members also learned a lot from creating, curating, producing and directing there own acts. Going above and beyond there own creative expectations, this was one fantastic night in the majestic Garter Lane Art Centre. 

​In 2018 Waterford Youth Arts was involved in a three way Erasmus+ Project with the theatre companies Stella Polaris from Norway and National Theatre Târgu-Mureş from Transylvania, Romania. With the purpose of documenting the learning of young people. Below is the White Paper for the project in English, Romanian and Norwegian. 

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English - Youth Arts Projects Learning Leadership Skills (YAPLLS)

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Romanian -  Tineri Care Învată Abilitățile De Lider

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Norwegian - Youth Arts Projects Learning Leadership Skills (YAPLLS)

The Lost Elf, written and directed by Martina Collender ran from the 20th to the 22nd of December, up in the Arch on Barracks Street. This play was put on by the senior members of the WYA Drama Group, who also helped with the writing, lighting and sound for the production.

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"Christmas in Waterford City is on the verge of being cancelled....an elf has gotten lost from Santa and finds himself at the mercy of humans. Will their humanity and their Christmas Magic save him and bring him back to the North Pole in time for Christmas Eve?  The pressure is on and theclock is ticking to get the Elf home, however the Elf's heart begins to Break and his Christmas Magic slips away when he discovers that no one spends time with each other anymore and that there isn't much love and humanity to be found around the city.  Evil & Eviller and the Evilness Corporation are insisting that the only way to have a good Christmas is to spend loads and loads and loads of money. A group of humans are our only hope - they may change their mind and realise wherever you find love it feels like Christmas, hopefully? or else.... Christmas will be cancelled. "

The second annual LIT Festival (A Reading and Writing Festival run by Young People for Young People) has come and gone, but the memories will stay with us forever.

Over the course of Friday the 9th and Saturday the 10th of November, many great local and national authors came down to Waterford City and ran workshops and talks for young people aged 14 to 19 years.

This year we had many great guests such as Emmet Kirwan, Abby Oliveira, Karl Parkinson, Darren Donohue, Eimear Cheasty, Stephen Murray, Anna Jordan, Dave Lordan, Colm Keegan, Stephen Murray and Alana Daly Mulligan, who all ran workshops on Saturday.

The LIT festival will be back in 2019, with more exciting events for aspiring authors and enthusiasts. So if you’re an upcoming blogger who’s looking to be more expressive, a creative writer who wants a better understanding of world building or if you’re a avid book reader; there will be something here for you

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Organised by:  Eimear Cheasty (Project Coordinator) and the WYA Creative Writing Team

Resourced by: Waterford Art's Council and Irish Rail

Terrified... You should be, this four night theatrical run was horrifyingly good fun for all the family when it ran from the 23rd to the 27th of October.

Over the course of 2 hours, young people and the not so young alike got to experience, firsthand the spirits of Waterford walking through the Viking Triangle, where they retold tales from their past lives and how they died.

This event ran as part of the Imagine Festival which was run by Martina Collender and the senior drama group.

Directed by Rhiann Jeffrey and Co-produced by Garter Lane Arts Centre.

15-19 year old drama group.

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2018’s 'Summer Theatre Project' was George Orwell’s classic Animal Farm, The purpose of the Summer Theatre Project is to give young people the opportunity to work as close to a real professional theatre experience as is possible, alongside a professional director. In 2018, Rhiann Jeffrey, a Belfast based Theatre Director worked with the young people on one of George Orwell's best known works ANIMAL FARM adapted by Peter Hall.

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Co-produced in association with Garter Lane Arts Centre, ANIMAL FARM previewed on Thurs Aug 23rd, and ran on Fri Aug 24th, Sat Aug 25th, Thurs Aug 30th, Fri 31st August as well as Sat 1st of Sept 2018.

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Artists: Rhiann Jeffrey, Martina Collender, Dermot Quinn, Jess Rowell, Richard Collins and Eadaoin Walsh

Under the Ocean was 2018's Summer School theme and over the course of a week, fifty young campers between the ages of 5 - 13, got to explore this theme, exploring their imaginations through the medium of Art.

From Monday the 16th to Friday the 20th of July these happy campers, spent a fun filled week learning Drama, Dance, Storytelling, Story Making, Art, Film-making, Creative Writing, Drumming and Circus Skills from the highly skilled tutors who run our workshops and some local artists.

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The event wrapped up on Friday where the young campers got to perform, there new talents in front of there parents.

The WYA Summer School will be returning in 2019, more news will be available next summer.

Written by Ollie Breslin and Directed by Enda Moran

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Expect Mayhem, Expect Madness when Enda Moran puts together Young Performers and Circus Professionals for a new show specially for SPRAOI 2018. 'Weird, Wacky and Wonderful' blends Circus, Dance and Theatre to create a fantastic performing arts piece, for three performances only.

Seamie saw a traveling circus show when he was a child and he now wants to go back there once again.  People say he’s strange, but maybe he’s just a bit different? 

This world premier 'Weird, Wacky and Wonderful' will be running on Gladstone Street on:

·         Friday the 3rd of August at 4 P.M.

·         Saturday the 5th of August at 3 P.M.

·         Sunday the 5th of August at 3 P.M.

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Artists: Enda Moran, Mégan Ní Mheachair, Niall Bergin, WYA Circus Team & WYA Youth Actors

Resourced by: Waterford City and County Council

Written and Directed by Martina Collender, 
Performed by the 15 to 19 year old Youth Drama Members

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The play follows the story of the O'Neill family, who as well as feeling the panic to get everything ready for Santa Clause are in the middle of moving house. In the mist of the chaos and panic is Lilly and Tommy there children. Tommy is counting down the minutes until Christmas days arrives with excitement, but there's a problem with Lilly...she's after turning into a teenager. Lilly has lost her Christmas Spirit, she doesn't care about her family or hates this stupid season. and stuck with the task of clearing out the attic, she finds her old toys.

With Christmas magic in the air, Lilly's toy's come to life for one night only. Lilly's toys have one night only to remind her of who she is, before she starting to pretend she was something she wasn't. Her toys take her on a magical trip of Christmas memories and hope against hope they can restore Lilly's believe in Christmas and herself before it's too late.  

Written by Martina Collender, Directed by Liam Meagher. Co-produced by Garter Lane Arts Centre.

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15-19 year old drama group.

This flagship production has been going 20 years now and gives young people the opportunity to work intensively on a play with a professional director. The six-week process culminates with a week of performances at Garter Lane Arts Centre (22nd to 26th August).

‘If The Lights Change’ looks at the story of a young girls life and her reflections as she reaches adulthood.

Artists: Liam Meagher, Martina Collender, Becky Phelan and Dermot Quinn

Resourced by: Waterford City & County Council

Mrs Montgomery’s Tale of the Travelling Circus’ 

Written by Martina Collender and Directed by Enda Moran

July 7th - 9th 2017

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Mrs Montgomery, and her Travelling Circus of wonders, wow-ser’s, pow-ser’s, twirlers, tricksters, magic makers, clowning abouter’s, dancers, delighters, ponder-thoughter’s, flipper flappers, thinker-thanker’s, wandering wonder’s, magical humans, have seen every single land in the entire world for over two thousand, five hundred years, eleven months, twenty three days, and seven hours. They gathered the best of the best-est circusers to delight and smile create all over the world. Now they’ve landed in Waterford to shine and surprise all they meet. All couldn’t be happier in their circus world of travelling days…….but, because there’s always an “if” or a “but” and you can’t bet your bottom dollar it’s rarely anything good…some of the circus recruits are beginning to ponder…and wonder….and hope they're wrong, but can’t stop the seed of thought that’s growing bigger and bigger with every beat of their steps: Is there any place for the Circus in this modern world??? Is the circus too set in its ways of the same old tricks? Will their circus, their home, their livelihood survive?

With worry growing and Mrs Montgomery working double triple time to rally the troops and rise up spirits, all eyes are falling with heavy pressure on Mrs Montgomery, the young son of the two magic dreamers, hope believers, circus creators, to take over the circus. The Tick Tock of the clock is getting louder and the pressures on, for will he rise to the challenge of taking over his parents beloved circus, and with the rest of circus putting on pressure because the circus after all is their home….or will his lack of belief in the circus, see this as the last ever show? 

28 Hours for Waterford Youth Arts was a major fundraiser in Garter lane Theatre. Some of the best of Waterford's local adult theatre actors, directors, writers and crew alongside local musicians, filmmakers, poets and dancers got together to create a wonderful mix of short plays, performances, film, dance, songs and poetry.

The selling feature of this event was that, the artists involved only had 28 hours to create, write and rehearse for this unique show, most of the participants for this event were either ex-members of WYA or supporters of their work and because of the hard work and effort put in by these artists it turned out to be a fantastic night full of fun for all the family.

The fundraiser ran on Saturday the 20th of January 2017 in Garter lane.

Meet the Ghosts of Waterford’s Past

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As part of Imagine Arts Festival local youth theatre group Waterford Youth Arts present ‘Horribly Historical Trails’ by Martina Collender.

This show was specially commissioned to coincide with the onset of Halloween.

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Uncover the truly sinister past of Waterford City’s streets with Horribly Historical Trails a promenade play.

In this play we the audience where guided by the Night Watchman (local actor Jamie Power) on our supernatural adventures around the city. Discover the stories of the ghosts who roamed our paths, from the spirits of Strongbow and Aoife to Crotty the Highway Man be prepared to be scared as we cross into the underworld.

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This play ran from Tuesday the 25th of October to Friday the 28th of October.