FLASHBACK – from The Big Green Apple’s co-creator and co-producer Camille Donegan
Its early June 2013 and I’m heading to New York on holiday. I email the Irish Theatre Institute to ask them if there are theatre people I should connect with while I’m there. The lovely Claire O’ Neil gives me a list of email addresses – several venue managers as well as contacts for Origin Theatre Company and the Irish Arts Center. I drop them an email and head off on my hols! When I arrive in New York I see mails from everyone I had contacted all saying they would like to meet me – COOL! I like this town! I had lived in NYC for 8 mths when I was 21 and its always been a very inspiring city for me. Coming back as a professional theatre producer (as opposed to a struggling actor!) felt good, and I was excited to make industry connections.
When I met each of the contacts, I told them about my own company – Alive-O Productions (www.aliveoproductions.ie) which specialises in outdoor theatre specifically related to Irish culture, heritage and mythology. I also told them about my freelance producing work and my role of chairperson of the Attic Studio. The Attic Studio is a community of actors, writers and directors who have meeting weekly for over 10 years to skill-share, network, collaborate, support each other and create new work. When I met George Heslin (from Origin Theatre Company and the 1st Irish Festival) for coffee, when I told him about the Attic Studio, I saw his eyes light up “Are there many writers in the community? Tell me about them”. Being passionate about the wealth of writing talent at the Attic Studio I proceeded to tell him about several individual writers from the community and outlined some of their work. I also told him about the ethos of the Attic Studio, which is run on a voluntary basis and provides a supportive, creative environment for its members. He immediately said that he would like to create a project with the Attic Studio…. This moment was the seed planting of what would grow to become the Big Green Apple!
I managed to get a little bit of a holiday in while I was there too! Here’s myself and Suzanna Geraghty in Times Square:
I jumped into action (as I love to do!) and as soon as I got back to Dublin, myself and the Attic Studio committee had several brainstorms, including looking at other playwriting challenge projects around the world, and came up with a format (and name) for The Big Green Apple project. I began to realise that this was a monster, but rather than being afraid of that, I was exhilarated!
The first step was to get directors on board – we wanted professional directors but had no money to offer them – so we wrote to them and told them about the project. To our delight, nearly every director we approached said YES!
12th Aug 2013
It’s the night of the Big Green Apple launch at Liberty Hall Theatre bar. The buzz is electric, with well over a hundred people here – directors, actors, writers as well as friends and family. Live music from the fantastic Morgan Cooke and Philomena Fitzpatrick belting Alicia Keyes’ Empire State of Mind – yes, that song really sums up the energy of this project tonight! Play it!
George Heslin is in Dublin – it’s so great to have him here at the launch of this exciting new collaboration:
Not only that but TG4’s art show Imeall are here too (Red Shoe productions). They are going to document the unfolding of the project and follow it each step of the way. Looks like they are getting caught up in the energy of this exciting venture too! The night proves a great success and Yvonne Ussher (who is co-producing the project), and I enjoy a well deserved glass of vino!
I announce the format of the project, the directors and judges involved, and key dates, during my speech at the launch:
“On Tues 24th Sept, the event kicks off – at 7:30pm at The Attic Studio workshop in Filmbase, the theme for the event will be announced by George from New York via video conference!
Writers then have until Thursday at 1pm to submit their treatments.
Out of the submitted treatments, 10 will be selected for staging.
These 10 writers have until Friday at 5pm to write and submit their short play.
Meanwhile actors and directors are paired up with treatments.
Friday 27th September is Team Up Night at Filmbase where the writers, actors and directors will meet for the first time for a script read through.
Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th September will be intensive rehearsal and tech days.
Sunday 29th September at 8pm in the beautiful theatre here at Liberty Hall, the pieces will be staged for a packed house as well as 5 industry judges.
The judges will select 5 pieces that will be staged in September in 2014 as part of Origin’s 1st Irish Festival. They will be cast and directed locally in New York.
So who’s involved so far?
We have had huge interest from everyone we have contacted about The Big Green Apple event. So far on board is:
Raymond Keane as the overall director.
Directors of the 10 short plays are: Mary Moynihan, Jakkie MacCarrick, Aoife Connolly, Maisie Lee, Paul Brennan, Roger Gregg, Patrick Joseph Byrnes, Lianne O Shea, Barbara Ni Chaoimh and Cathal Quinn.
Judges for the event are playwrights Marina Carr and Gary Duggan, Ray Yeates (Dublin City Council), Deirdre Kinahan (Tall Tales Theatre Company) and independent theatre producer Jen Coppinger”
So the plan was set….now we just had to do it!
Cue The Maddest week ever! …
Tues 24th Sept
Via live video conference with New York, George Heslin announces the theme to a room full of expectant writers. The theme is ‘With Love From…’. The writers (well most of them) rush home to begin the writing process. They have just 48 hours to come up with an idea and then submit a treatment for their 10-minute piece.
Thurs 26th Sept
Treatments are submitted. Raymond Keane, overall director picks his favorite 10 – these will be the 10 short plays that will be staged this coming Sunday!
From 3pm directors arrive to read the treatments and order them by preference:
Then, via a bingo system, they get paired with pieces. Then they cast from the pool of actors which results in the following teams:
| Writer | Title | Director | Actors |
| Sorcha Hegarty | Thrill of the Chase | Mary Moynihan | Sarah Kinlen, Rob Harrington,Annette Flynn |
| Orla Murphy | Valentine’s Dead | Paul Brennan | Aron Hegarty, Aoibheann McCaul, Conor Marren |
| Jane Mulcahey | After the Eulogy | Maisie Lee | Sarah Jayne Quigley, Aenne Barr, Keith Singleton |
| Mike Finn | Little Bits Leftover | Patrick J Byrnes | Jose Mantero, Ger McAlinden, Ken Fletcher |
| Aisling McLaughlin | Waiting for Ebbets | Jaki McCarrick | Michael Bates, Eddie Murphy, Mark Donaghy |
| Arnold Thomas Fanning | Pickin’ Up | Cathal Quinn | Magaret McAuliffe, Jason Gilroy |
| Kathleen Rogers | M | Roger Gregg | Lisa Walsh, Martina Carey |
| Paul Kennedy | Till The Ocean is Hung Out To Dry | Bairbre Ní Chaoimh | Charles Leggett, Noni Stapleton, Andy Kelleher |
| Órla Mc Govern | Kitchen | Lianne O Shea | Ita Fitzmahony, Sheila Moylette, Adam Henshaw |
| Karl O’ Neill | Where Have All The Roses Gone? | Aoife Connolly | Hilary Cotter, Aoife Moore |
Friday 27th Sept – Team up night – the teams all meet up to go through their scripts with the writers and making any last minute script changes. The actors head home to learn their lines before rehearsals begin tomorrow morning!
Sat 28th Sept & Sun 29th – Intense REHEARSALS at Belvedere College, Dublin!! 10 teams in 10 class rooms. Film crew, the show’s technical crew, our music director (Tom Lane who is going to play live sound and music for each piece!), as well as the producers going from room to room, planning everything to the tiniest of details to ensure that tomorrow is as smooth as it possibly can be!
Sunday 29th September 2013 – 7pm
It’s the night of the show and today has been manic. Doing tech for 10 plays in 1 day is quite a challenge not to mention the logistics of putting on 10 shows with different 10 casts! Thank god for the amazing Raymond Keane, our overall director, his generosity and patience know no limits! Along with Brian Tracey (Liberty Hall technical manager) and the show’s tech-team extraordinaire: Caoimhe Regan, Cathy O’ Caroll and Ciara Nolan – we feel in safe hands!
We’ve created a ‘snake’ system where each team will snake through the back stage areas of Liberty Hall theatre until its their turn to be on stage. We have amazing volunteers on board to ‘run the snake’…
So given all the elements involved in making the project, on, the marketing side things wasn’t allowed the usual time and development as we would have preferred. Is anyone going to come? We have no idea. Not many tickets have been sold. I’m starting to get worried… but don’t have time to focus on it. I’m in the dressing room a while later and someone tells me there’s a queue all the way down the quays! OMG!
By 8pm the theatre is packed and Rob and Connor (2 actors in the show), show me this ‘Sold out’ picture…. I could cry!!
I’m in the theatre, the lights go down, the show is on, my heart beats…. I’m nervous but excited – this is really happening! I’m terrified that there will be a technical issue, or actors will go blank – they’ve only had 2 days rehearsals and 1 tech run through each – what the hell was I thinking putting myself and everyone else on this bunsen burner of a night…
The pressure is on but as rapturous applause follows each piece, my nerves begin to settle and I am glowing inside and out with satisfaction – this is going well! As the last piece completes without a hitch and the cast all come out for 1 gigantic bow, I am absolutely ecstatic. Ok, so we had no money, just a passion for a project and an amazing bunch of people on board (who all believed in the project too) – and look what we created! Yes, this is very cool! Diggin’ it!
As the audience stream out of the show, they are buzzing as they discuss which piece they will vote for. The audience members all have voting cards and their vote will constitute one-sixth of the final tally. Some people could say that’s all a bit X-Factor, but it seemed to really help the audience engage more deeply with the pieces.
In the bar afterwards, the atmosphere is electric…the 10 directors, 10 casts, Yvonne Ussher our co-producer and Raymond Keane our overall director, and all the fantastic techies and volunteers have made this night a roaring success – All 10 pieces are winners tonight!
Over the next few days, the judges’ results were collated along with the audience vote.
Tuesday 1st October – Liberty Hall Theatre bar, the winners are announced
“And the 5 pieces that are going to New York are:
Jane Mulcahy After the Eulogy
Aisling McLaughlin Waiting for Ebbets
Paul Kennedy Til the Ocean is Hung Out to Dry
Órla Mc Govern Kitchen
Karl O’ Neill Where Have All The Roses Gone?”
The writers are delighted!
See the results of the 15-minute documentary piece from Red Shoe Productions for TG4’s arts show ‘Imeall’:
Between now and then… what’s happened?
George met with the writers in January and announced that they could extend their piece up to a max length of 20 minutes for their New York presentation.
Dramaturgs Jessica Traynor (Abbey Theatre) and Rebcecca Nesvet (Origin Theater) came on board to work with the writers to ensure the pieces were the best that they could be before traveling to NYC.
Jan 2014 – present
Funding and sponsorship avenues are pursued with Culture Ireland as well as several companies and individuals. Alas, to no avail. Looks like we might have to do this leg of the production on our own.
July 2014, There’s a reading of the final version scripts before they head off to the team in New York. Henning Hegland has been brought on board as director of the project. He is looking to cast 6 actors who will play multiple roles, for the staging in Times Square Arts Center on 22nd and 23rd September 2014.
August 2014 – still pursuing possible sponsorship avenues for travel and accommodation for the writers. What a shame it would be if they couldn’t travel to New York to see the US premier of their writing, and avail of all the opportunities that that presents. Fingers crossed someone still bites! Met Stephen Rea and Damien Dempsey the other night, and as they had both previous attended the Attic Studio. I told them about the project and our search for sponsorship. They both took my card – sure you never know!
The Big Green Apple 