About the Elders
The Elders are a group of creative over 65 year olds that initially responded to a call out for the DLRCOCO commissioned theatre project Life Memos in 2018.
The Elders train with their facilitator Andrea Scott and professionals from the industry in movement, creative writing, playwrighting, improvisation, creative composition, contemporary drama and puppetry to name a few.
For their first project, Life Memos, The Elders wrote monologues of a moment in their lives and developed movement material that weaved these texts together. The piece was performed in dlr Mill in June 2018 to a full house her at dlr Mill Theatre that included the Minister for the Arts Josepha Madigan.
Along with their facilitator Andrea the 20224 team are currently working on the following productions:
- All the Leaves are Brown. Aren’t they? – The Seasons Project
- Three and a half billion seconds – The Beckett Project
- Teresa Deevy Biopic Project
- The Conference of Birds – Red Listed Birds Project
The 2024 Elders Participants are:
David Ingoldsby
Brendan Supple
Andrew Parkes
Eimear Berry
Margaret Casey
Nuala O’Connell
Aileen O’Connor
Eithne Casey
Angela O’Rourke
Hughie O’Byrne
Mary Cate Kelly
Joan Nolan
Maureen Shakespeare
Lucile McDonald
Irene Gunning
Some testimonials from past participants:
Andrea is a talented theatre director and workshop facilitator. She worked with a diverse group of amateurs from “ page to stage” in a creative collaborative project in the Mill Theatre.
In a four month period she displayed her creativity, skills and patience encouraging us to believe we could write and perform a production to a very high standard. Her work with the group was inspiring. Encouraging us to go beyond our “comfort zone” to trust the process to the final performance under her professional guidance. – Ann Maria Dunne
“Having been out of touch with drama for the past forty years it is very refreshing to get back into it again. What a wonderful idea to get such a project underway and to give us young things a chance to reconnect with our creative side again. Andrea and Mick are working hard with us and making sure we all get a bit of individual attention. So far we have all had a chance to read, act and come up with some ideas of our own. The exercises they get us to do at the beginning of each class help us to dispel any nerves we might have. I look forward to bringing our production to fruition”. – Attracta Peden
The over-65s theatre project, facilitated by Andrea Scott, has been a moving experience, if you’ll pardon the pun. She has encouraged us to overcome our self-consciousness and engage in movements and tableaus . . . so far. There is more to come! All this is conducted in an atmosphere of fun, creativity and, most importantly, respect for her elderly ‘charges’. Given Andrea’s talents, I have no doubt that the final stage production will be a fascinating one – for participants as well as the audience – Shabnam Vasisht
Please visit https://www.floatingworldproductions.com/ for more information.
To express interest in joining the Elders email shona@milltheatre.ie or phone us on 01 296 9340.
