Dublin’s The Ark is celebrating three decades of championing children’s creativity with the publication of a new book featuring five original plays commissioned for its unique child-sized theatre.
‘Dream Big: New Plays from The Ark 2019-2025’ brings together five acclaimed scripts created for and with children, with the hope of inspiring a new generation of theatre-makers and audiences.
The Ark has been introducing young audiences to ambitious and imaginative work since the centre first opened its doors in 1995.
Its theatre has become a space for new writing that places children at the heart of the creative process.
Edited and introduced by The Ark’s director Aideen Howard, the new collection celebrates the distinctive voices and creative approaches of five Irish writers.
The five plays featured in the book are ‘Peat’ by Kate Heffernan, ‘The Haircut!’ by Wayne Jordan, ‘What Did I Miss?’ by Shaun Dunne, ‘The Giggler Treatment’ by Fionn Foley and ‘The Making of Mollie’ by Anna Carey.
Howard said the plays offer a fresh perspective on contemporary theatre, moving beyond traditional assumptions about what stories for children should look like.
‘The five writers featured in Dream Big have created new worlds of their imagination. Sometimes joyful, occasionally rude and hardly ever cute, these are robust works of contemporary theatre which will reward new readers as much as new audiences. In bringing these plays together in print, my hope is that they will reach new readers and students, ultimately leading to new productions and audiences,’ Aideen Howard said.
The publication aims to extend the reach of the plays beyond The Ark’s own theatre, making the scripts available to readers, students, theatre practitioners and educators.
It is hoped the collection will inspire new productions in theatres and classrooms across Ireland and further afield.
