Welcome to the official wrap up of Tenderfoot 2021. Of course, every ending is a new beginning so as we take a moment to mark the fantastic work of this year’s ensemble, we are excited to announce the first steps towards Tenderfoot 2022!
Tenderfoot 2021 will go down as the year of re-invention. In the face of the pandemic, we pivoted right, we pivoted left, we pivoted so much we got dizzy, but we were determined that plays would be written and the curtain would go up. Last March/April, during the first lockdown, our writing programme went online. 70 transition year students signed up to work with professional playwrights:
Veronica Coburn
Amy Conroy
Fionn Foley
Dylan Coburn Gray
Sian Ní Mhuirí
Michelle Read
Our Tender playwrights can write about anything they want. There’s no theme. There are no restrictions other than dramaturgical accountability. Tenderfoot plays present the world as it is for young people. Tenderfoot provides young people with the opportunity to explore and understand their lives through the making of and engagement with art. To learn about writing a play for the stage. A further opportunity to develop the craft of playwriting was provided last August with the inaugural Tenderfoot Summer Writing Intensive producing the plays scheduled for production January 2021 under the guidance of Tenderfoot’s core mentors.
Veronica Coburn
Davey Kelleher
Gavin Kostick
We always knew January’s work experience module would be partially online. Spanning three weeks we had planned a mix of online and on site @ The Civic workshops culminating in a high-quality recording of our presentation and performance programme. Rather than try and replicate the live experience of being in the theatre when the work of all departments comes together in performance we opted to focus on individual programmes.
Performance Programme
Rehearsed readings of plays
Design Presentations
Lighting Design, Set/Costume Design, Sound Design/Music Composition.
Unfortunately, this January, we were unable to access The Civic Theatre’s Main Space which was reconfigured last year to facilitate high quality filming. We aspire to achieving our original goals of having on site workshops and filming on site in The Civic later this year. If the latter is not possible then, at the very least, we would like this year’s Tenderfeet to come together, to occupy the same physical space, to experience what it is to work creatively in person, and to know what it is to stand in not just a theatre but their theatre.
We didn’t get to work in The Civic but we did complete the programme. We recorded our final sharing on zoom. We’d love to invite you to enjoy them but the quality of zoom recordings is patchy at best. We have edited some footage together. It will give you a sense of the work of this year’s Tenderfeet. They were brilliant. Enjoy.
A Glimpse of Tenderfoot 2021
Tenderfoot 2021 – Performance Programme Montage
A glimpse of ‘Covenant’ by Emma Brennan, ‘Lost’ by Sam Gorman Cooke, ‘Still Life’ by Emily Aasen and ‘Secrets’ by Katelyn Hillary
Duration 5.45 minutes
Tenderfoot 2021 – A short extract from ‘SNO’W by the Tenderfoot Ensemble. ‘SNOW’ explores the frustrations of life under lockdown.
‘SNOW’ was devised, written collectively, by the cast. This extract looks at ways that people coped.
Duration 2.50 minutes
Tenderfoot 2021 – ‘Always You’ a short play by Abigail O’Neill
‘Always You’ presents us with a zoom conversation between two young people. Told in sparse dialogue it hints at the complicated nature of the lives they lead.
Duration 7.05 minutes
Tenderfoot 2021 – ‘Colours’ ; a short play by Kai Foley
‘Colours’ is presented as an animated film, a collaboration between the cast, the set/costume design team and the sound design/music composition team.
Duration 8.45 minutes
Tenderfoot 2021 – Set & Costume Design module overview
A glimpse at the work of the set & costume design team featuring images of their work processes and final designs.
Duration 2.20 minutes
Tenderfoot 2021 – Sound Design & Music Composition module overview
A glimpse at the work of the sound design/music composition team set to the sounds they compiled and the music they wrote.
Duration 3.12 minutes
Tenderfoot 2021 – Lighting Design module overview
A glimpse at the work of the lighting design teams featuring images of their work processes and virtual designs.
Duration 1.45 minutes
Coming Up Next!
And for transition year students in participating schools, we are delighted to announce that applications are now open for this year’s Tenderfoot Writing Hubs!
Tenderfoot Writing Hubs
For TY students interested in creative writing.
60 places for TY students interested in writing an original play for the theatre. The programme will run online via zoom. Places are by application with a focus on interest rather than experience. Confirmed playwrights thus far include.
Amy Conroy
Fionn Foley
Dylan Coburn Gray
Louise Melinn
Michelle Read
There will be two blocks of contact days, each three days long, with students writing in their own time in between.
Block 1
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, March 24th , 25th & 26th
An introduction to writing for the theatre
Writing
Students complete and submit a first draft of an original play
Block 2
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, April 14th , 15th & 16th
Feedback
Writing
Students complete and submit a second/better draft of their play
We are interested in you exploring the stories that they want to tell. That you think are worth telling. Stories that reflect the world as it is for you. Your immediate world or the wider world. You don’t need to have any experience of or previous interest in either theatre or writing plays to apply. All they need is to be interested. We’ll do the rest.
Application deadline is Friday, March 5 th
Places will be offered on Friday, March 12 th .
