Stepping Stones is a pilot theatre program created and led by Freshly Ground Theatre Company as part of The Civic’s ongoing education initiative, supporting creative learning across schools in South Dublin. We are now halfway through this year’s program, with 24 creative workshops having taken place so far!
Now in its second year, Stepping Stones is engaging with 6th class and 1st year students to introduce theatre as a collaborative artform. In this process centred program, students are offered multiple entry points into theatre-making. Participants explore directing, performance, writing, devising and design, discovering ways to stage their stories together!
This year we are working with 4 schools: St Aidans Community School, St Aidans Senior National, Old Bawn Community School and Scoil Maelruian.
From October to December 2025, 91 students participated in a series of 3 introductory workshops. Two workshops were facilitated at their school, and all students attended The Civic for an exciting scene analysis workshop where they had the opportunity to learn about a rehearsal process and direct professional actors on stage! This project is being facilitated by 5 local artists: Bronwen Barrett, Laura Ni Riordain, Liam Wilson Smyth, Michelle Henry and Vlad Gurdis.
Now, from January to March 2026, a selected group of students from each school are taking part in a 10-week theatre making process. 4 workshops are running every week as 47 students across the participating schools transform their classroom into a theatre and play together in this peer led process developing original ideas. Students are now creating tiny plays that they perform alongside professional actors. Partner schools will come together to share their work in The Civic studio in March for an invited audience of students in their year group.
Kindly Supported by Arts Council Ireland and South Dublin County Council
