Young talent in spotlight for LASTA at Town Hall

The fourth LASTA Festival returns to venues across Ireland from October 1-6, presenting bold, diverse and innovative work, including at Galway’s Town Hall Theatre.

LASTA celebrates theatre and performance made for young people and by young people, putting the next generation of artists and arts programmers in the driver’s seat.

Events in Galway will feature a concert from Dunmore singer-songwriter Reylta and theatre shows, An Evening with Wee Daniel, by Aoife Sweeney O’Connor, and Anonn / The Other Side by Cian Ó Náraigh,

There will be a day-long workshop for writers, offering guidance on scripts-in-development or helping people progress ideas for scripts.

Younger audiences can dive into creativity with a fun, interactive singing and arts workshop, while film fans can experience a student film showcase, presented by the University of Galway Film Society. And there’s a new art exhibition, Tension, from Zara Hering.

All events were programmed by three local young curators Alana Mullins, James Boylan and Lara Coady, guided by cultural mentor Maisie Lee and supported by the Town Hall Theatre staff.

Alana is a Galway-based theatre artist and facilitator who focuses on work for young audiences.  Lara is a director and theatre-maker from Kildare, whose interests include new writing, arts for young people, immersive and multidisciplinary work.

James, based in Galway City, is an emerging writer, lyricist, dramaturg, director and sound engineer, who works mostly in traditional and musical theatre.

Events in Galway will kick off on Wednesday, October 1, at 8.30pm, with An Evening with Wee Daniel at the Town Hall Studio.

Aoife Sweeney O’Connor’s absurdist autobiographical cabaret celebrates ‘quare identity, growing up in Donegal’ and their unironic obsession with wee Daniel, from their first meeting with Daniel as a baby to his surprise appearance at their mother's funeral. This is a “rapturous love letter” to the rural, queer non-binary experience, to mammies and to wee Daniel.

Zara Herring’s exhibition, Tension, runs at the Town Hall Theatre Bar, from Wednesday to Sunday, October 1-5. Zara’s work explores the delicate interplay between control and surrender and for this exhibition, she has used pen on paper to render large-scale, abstract patterns.

A writing workshop, the Lonely Playwrights’ Club, will be held in the Town Hall Theatre Bar on Thursday, October 2, at 10.30am.

Pictured left: Alt-folk singer Reylta from Dunmore is part of the line-up and right. Aoife Sweeney O’Connor in the absurdist autobiographical cabaret An Evening with Wee Daniel.