Ahoy Campers! It's hard to believe that this is the last Drama email I'll be writing as your indomitable Chairman/person/thingy. It's been a fantastic year for DCU Drama, and without out eager and avid membership and alumni, we would be lost. So give yourselves a huge pat on the back for making it a year to remember for DCU Drama! In addition to breaking new ground with our first ever trip to the USA, we spent the year collecting awards and prizes! From our 5 awards at the One Act Wonder Festival to Eoin's excellent ISDA for Best Supporting Actor to Steve winning Best Fresher at the Clubs and Socs awards to of course winning the big enchilada, Best Society at the Clubs and Socs Awards! And while we can't say that we won at the BICS, there's no denying that we had a whole lotta fun in the attempt! A brief review of the year then... - *Pimps & Hoes Karaoke, Fresher's Week: *About 60 attended our popular singalong afternoon in the Old Bar, and more than a few dressed as their favourite pimp or ho!** - *Clubs & Socs Day: *A record 340+ signed up over the two days, with help from madcap recruiters and monster puppets.** - *Workshops: *So far this year we have had three very well attended acting workshops, one sound workshop (as part of Tech Week) and one vocal projection and diction workshop. Informal workshops in sound and lighting are given during the run up to all shows for those who are interested! ** - *Theatre Trips: *Over 20 travelled to St. Pat's to see "The Witches" in December, and 26 visited "The Fiddler On The Roof" in week 9. ** - *The Play's the Thing:* Our member Aislinn wrote this short spoof of Hamlet for us last year and we could not wait to put it on for Arts Week – it played in the Interfaith for 4 free performances alongside…** - *The Breakfast Club: *Our other one act play for Arts Week, adapted from the movie of the same name. Both plays were a resounding success, averaging an audience of about 20 per show. ** - *DCU Open Day: *Drama led the way Open Day with an impressive stand (winning 150 euro from the SPC) and recalling our friends from Bui Bolg to patrol the HUB and convince next year's Freshers to sign up with DCU. (and DCU Drama!)** - *Babez in da Hood: *Our original and zany script was penned by the overenthusiastic cast and producers themselves, and, under the skilful helm of first-time director Stephen Grimes, "Babez In Da Hood" proved to be one of the funniest productions in DCU Drama's history. Impressively, all technical operations, production work, script-writing and direction for this production were handled by first years, which is a testament to the dedication of DCU Drama's Freshers. "Babez In Da Hood" had everything from badminton-playing monkeys to singing nuns to a stirring rendition of 'I Want It That Way' by the "Backwood Boys." Despite technical hiccups and the interruption of one sex goblin, the show received rave reviews.** - *All My Sons: *In week 1 of Semester 2* *third year member Fiona Colhoun excelled herself with her gutsy yet poignant direction of Arthur Miller's tale of family strife in 1940's America. The cast were outstanding and drew rave reviews and large audiences (est. 450 over 3 performances). ** - *The Merchant of **Venice**: *Week 3, Semester 2, the Space, The Helix. DCU Drama's second attempt at Shakespeare after the success of last year's Macbeth, The Merchant Of Venice took up where Macbeth left off. With six performances in just 4 days, the cast wowed large audiences for the duration of the run. Our tech crew, now familiar with the Helix, were creative, even using dry ice, while the performances from the cast were awe-inspiring. At least 450 saw Merchant during its run, including over 100 schoolchildren from Drogheda and Dublin.* * - *****Guys & Dolls (2005/06 Musical): * DCU Drama's annual musical spectacular wrapped up on Thursday 30thMarch in the Venue, and what a spectacular it was! With returning director Alan Kinsella once again at the helm, accompanied by Iain Dowling (choreographer) and Olga Reynolds (musical & vocal director), the all-singing, all-dancing cast of maniacs gave a fantastic show every night. Guys and Dolls tells the story of a group of small - time gamblers and the ladies in their lives. Based on Damon Runyon's short story "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown," Guys and Dolls revolves around Nathan Detroit, the organizer of the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York, who bets fellow gambler Sky Masterson that he can't make the next girl he sees fall in love with him. The next girl he sees happens to be Miss Sarah Brown, a pure-at-heart Salvation Army-type reformer, and the stage is set for an hilarious evening of complications. All four leads - Eoin O Callaghan (Sky Masterson), Doireann O Rourke (Sarah Browne), Stephen Grimes (Nathan Detroit) and Lyndsey Fay (Adelaide) were outstanding, and were ably supported by a very talented ensemble cast. First year Conor Lynch's performance as Lt. Brannigan was especially memorable, notably for his re-writing of the script every night! A cleverly-constructed revolving set enabled the crew to transform the Venue into a street scene in New York, a cafe in Havana and a dirty sewer in the blink of an eye, with the paintwork provided by another first year, Jenni Tweed. Attendances were strong throughout the run, with many DCU Drama alumni coming along to compare the show to previous years' efforts. Adam Doherty, a Drama warrior of old, exclaimed that it was the best show he had ever seen DCU Drama put together. High praise indeed. - *DCU Drama Table Quiz: *Featuring our new, revolutionary format: "goes up to eleven." This Spinal Tap-inspired quiz had 11 questions per round, with the 11th being an impossible toughie worth 3 points! About 100 came along to our fund-raising quiz, and just about everybody went home with a spot prize – we gave spots for best team name, worst team name, most creative wrong answer, least dressed team – in fact we gave away a shopping trolley full of spot prizes, to just about anyone who asked for one! - **** - ** *My Mother Said I Never Should: *An intimate, all female cast performed this show in week 11 in the Venue. Directed by third year member Dee Jones, it was a powerful tour-de-force about female relatives throughout the years from World War II to the present.** * * *New Initiatives:* * * - *Workshops: *We have organised an intervarsity *set-design workshop*in association with the Drama League of Ireland, St. Pat's, Mater Dei & DIT. The workshop will take place in week 7 in the Venue and will be held by Tom Madden, a renowned set designer. The theme will be that of our forthcoming musical "Guys & Dolls" and will be a unique opportunity for intervarsity relations. Coming up in week 6, Bob has also organised a *vocal projection & diction workshop* in association with the Gaiety School of Acting. - *Broadway Baby 2006: *A first for DCU Drama and over 6 months in the planning, We organised a trip to New York for 30 intrepid DramaHeads in January of 2006. The group took in 3 major Broadway shows, spent 4 nights in Manhattan and generally had the time of their lives. Bob shouldered the bulk of the organisational duties, including acquiring huge discounts on tickets for some of the hottest shows on Broadway and negotiating further discounts with Aer Lingus and the International Youth Hostel in New York. - *Whose Line is it Anyway?:* Upon being approached by Martin Conry of the president's office early on in the year with regard to a DCU Drama performance for the DCU 25th Anniversary Party, we came up with our own twist on the popular improv show "Whose Line is it Anyway?" With a dedicated crew to assist in the production, several very successful shows were performed on the night of the celebrations, and went down so well that we repeated the show during Arts Week and again at the One Act Wonder Festival at St. Pat's in November. - *Website Photo Gallery:* A revamp of the DCU Drama website was necessary this year, especially its photo gallery, with the result that precious older photos have been restored to the gallery and over 2,000 pictures from this year alone are now available on our website. - *Nursing Program:* Bob is currently in negotiations with the Faculty of Nursing here in DCU to provide DCU Drama members to act as live patients to facilitate nursing training, another first for DCU Drama! - *Bui Bolg:* We have established links with this prestigious puppet company from Wexford, and headlined the St Patrick's Day Parade with them! *Inter-Society & Intervarsity Events:* * * - *Rocky Horror Picture Show: *In association with LGBT and the Student's Union Halloween Ball, this year's Rocky Horror was for many the best yet! A large and enthusiastic crowd of cross-dressers (175+) attended and did the Timewarp!* * - *Stars in their Eyes: *In association with MPS & ArtSoc, "Stars" was a huge success this year, featuring an excellent selection of performers including ABBA, the Spice Girls and the Blues Brothers! An estimated 150+ filled the Venue on Wednesday of Arts Week. - *Murder Mystery Quiz Night:* DCU Drama and Murder She Wrote collaborated on this popular quiz night, held in the Venue in semester 1. - *St.* *Vincent de Paul Week: *Bob MC'd the Simpsons Table Quiz for SVP and several Drama members whored themselves onstage for the hilarious Slave Auction! - *One Act Wonder Festival: *"The Breakfast Club" and "The Play's the Thing" represented DCU at the festival this year, where DCU Drama picked up FIVE awards, including Best Director for "The Play's the Thing." - *Intervarsity "Whose Line?": *Bob presented this first-of-its-kind event as part of the One Act Wonder Festival, featuring performers from DCU (our own Eoin O Callaghan), St. Pat's, Mater Dei & DIT. The show was given a special achievement award by the festival's judges! - *DCU Drama Christmas Party (2005):* In association with Music Soc, RedBrick and GamesSoc . Over 150 attended this fun night in the Venue, complete with live bands and Santa's Grotto with presents!* * - *St.* *Vincent de Paul Christmas Party: *Bob willingly donned the Santa suit again for the SVP party, braving the advances of over 70 rampant underprivileged children! All in a good cause though… - *Rag Week –* *"Mini Brother": *Several Drama members tried out for "Mini Brother," with one Aisling Connolly making it all the way to the Mini! - ** *Irish Student Drama Awards: *Both of our entries for this year's competition (held in UCC) – "All My Sons" and "The Play's the Thing" received strong reviews in their initial DCU run, with "TPTT" a great success at the One Act Wonder Festival. At the ISDA festival in Corkin March, both shows were performed to great applause. The judges stated that "TPTT" was one of the funniest and most original pieces they had seen, while Eoin O Callaghan picked up the ISDA for *Best Supporting Actor*for his performance as Chris Keller in "All My Sons" – DCU's first ever award at the ISDAs! - *Music Week 2006:* Bob MC'd the opening Gala event of Music Week 2006, a marathon event in the Old Bar, featuring over 8 bands and all for the benefit of SALZ, an educational programme started by 5 DCU students (Students And Lifestart Zambia). DCU Drama is all about making friends and getting to know new people, we have certainly achieved our goals this year! I would just like to say on a personal level, that it has been a phenomenal experience being the Chair of DCU Drama this year. I have laughed, cried, lost sleep, fallen over, wrecked my knee and my liver and generally eaten, slept and breathed drama. It has been one of the most exciting and fulfilling years of my life and I have the DCU Drama committee and membership to thank. Thank you Thank you Thank you! See y'all next year! Bob -- Roibeard O Mhurcu # 54144094 CS2 Class Rep. DCU Drama, Chairman (Chairperson/Chairthing, y'know like, whatever). www.dcudrama.ie "Joey, you ever been in a cockpit before? Ever seen a grown man naked? Ever hang around the gymnasium?" "Joey, do you like movies about... Gladiators?" -Capt. Clarence Oveur-