Suzie Cummins announced as the 2023 Marie Mullen Bursary recipient

Lighting Designer Suzie Cummins has been announced as the 2023 recipient of the Marie Mullen Bursary.

6 December 2022

Druid has announced lighting designer Suzie Cummins as the 2023 recipient of the Marie Mullen Bursary, an annual award for female theatre artists working in Ireland in the fields of design, directing and dramaturgy.

Suzie Cummins is a Dublin-based lighting designer for theatre, dance and events. She has worked as a designer, chief electrician and in-house venue technician for the past seven years. Recent lighting design credits include: Lost Lear (Dan Colley & Riverbank), Absent the Wrong (Once Off Productions), Tarry Flynn (Livin' Dred), Every Brilliant Thing (Abbey Theatre) and After Taste (National Youth Theatre & Abbey Theatre).

On receiving the bursary, Suzie said, 'I am excited and grateful to receive the Marie Mullen Bursary. I look forward to a year of learning, exploring and creating with Druid.'

Bursaary 2023 Announcement

Named in honour of actor and Druid co-founder, Marie Mullen, the bursary addresses the historic imbalance of female representation in theatre and supports the professional development of women in Irish theatre. The bursary provides a female theatre artist with the time, physical resources and mentoring necessary to support their work.

Suzie will have multiple paid work opportunities with Druid over the coming year including the role of assistant lighting designer on one of Druid’s major 2023 productions. She will also receive a stipend, mentoring, access to workshops and Druid’s other development programmes such as FUEL and Druid Debuts.

Introduced in 2018, the Marie Mullen Bursary is one of Druid’s theatre development programmes and offers:

  • A residency with Druid on a company production
  • A one-to-one session with Marie Mullen on working in the theatre industry
  • Mentoring opportunities with theatre professionals
  • For directors and dramaturgs, a contract to act as dramaturg or director for a Druid Debut
  • Opportunities to engage with the Druid Ensemble
  • Opportunities to attend FUEL and Druid Academy workshops and events
  • A bursary award of €2,000

Previous recipients of the Marie Mullen Bursary:

  • 2018-2019: Eleanor White, dramaturg
  • 2019-2020: Clíodhna Hallissey, costume designer
  • 2020-2021: Emily Foran, director and Sarah Baxter, director
  • 2022: Katie O'Halloran, director

The Marie Mullen Bursary is supported by Thomas Campbell Jackson & Penny Jackson.

For more information on the Marie Mullen Bursary, please follow this link.