Playwrights Méabh de Brún and Laura Hennessey DeSena announced for Druid Debuts 2022

Wednesday 13 July, Galway

Druid has announced the selected playwrights and plays for this year’s Druid Debuts, their annual series of rehearsed readings of new plays. And Tomorrow I’ll Dance With You by Méabh de Brún and The Pendulum Moon by Laura Hennessey DeSena were selected from almost 400 submissions to Druid’s new writing programme this year. The play readings will take place in The Mick Lally Theatre on Wednesday 20 and Friday 22 July as part of this year’s Galway International Arts Festival.

Méabh de Brún is a writer, playwright and actor, based in Kerry. She is a recipient of the DCLI/ACDI Playwriting Award, a finalist for the Kerry International Film Festival's Screenwriting Award, and was shortlisted for The Women's Prize for Playwriting. A finalist for the Francis MacManus Award, her prose has appeared in publications including The Stinging Fly and Banshee Press. Her Druid Debuts play And Tomorrow I’ll Dance With You is a poignant dark comedy that explores sibling relationships, the magnitude of grief, and how we keep living after loss.

Laura Hennessey DeSena, retired Adjunct Assistant Professor (NYU), currently teaches at West Milford High School, New Jersey. Her articles, “Mary Cassatt” and “Diane Arbus”, are published in Contemporary Women Artists (St. Martin’s). Her plays, Eden Within Us and The Men’s Club, have been performed in New York and New Jersey. Her Druid Debuts play The Pendulum Moon is a ghost story about early 20th-century Irish immigrants putting down roots in Summit Hill, a coal-mining town in Pennsylvania.

Druid Debuts offers a unique opportunity to experience brand new plays fresh off the page and to share an open discussion with the writer, director and cast. Each summer, the selected playwrights are provided with professional support, a director, cast and space in which to develop their script to a rehearsed reading level. Previous Druid Debuts have subsequently premiered as full Druid productions including Furniture by Sonya Kelly and Shelter by Cristín Kehoe.

Garry Hynes, Druid’s Artistic Director: ‘The Druid Debuts series is an integral part of our commitment to new writing. I look forward to hearing Méabh and Laura’s plays being read and I’m grateful to the hundreds of playwrights who shared their work with us via our new writing programme.’