‘Where to Start’ : How to Develop your own Musical.

Song Writer & Musical Director: Shauna Carrick. Dramaturg & Creative Director: Alison Dennan.

Have you got an idea just waiting to be made real? Are you ready to become the next Sondheim or Lin Manuel Miranda? Do you want to know what really goes on behind the scenes when making a musical? Then this week is for you!

Whether you’re a budding composer, lyricist, or librettist, we will look at a musical from start to finish. How to pick a story, how to develop your main characters, how to write a song, create a costume, and most importantly, how to showcase your masterpiece to the world! Join us to learn how your favourite shows came to fruition and how to create your very own piece of musical theatre.

Suitability for ages 12-18

Duration 3 hours per day from 10am-1pm

Please provide participant’s name and age as well as the guardian’s postal and e mail addresses when booking.

Some info on  Shauna Carrick our Song Writer & Musical Director and our Dramaturg & Creative Director, Alison Dennan.

Shauna is an Irish composer and musical director. Her passion for musical theatre and telling authentic Irish stories has led her to creating her own works in Dublin and overseas in the UK and USA.

Her most recent production, Tír na nÓg was showcased at the Scene + Heard festival 2019 in Smock Alley. Her debut full-length musical Chromatics was shown at dlr Mill Theatre in April 2018 and was then selected to participate in Musical Bites at The Other Palace in London’s West End in May 2018 in association with Mercury Musical Development. Chromatics returned to dlr Mill Theatre under the direction of Andrew Keates in November 2018. Shauna is also a member of the esteemed Book, Music & Lyrics Workshop in London as part of their Composer/Lyricist programme.

Other recent and upcoming productions include Annie (Musical Director, Mill Theatre August 2019) it’s the not knowing that hurts (Composer, Abbey Theatre 2020) The Little Prince (Composer, Tartarus, Smock Alley 2018) and The Other Chosen One (Composer/Director, Boston 2019) Her songwriting skills were also showcased on The Voice of Ireland in 2016 culminating in the release of her debut single The Sad Truth.

Shauna also directed the Irish Premiere of Bonnie & Clyde: The Musical for UCD Musical Society which received an AIMS award. She has directed works as part the Scene + Heard festival in both 2016 with Turning Point and 2017 with a WIP production of her original musical Chromatics. She has also featured onstage in numerous productions, most recently as Katie Murray at LeakyCon 2017 and Enid Hoopes in Legally Blonde, The Musical (UCD 2016).

Her current creative projects include:
Tír na nÓg – a new family musical based on the story of the Irish legend
Royals & Rebels – a story or African and Irish slaves in the Caribbean

The Hustle – a comedic musical as part of the BML Workshop
Warrior – a new musical based on the story of Cú Chullain

Grace – a 15 minute Virtual Reality musical
it’s the not knowing that hurts – music for a new Irish play, Abbey Theatre in 2020

ALISON DENNAN- our Dramaturg & Creative Director: 

Alison is an Irish actor, singer, director and teacher and is happiest when in a rehearsal room or on stage! As well as having a Bachelor in Education, she holds a first class honours MA in Theatre Practice (UCD/GSA) and was a recipient of the Abbey Theatre/ Lir Academy summer school scholarship. She has worked as both a primary school teacher and Musical Theatre teacher for over ten years alongside working professionally in the performing arts industry. From a young age, she attended classes with the Gaiety School of Acting, The Billy Barry Stage School, The Helen Jordan Stage School and ITW and grew up performing in theatres such as the Olympia and the Gaiety as well as featuring in commercials and films. In between shows, she now works as a part-time drama tutor and facilitator for the Gaiety School of Acting.

Some of her more recent credits include ‘Cinderella’ in RTÉ’s ‘Once Upon a Christmas’, Cinderella in the Wexford Opera Theatre and INEC Killarney, ‘Kate’ in ‘Chromatics- An Irish Musical’, ‘Bfree Foods’ commercial, An Post’s ‘Scéal Éile’ campaign, assistant director for Fishamble’s ‘Haughey/Gregory’ in the Peacock Theatre, ‘It’s Showtime @ Brown Thomas’ and ‘Elsie’ in the Olympia pantomime ‘Freezin’.

Her passion for verbatim theatre led her to create and direct her own play ‘Chambers’ in Smock Alley Theatre in 2018. She is passionate about the Creative Arts and has seen first hand how our tech savvy and busy lives have left many of us without the free time or headspace to think creatively and express ourselves. She founded her company, Creative Starts in response to this and the masterclasses and camps offered aim to encourage innovation, self-expression, creative enrichment and balance. In her spare time, Alison enjoys large coffees, making lists, attending anything theatrical and being walked by her very strong labrador!

This work is supported by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and funded by Creative Ireland as part of Cruinniú na nÓg 2020.

If you would like to Support to dlr Mill Theatre please click on this link:
http://www.milltheatre.ie/donations/