Parke Drama Group

The idea of forming a local drama group in Parke had been discussed many times but always seemed to be put on the back burner in favour of more pressing committments. Many of the Group had been involved in concerts over the years and also in putting on plays for the young people and getting them involved in Scor and Readoiri. Eventually in September 2008 a group got together and it was decided tha

t it was now or never for the establishment of a Drama Group for the adults. Fortunately at this time we were put in touch with Dermot MacMahon who had been heavily involved in Directing with St. He kindly agreed to come on board and guide along the right path. Many plays were read and discussed until finally we settled on Pretend Sick, by Michael Joe Ginnelly, as our debut production. Casting began well and many of the parts had been filled, but we came up one cast member short - we had no male for the part of Martin. So again the call went out for male actors to fill the role, finally after many attempts, Michael Maguire walked through the doors and after his audition we knew we had our Martin. Pretend Sick took to the stage in March 2009 to, thankfully, full houses and much, much laughter. For the majority of those involved it was their first time on stage, so you see it is possible!!!!! Co-operation with the Parke Community Centre Committee has been one of the corner stones for the success of the Group to date. They have provided us with a venue to present our productions and also a place to rehearse throughout the Winter months. Without this support our Group could not be successful. Our second production, in 2010, was another Ginnelly masterpiece entitled ‘A Wake in The West’. This hilarious 3 Act Comedy has been performed by a number of amateur groups around Mayo and indeed around Ireland. It has also been performed by a number of professional companies. The success of 2009 meant that a number of new members joined the Group in for the 2010 production, a couple of these making their acting debut. Once again we played to packed houses on all 4 nights of the production. Thanks to the success of the production we were delighted to be in a position to donate money to a number of charities. The Group donated €500 to the Hospice Uganda, €500 to The Western Alzheimer’s Association and €750 to Parke National School. We are delighted to do this as a community based Group and firmly believe in giving back to the community whenever possible. The members of the Parke Drama & Arts Group are drawn from the local area and also from surrounding areas such as Ballyvary, Bohola Castlebar & Foxford. Membership is open to all and the more people we have who can contribute to the group the more we can learn and the better the productions can be. It is not only actors that are needed to put on a play, it is production teams, costume, lighting, sound, make up, ticket sales, the stage crew and a superbly experienced director. We were lucky to have Dermot MacMahon as our director for both of our productions to date. Breda Morris and Kate Boyle led the production team – and kept us all sane, fed, and motivated.