Celebrate Heroes at the 13th International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival – May 2nd to May 15th

Introduction from Festival Artistic Director, Brian Merriman:

Welcome to the 13th Festival, where we will pass our 3,500th performance.
It is an exciting year, not only will we commemorate the lesbian and gay heroes of 1916, but heroes of the present day too – our guests who bring their stories for the first time from Russia and Iran. It is so important that we can provide a stage for all in Dublin – the birthplace of Oscar Wilde. We rely on you to be their audience – to hear their stories and affirm their LGBT theatre.

Alan Turing and Oscar Wilde form a bridge before and after 1916 to the present day and to have companies bring their work to you from Ireland, UK, USA, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Spain is important. Our first partnership with the Kings Head Theatre in London demonstrates clearly that Dublin is a recognised hub for celebrating the contribution and stories of LGBT people worldwide through theatre as an artform.

Despite this incredible profile worldwide, we are still 100% reliant on voluntary effort to bring this unique form of theatre to Irish audiences. We still have no office, no staff, no reliable resources which is unequalled in any other event operating at the scale we do. How do we do it? Two key elements – our volunteers and our audience! Companies make huge sacrifices to come to Dublin and our volunteers work tirelessly to ensure they are supported, that you know about it and that we co-produce quality theatre, giving a stage for the first time in Ireland to great LGBT theatre.

Thank you to all who continue to support us, to our grant aiding bodies the Arts Council, Failte Ireland and Dublin City Council, our sponsors and the many people who keep coming forward offering help and filling our theatre seats!

Please continue to enjoy this diverse programme of drama, comedy, music, history and identity. Follow us on social media and mention us frequently in your own posts. Please step forward with a suggestion or support – we love to hear form you! To all who have brought us to our 15th season (we had two winter festivals) – thank you.

Looking forward to meeting you again during the first fortnight in May! We are all part of the IDGTF 2016 – Are You?

 

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