Ballina One-Act Drama Festival marks 10th anniversary
Pictured are members of the 2016 Ballina One Act Drama Festival Committee, from left: Trisha Browne, Gerry Ring, Maureen O'Hagan, Eugene Loftus and Marie Loftus.
Ballina One Act Drama Festival first dipped its toe into the festival circuit in 2015 when it held its inaugural festival in Ballina Arts Centre along the River Moy. This festival was the brainchild of Eugene Loftus who gathered, cajoled and ‘volunteered’ a number of able folk to join the small committee.
This inaugural committee included Eugene Loftus (Chairperson), Róisín O'Connor (Secretary), Gerry Ring (Treasurer), Patricia Browne (PRO) and Marie Loftus (committee member). The adjudicator that year was Anna Walker.
It was a very exciting time for those involved as it was a new and unknown venture in Ballina. Local businesses willingly sponsored and supported this exciting new weekend festival.
The festival is run under the auspices of the Joint 6&6 Committee of the Amateur Drama League of Ireland and the Drama League of Ireland. It is one of four One Act Festivals in Connacht, the others being Kiltimagh, Manorhamilton and Tubbercurry.
Volunteers helped out throughout that first weekend with all the usual welcomes, backstage work, dressing room hosting, programme sales, ushering and pouring the vital cuppa at half time, where the audience got to chat and share opinions on what they had seen in the theatre.
Such was the success of the first festival in 2015, that Saturday night saw 15 people turned away as the theatre was full!
The committee was delighted... it worked! The audiences were appreciative, warm and kindly disposed towards the festival. That continues to be the case to this day.
Ballina Arts Centre, the home of the festival, is ideally situated about 150 metres from Ballina Manor Hotel, which has been loyal sponsors since the start. They also host the Festival Club in The Shambles Bar and many of the groups and patrons use the hotel as their weekend base.
The management and staff of the Ballina Arts Centre are a wonderful help and the theatre is ideal for hosting a festival.
Since that first staging, Ballina One Act Festival has had the privilege of having Geoff O'Keefe, Imelda Mc Donagh, Padraig Mc Intyre, Walker Ewart and Irene O' Meara as adjudicators and they were delighted to have Paula Dempsey adjudicate when they hosted the All Ireland Finals in December 2022.
It was a great honour for the Ballina Festival Committee and crew to host the prestigious All Ireland Finals in Ballina.
The energy truly was electric, the drama was deadly, and a fine time was enjoyed by all who were there. The ‘Ballina Bark’ - caused by late nights and excessive talking - was taken home by many, having partied the nights away!
The committee has seen some changes since 2015. Eugene Loftus sadly passed away in December 2019 and Marie Loftus took on the position of Chairperson/Director. Gerry Ring and Patricia Browne continue as Treasurer and PRO respectively. Róisín O'Connor, Maureen O'Hagan and Ann Doherty have held the position of Secretary. Christina Flynn took on the role of Secretary in 2020 and Avril Greham became Social Media Manager in 2017.
Sheila O’Grady and Patricia Gilmartin have recently joined the committee. Shane Loftus has been Backstage Manager since 2015. While it is a small committee, an army of enthusiastic volunteers kindly move into position for the weekend of the festival and ensure that every night runs seamlessly.
The festival could not run without this large group of unsung heroes.
The six awards presented each year by Ballina Drama Festival are bespoke and crafted by John Hogan of Iron Excellence and the Adjudicator’s Award is also sourced locally from Rosie's Pottery in Easkey.
In 2023, the festival committee were presented with a new award - the Martin Mitchell Perpetual Cup for Most Imaginative Production - presented in Martin’s memory by his father Padraig Mitchell. They thank the Mitchell family for this beautiful award and hope to present it to many deserving winners in the years to come.
Since the inaugural festival, Ballina has hosted groups from Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Meath, Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath, and Wexford.
Ballina Drama Festival now celebrates its 10th anniversary, a young festival in comparison to other festivals. The committee hope to continue to emulate all the wonderful festivals up and down the country and continue to present great drama on the Ballina stage for decades to come.
