English, Media and Creative Arts

Marianne Kennedy is a lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance at The National University of Ireland, Galway and Head of Production and Curation of Drama and Theatre Studies, NUI Galway based at The O' Donoghue Centre of Drama, Theatre and Performance.  She is also is a theatre-maker with 20 years professional experience as a producer and director in the Performing, Irish language and Traditional Arts.  In 2016 she co-directed Dún na mBan Trí Thine by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne for The National Theatre of the Irish Language and the Galway International Arts Festival. Kennedy has spent six years as the CEO of Siamsa Tire, The National Folk and Arts Centre in Tralee, Co. Kerry as well as six years as Head of the Performing Arts for Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge, NUI Galway.  Kennedy is currently a member of Garraí an Ghiorria, a collective of multidisciplinary artists working in the Irish language on the western seaboard which was recently chosen for the Abbey Theatre’s inaugural 5 X 5 programme which highlights work engaging with Ireland’s lesser represented voices. Their project, STRINGS, ROPES AND CHAINS: Silencing the Voice of a People, explores the silencing of the Irish people and their language by Cromwell with a special focus on the harp as both a musical instrument and as a symbol of Irish creative expression. The project also examines similarities between historical Irish issues and contemporary issues of migration: https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/introducing-inaugural-5x5-projects/.