North Cork Fine Gael Councillor John Paul O’Shea has paid his congratulations to Charleville–based playwright, Katie Holly, following her success at the 2019 New York Radio Awards. Katie’s radio play Sharon won Silver for RTÉ Radio Drama in the New York Radio Awards for Best Digital Drama.
Katie’s star has been rising steadily in recent years, garnering her acclaim and accolades in the world of theatre and the Arts. Commenting this week, Cllr. O’Shea said: “It’s a wonderful achievement for Katie and my warmest congratulations to her. It is fantastic that Katie’s creative talents are being recognised on an international stage and I am proud that Cork County Council has supported Katie’s work in the past through various Arts funding schemes.”
Katie also acknowledged the value of the Council’s on-going support: “This win is as much the Cork County Council’s as it is mine- the Council played a large part in the original production, which then led to the Radio recording.”
A UCC graduate of Drama, Theatre Studies and Music, Katie began establishing in earnest, her reputation as one of Ireland’s most interesting new playwrights with her first play Marion premiering at Cork Midsummer Festival 2016.
Katie received a Cork County Council Artist’s bursary to support the writing and stage production of her second theatre piece Sharon which premiered at Cork Midsummer festival in 2017 and proved hugely popular with audiences in West and North Cork during the Fit-up Theatre Festivals the following year.
This year Cork County Council through its Library & Arts Service, commissioned a new play from Katie Holly titled Crossword, which toured library branches across County Cork during May for the Bealtaine Festival.
Katie is currently working on a sequel to her production The Flowing Tide entitled The Rising Tide which is funded by the Council’s Creative Communities Scheme and is expected to be in production in December of this year.
You can catch Katie Holly’s recent production, an intimate one-man show, Crowman, starring Jon Kenny of the D’Unbelievables at the West Cork Fit-Up Theatre Festival, a joint initiative, between Blood in the Alley Theatre Productions, Cork County Council and the Arts Council, aiming to provide rural communities the opportunity to sample some of the wealth and talent professional theatre has to offer.
Crowman is in great company with a fantastic line-up of theatrical events to choose from this summer with the Fit-Up theatre festival running during July and August.http://www.fit-
