The current board of the International Puppet Festival Ireland Ltd comprises Martin G Molony (Chairman), Aedín Cosgrove, Miriam Lambert, Patricia McColgan, Johnn McCormick, Michael O’Reilly and Monica Robertson.
Martin G Molony, Chairman.
Martin Molony is a lecturer in communications, journalism and public relations at Dublin City University and a consultant in the corporate and voluntary sectors.
Based at DCU’s School of Communications, Martin is a former Programme Director of the BA in Communication Studies and of the BA in Journalism. He also teaches communication courses at DCU Business School’s Centre for Executive Education and provides communication training to DCU’s MBA students.
Martin has extensive business experience, having held directorships in several companies and been the proprietor of several enterprises, including retailing, journalism / media, communications and IT consultancy.
Martin Molony has also been very active in the voluntary sector, particularly within Rotary International. He served as District Governor for Rotary in Ireland in 2005/06 and has held a variety of international positions within Rotary International and in Rotary International Britain & Ireland and is currently President of the Rotary Club of Dublin Central. He was also a Director of Northside Citizens Information Centres from 1999 to 2001 and is a former Chairman of the DCU Graduate Association.
Martin was co-founder and director of The Moon & Sixpence Puppet Theatre, which toured Irish schools with marionette productions from 1983 to 1986. He has maintained his interest in puppetry since then and has been researching the 300-year history of the puppet theatre in Ireland since 2006 which is the subject of his PhD studies at Trinity College Dublin.
Aedín Cosgrove
Aedín is co-founder and joint director of Pan Pan Theatre, which was founded in 1991. She has been working in lighting design since graduating from the Samuel Beckett Centre in 1989 and has designed and lit all of Pan Pan Theatre’s productions to date. Aedín has also worked as a designer for the Peacock Theatre, Corcadorca Theatre Company, Bedrock Theatre and the Crash Ensemble, a contemporary music and multimedia ensemble.
Designs for Pan Pan include Bronze Twist (winner of Best Overall Production, Dublin Fringe Festival, 1995), Standoffish (winner of Adelaide Festival Fringe First, 2000), Cartoon, Mac-Beth 7 (nominated for Best Lighting, Irish Times Theatre Awards, 2003), One: Healing with Theatre, Oedipus Loves You, The Idiots, Playboy of the Western World, (Beijing) and The Crumb Trail (nominated for Best Lighting, Irish Times Theatre Awards, 2010). In 2006, Cosgrove travelled with director Sarah-Jane Scaife to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Athens, Greece, to the Samuel Beckett Centenary Residency program during which time they produced Come and Go, Rough for Theatre I, Act Without Words II, Footfalls, and Nacht und Träume. Later, they travelled to Bei Wei University Beijing to work on translation into Mandrain of Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats. Cosgrove also works in opera and dance, most recently Five Ways to Drown for Junk Ensemble which opened Dublin Dance Festival 2010. Aedín joined director Dylan Tighe to design lighting for No Worst There Is None in Newman House for the Dublin Theatre Festival. (Winner, Best Production, Irish Times Theatre Awards 2010).
Miriam Lambert
Miriam Lambert has been working in puppet theatre for over forty years. Miriam was trained by her mentor and father, the late master puppeteer, Eugene Lambert, founder of the Lambert Puppet Theatre. Miriam has been an integral part of the creation and performance of numerous productions at the Lambert Puppet Theatre and also one of the founders and former Director of The International Puppet Festival.
Miriam has worked extensively as a puppeteer and puppet maker for Irish television and numerous Irish theatre companies. Her solo productions have toured nationally to theatres, art centres and arts festivals
Miriam Lambert’s solo performance has represented Ireland Internationally in Finland Pakistan Egypt USA and Iran.
Patricia McColgan
Along with her colleagues Jane Magnier & Marina Finn, Patricia McColgan is Director and part owner of the Abbey Group – Ireland’s largest privately owned incoming Tour Operator.
Patricia joined Abbey Tours in 1981 and has since been involved in all aspects of Irish Tourism. The company has gone from strength to strength and in 2010 took care of arrangements for over 75,000 people from fifty-two countries.
Patricia has overall responsibility for the Abbey Conference & Corporate division and has overseen the management of all the company’s major international conference & events for the past twenty years.
John McCormick
John McCormick has been making and performing with puppets from the age of five. He made his acting debut as the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland with his mother’s Children’s Theatre Company in 1949. As a university student he had a forty-seat marionette theatre in a Dublin suburb for three years with regular Saturday afternoon performances of fairy tales, and more ambitious pieces including Stravinsky’s Pulcinella and also worked for a year with Nelson Paine’s Puppet Opera Company.
After receiving a degree in English and French at Trinity College Dublin he wrote his doctoral thesis on the French director Gaston Baty (whose interest in puppets had attracted him). After teaching English language and Literature for three years at Åbo Akademi in Finland he took up a post as lecturer in French at the University of Glasgow. He returned to Dublin in 1970 with his wife Clodagh and family of 4 daughters (one of whom is now a puppeteer) to take up a post in the French Department of Trinity College. Very active as a director of student productions with both live actors and puppets, he also campaigned for the establishment of a Drama Department at Trinity. This was finally established in 1984 and he became its first director. In 1998 he took early retirement so as to be able to devote himself entirely to research in puppet theatre and to work with puppets.
More recent productions include Gilgamesh (International puppet festival, Lahore, 1994 and later at Mistelbach festival, Austria), The Children of Lir (Bienal, Evora, Portugal, 2001), Fantoccini, Fantoccini a Victorian variety marionette show, (Festafife. Viana do Castelo, Portugal, 2010).
John is a founder and former chairman of the Board of the International Puppet Festival, Ireland and was also programme director for two festivals. He is a former President of UNIMA Ireland and a founder of the Irish Theatre Archive in 1981.
Michael O’Reilly
Michael is the Finance Director of DDFH&B Ltd., Ireland’s largest advertising agency; and Finance Director of Mindshare Media Ireland Ltd, Ireland’s leading media buying and planning agency. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA) and Past President of the Leinster Society of Certified Accountants.
Michael brings wealth of experience in finance and advertising / media communications. He has previously held senior financial positions with Sheridan Developments (Property development company), Ticketmaster (Ticket agents). NCB (Stockbrokers).
Monica Robertson
Monica Robertson is a fellow of The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, having qualified in 1988. She commenced and continues her career with Phelan Prescott + Co Chartered Accountants where as Practice Administrator she has gained experience in a broad area of business related practice compliance, and regulation.
Monica is a member of the Irish Region Council of The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and served as president from 2005 to 2007. She is actively involved in Rotary International and served as Club President of Dublin Central Rotary Club for 2007/08.
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