Stephanie Courtney is a professional director with an MFA from Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. She directs and produces Shakespeare in the Park in Dublin, including Romeo & Julie (Unplugged) in 2011 and the Tempest in 2012. She is also an international teacher of Suzuki, Viewpoints and Composition work. Stephanie was the Casting Director for PCPA, one of the oldest professional theatre companies and conservatories in California, as well as being artistic director of the award winning Wilde Irish Productions in San Francisco.

Ann Russell trained as an actor with the late Deirdre O’Connell at the Focus Stanislavski Studio. She has worked as an actor and director in the Focus Theatre and with other professional theatre companies in Ireland and the UK. Ann completed her MA at University College Dublin in 2002 and has Associate and Licentiate Diplomas from the London College of Music and Drama. A former teacher and Senior Examiner with the Royal Irish Academy of Music she formed her own school in 2004. Since then she has developed a highly successful Effective Public speaking programme and has an outstanding record in training drama teachers.

Dr. Kasia Lech  is a co-founder of Polish Theatre Ireland, and has trained as an actress and completed her MA in acting at the Ludwik Solski State Drama School in Wroc³aw (Poland). She started her professional career in theatres in Poland and has been continuing it in Ireland in both theatre and film. Her theatre credits include: Pink Whore-Girl in ‘The Murder’ by Hanoch Levin (Theatre K2, Wroc³aw, Poland), First Witch in ‘Macbeth’ (The Venue Theatre, Navan), Seeta (Never After, Tabs Theatre, Dublin), Bogusia in ‘Scent of Chocolate’ (Polish Theatre Ireland, Dublin), and Justyna in the most recent production of PTI.  Kasia also took a lead role in an Irish TV drama ‘House’ directed by Declan Cassidy. Her professional activities also include acting coaching, drama teaching, storytelling, and working as a voiceover artist. She gave a voice and animated the Grey Cat – a puppet that co-hosted a live TV show for children ‘CyberMysz’ [CyberMouse] that was broadcasted by Polish national television (TVP 1). Kasia has recently completed her PhD thesis on verse performance (funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences) from the University College Dublin.

AnnMarie O'Donovan (Youth Drama): AnnMarie O'Donovan is a trained Speech and Drama teacher from the Russell Academy and holds an Associate Teaching Diploma from the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Drama. A former student of both the Gaiety and Abbey acting schools, AnnMarie is passionate about enabling children and teenagers explore the world of drama and acting in a fun and creative environment. She herself is an actress having performed in various theatres around Dublin including the Pearse Institute and the New Theatre and also in many short movies. 

Sue Mythen (Actor's Movement) worked as an actor for over fifteen years prior to completing and MA in Actor Movement at Central School of Speech & Drama, London. Since then she works as a freelance Movement Director for several companies in Europe, Canada and UK including: Opera Ireland, The Abbey Theatre, Canadian Opera Company. On film, Sue choreographed the ballroom scenes for Northanger Abbey as part of the Jane Austen Season for ITV Drama. Sue has taught movement in a number of drama schools including The Gaiety School of Acting, Trinity College Dublin, The Abbey Theatre, DIT, RIAM, and Central School of Speech & Drama. She is currently co-writing a book on the subject of movement training for actors.

Paul Brennan:(Michael Chekov Techniques) Paul has worked as a professional actor, director, playwright, and acting teacher for over thirty five years. He has worked as a director with the Abbey, the Gate and other Dublin theatres, with Druid in Galway, with Island in Limerick and with Red Kettle in Waterford for whom he has directed two Bernard Farrell premieres and five other shows. Productions in the past decade include Diarmuid de Faoite’s award winning Padraig O’Conaire; Paris Texas with POC Productions which won an award at the 2003 Dublin Fringe Festival. His production of The Fairgreen Slaughterhouse by Colm Corless  won Best Production at Project ’06 in Galway and was revived in May’07 at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin. Having studied Michael Chekhov acting technique and attended workshops with Joanna Merlin, Fern Sloan, Sarah Kane, Per Brahe, Graham Dixon, Joerg Andreas, Lenard Petit and  with the Michael Chekhov Europe organisation, Paul first introduced Chekhov technique into his professional work in 1999 (Bernard Farrell’s Happy Birthday Dear Alice for Red Kettle, with Tony award winner, Anna Manahan)  and into all his subsequent productions. He has also taught the technique at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (’01 – ’02), with Theatre MA students at the National University of Ireland, Galway (’07), and at University Colleges, Dublin and Cork.

Sara Shephard (Alexander Technique) Please see Sarah's web page at  http://alexandertechniquenorthside.ie/about.html

Dr. Julie Shearer trained as an actor at the Queensland University of Technology. As a professional theatre actor and director in Australia, she has worked with the State Theatre Companies, with Queensland's Shakespearean repertory company Grin and Tonic, and then touring the country with Australia's finest-the Bell Shakespeare Company. She also directed and devised work for Grin and Tonic and other small companies, taught youth theatre for many years, and worked as a Voice and Acting tutor with the drama school at QUT. In addition, she has worked in Australian film, television and radio. Presently, she has just completed her Ph.D. at Trinity College Dublin, where she worked as a part time lecturer in Acting.

Dr. Margot Jones (NicEoghain) trained in the theory and practice of theatre in Ireland, the USA and Vietnam.  She has performed in a wide variety of professional contexts including theatre, television and film, and she maintains a vibrant performance and workshop practice.  Recent facilitation work with young people includes puppet-making and performance, story-building and voice and movement skills.  She has also a special interest in therapeutic theatre. Margot continues to update her professional skills and is currently researching in the area of the traditional arts and devised performance. She has lectured at the University of Hawai’i and at Trinity College, Dublin, and she holds an MA in Theatre (Villanova), a PhD in Asian Theatre (Hawai’i)and an MA in Dramatherapy (Roehampton).