John Grogan, Playwright & Facilitator
I write plays and take inspiration from the people and the landscape around me. In my case it’s the bogs and farmlands of rural Offaly where I grew up on a farm twenty minutes outside Edenderry.
A few years ago I came across an ad for a meeting in Edenderry Library with a project called Creative Places. I attended their open event where Coordinator Seonaid Murray explained the concept and objectives of the project. There was a great energy in the room that evening. Alongside chatting to other locals and eating my fill of egg sandwiches, I pitched Seonaid an idea about facilitating writing workshops.
My role facilitating writing workshops is simply to offer some pointers and encourage others to realise their own storytelling potential and help bring these stories into existence. I have facilitated workshops in Dublin but this would be the first time doing so closer to home. Over the course of four weekly sessions I found myself in a room in the Parish Centre with a group of local writers. We talked, we laughed, we shared our stories and what emerged was heart-warming.
Next up came a Writers Weekend in the Quaker Meeting House where more stories were taking shape and brought to life. In the autumn of 2023 I received an artist commission to facilitate a ten week playwriting project devising new plays exploring character, community and place. Another workshop, another room, and this time we had a space in the library and the plays started to emerge. An Arts Collective Day in February 2024 took me back to the Parish Centre and into another room where some new and familiar faces were waiting to conjure up yet more stories.
The sharing of our stories is an important aspect of being human. It’s a basic need like eating. As writers we tend to spend long periods of time dreaming up tales that one day hopefully get to find audiences out there in the world. Writing takes time. It’s often a solitary process and so the opportunity to break out and connect with others can be very welcome.
We need these creative spaces to exist so thanks to Creative Places for the opportunities in Edenderry. I’ve experienced first-hand the magic that happens when the right elements come together. It has been a joy and privilege to witness the work of other writers and through these encounters enrich my own writing practice.
Long may the stories continue…
[Play Strategy Session. Image credit: Mark Forde]