KWAKU FORTUNE will next appear on our screens as Josh Ola alongside Angeline Ball, Peter Coonan and Simone Kirby in Hidden Assets directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan; Redemption directed by John Hayes for ITV; and Burn It All opposite Toni O’Rourke, directed by Jack Hickey. He has most recently been cast as Ray in The Beauty Queen Of Leenane directed by Rachel O’Riordan for the Lyric Hammersmith & Chichester Festival Theatre, and as the voice of “Gael” in the Skydance / Apple+ animated feature Luck. Further screen credits include “Line Of Duty” for the BBC (broadcast earlier this year); “Normal People” directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald for BBC 1, BBC 3 and Hulu; and “Animals” alongside Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat, directed by Sophie Hyde. Stage credits include the role of Eli in Asking For It at Birmingham Repertory Theatre; Peat directed by Tim Crouch; and the role of Dara Mood Caitríona McLaughlin’s acclaimed production of Marina Carr’s Raftery’s Hill directed for the main stage at the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s National Theatre. Kwaku trained at the Lír Academy, Dublin (in association with RADA).
JADE JORDAN is a mixed-race Irish actor and author of Nanny, Ma & Me. She studied screen acting at Dublin’s Bow Street Academy. Jade’s television credits include upcoming roles in ITV drama-No Return, ITV/Virgin Media drama Redemption, Channel 5 drama Witness No 3, as well as guest roles on Kin RTE1, Channel 4’s The Virtues and BBC’s Doctors. DIFF this year will see her in a number of productions, Kate Dolan’s feature film You are not my Mother, Shaun Dunne’s film documentary How to tell a Secret & as a writer and producer her own short film The Colour Between. Her theatrical appearances include Citysong & Dear Ireland for the Abbey Theatre, Coole Park Poetry Series & Four Days in July for Druid Theatre Company.
FELISPEAKS (Felicia Olusanya) is a Nigerian-Irish Poet, Performer, Playwright from Co. Longford; currently based in Dublin City. FELISPEAKS has been nominated ‘Best Performer’ by Dublin Fringe Festival Sep. 2018. As well as being a Member of the Poetry Ireland Board of Directors appointed June 2020, Felicia is a member of the Poetry Collective, WeAreGriot. FELISPEAKS’ poem: ‘For Our Mothers’ is in the English Ordinary Level Leaving Cert Curriculum for examination year 2023. Also in 2020, FELISPEAKS was commissioned a new piece for RTÉ’s The Big Picture on the theme of ‘The New Normal’ – this poem, entitled Still captured the minds of the nation and has been performed to audiences all over the country. In 2021, FELISPEAKS continued to climb, with a Visual Carlow Residency and Arts Council Bursary supporting her work. She wrote and performed Do You Miss It?, commissioned by Guinness for their national advertising campaign, ‘The Best of the Pub’. She also wrote More Than Ever for Tullamore Dew X District Magazine advertising collaboration, performed by Adam Mohammed. FELISPEAKS has also recently performed at ‘Dignity, A Celebration of Bob Dylan at 80’ at the US Ambassador’s Residence, and was nominated for JCI Ireland’s Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the Year in the category of Cultural Achievement. FELISPEAKS ends 2021 as an Irish Tatler Woman of the Year with a win in the Catalyst Category – which recognises a woman who has affected change in Irish society in a pivotal way!
CN SMITH is a playwright and director from County Louth. He holds an MFA in Playwriting from the Lir Academy and is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, where he directed Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (Samuel Beckett Theatre, 2019), and Eden (ISDA, 2019). Writing work includes the radio play Ode to a Postcode (Dublin Fringe, 2019), and At the Very Beginning (Civic Theatre, 2020/21), both written for young audiences. He was an inaugural member of the Abbey Theatre’s Young Curators programme in 2018/2019, and was a recipient of The Lir Academy’s Patricia Leggett Playwriting Scholarship for 2020. He also participated in Smock Alley’s Baptiste Programme, and Dublin Fringe’s WEFT Studio Group, both in 2021, where he developed his plays A Trip to the Beach and Before You Head Off
Fishamble: The New Play Company discovers, develops and produces new plays of national importance with a global reach. It has toured its productions to audiences throughout Ireland, and to 19 other countries. It champions the role of the playwright, typically supporting over 50% of the writers of all new plays produced on the island of Ireland each year. Fishamble has received many awards in Ireland and internationally, including an Olivier Award.
Fishamble is funded by the Arts Council, Dublin City Council, and Culture Ireland.
Irish Repertory Theatre, co-founded by Producing Director Ciarán O’Reilly and Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, is now in its 33rd season after first opening its doors in September 1988 with Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars. Irish Rep is currently the only year-round theatre company in New York City devoted to bringing Irish and Irish American works to the stage. Recognized with the Jujamcyn Theatres Award, a special Drama Desk Award for “Excellence in Presenting Distinguished Irish Drama,” an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Achievement, and the Lucille Lortel Award for “Outstanding Body of Work,” Irish Rep celebrates the very best in Irish theatre, from the masters to the new generation of Irish and Irish American writers who are transforming the stage. Nearly 50,000 audience members annually attend productions at Irish Rep’s theatre located in the heart of New York’s Off-Broadway community. Once here, they witness Irish Rep’s engaging perspective on the Irish and their unique contributions to the world of drama. IrishRep.org
