Youth has also taken over the stage in Waterford at the 180-seat Garter Lane theatre this week with a nightly drama production which has been created as part of a summer project. The show, The Dream Season, is being presented by Waterford Youth Drama, a youth and community arts resource which enables young people to participate in creative activity as a means of self-expression and development.
The production is directed by a professional director, Jimmy Fay, of Bedrock Theatre Company, and the content has been totally devised by the cast of 40 teenagers.
The young cast, from a wide range of backgrounds throughout the city and county, spent nearly two months of their summer holidays working on the project - a commitment of seven hours each day for five days per week.
The teenagers developed the 90-minute piece of theatre around contemporary issues and images - creating five diverse characters searching for a dream over two days in an urban setting like Waterford. They have gained experience in all aspects of theatrical production, from lighting and sound to front-of-house management.
"I suppose our main aim is the personal development of young people through drama," says Ollie Breslin, of Waterford Youth Drama. WYD, established in 1985, has grown into a fully structured youth organisation with full-time and part-time staff. Each year almost 300 young people between the ages of nine and 19 take part in WYD activities and workshops.
In promoting access for young people to the creative arts, it focuses in particular on those from disadvantaged areas which in general lack an arts tradition.
WYD is kept going by financial assistance from grant agencies, and in particular from Waterford Corporation. It is now moving into the area of video, providing training in the use of video technology and making the equipment available as a resource to fellow youth and community groups in the area.
There are now six youth theatre groups in the South-East region, and next October, Waterford will host the first South-East Youth Theatre Festival.