Welcome to the Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts & Equality
The Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality, incorporating Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company and Smashing Times Youth Arts Ensemble, is dedicated to the promotion, study and practice of the arts and equality.
The centre operates as a world class arts space and digital hub for artists, activists, communities and the general public across Ireland and internationally, providing a resource service and a training and networking agency in relation to using high quality creative processes and collaborative arts practice to promote human rights and equality for all.
The centre produces an annual and multi-annual inter-disciplinary arts programme with a focus on economic development, tourism, community infrastructure and education. All artistic mediums are supported with a focus on the performing and collaborative arts including theatre, film, visual arts, dance and music. Smashing Times’ vast experience conducting arts-based projects both nationally and internationally and its global reputation for excellence in relation to using professional and socially engaged arts practice to promote equality is drawn upon in the creation of this innovative space.
Smashing Times is highly experienced in using the arts to promote issues at local, national and European levels linking with organisations in Ireland, Northern Ireland, European and internationally and in countries including the UK, Spain, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Greece and Latvia. The work is presented in a range of settings, on stage and on screen, from the professional theatre and arts space, to on tour in schools and communities where we are invited to work collaboratively with people from all ages and cultures, particularly in disadvantaged, marginalised communities. The company works with a range of organisations including schools, youth and adult groups and the general public. Smashing Times was originally established in 1991 by a group of women artists who met at the Focus Theatre Dublin. The company was set up as a professional theatre company producing plays and outreach programmes in Ireland and Northern Ireland and later, across Europe. In 2015 the company expanded to incorporate professional film practice and new digital technologies, promoting an interdisciplinary approach to performance and participation. In 2017 the company was delighted to be awarded the daa Arts Award at the Allianz Business to Arts Award Ceremony at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin presented by Pascal Donohoe TD, Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform. We were also honoured to have been awarded a GSK Ireland Impact Award and a Dublin Bus Community Spirit Award.
Artists and Staff
Artistic Director and CEO: Mary Moynihan
Mary Moynihan is a writer, theatre and film-maker, and Artistic Director of Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality and Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company and a Theatre Lecturer at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama.
As Artistic Director of Smashing Times, Mary specialises in using the arts to promote human rights, peace building, gender equality and positive mental health, developing cutting edge, arts-based projects with a range of organisations. Award winning projects include Acting for the Future which uses theatre to promote positive mental health, run in partnership with the Samaritans and the highly successful Women War and Peace using theatre and film to promote equality and peace. Company patrons are First Lady Sabina Coyne Higgins, Senator Joan Freeman, founder of Pieta House, Ger Ryan, actor and Tim Pat Coogan, writer and historian.
As a playwright, Mary’s work includes the highly acclaimed The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of WWII by Mary Moynihan, Deirdre Kinahan, Paul Kennedy and Fiona Bawn Thompson; In One Breath from the award-winning Testimonies (co-written with Paul Kennedy); Constance and Her Friends and Grace and Joe – selected by President Michael D. Higgins for performance at Áras an Uachtaráin for Culture Night 2016 – and May Our Faces Haunt You and Silent Screams.
As a theatre director, professional directing credits include The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of WWII by Mary Moynihan, Fiona Bawn Thompson, Deirdre Kinahan and Paul Kennedy, on Irish and international tour (co-director Bairbre Ni Chaoimh); scenes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare for the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Uprising scripted by Tara McKevitt and devised by Smashing Times Theatre Company at Project Arts Centre Dublin and on national tour; Thou Shalt Not Kill by Paul Kennedy at Project Arts Centre Dublin and Lyric Theatre Belfast; Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett Theatre; Macbeth by William Shakespeare, DIT Theatre; Orphans by Dennis Kelly, Focus Theatre; The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Grangegorman; Shattering Glass and In One Breath (Testimonies) for Smashing Times at Project Arts Centre and Helix Theatre, Dublin.
Mary’s film work includes the hour-long television documentary Stories from the Shadows, the short film Tell Them Our Names (selected for the London Eye International Film Festival and the Kerry Film Festival) and the creative documentary Women in an Equal Europe.
Mary has an honours MA in Film Production from DIT and an honours BA in Drama and Theatre Studies from the University of Dublin Trinity College. Mary originally trained as an actor and director at Focus Theatre under the direction of Deirdre O’Connell, her friend and mentor.
Mary’s theatre and film work are physical-based and focus on primal, visceral and intuitive responses to vulnerability and conflict and an exploration of self and the other. She focuses on the interconnectedness of the body, voice and imagination and the use of creative physical and spiritual energies, revealing the inner life through physical and intuitive engagements.
Producer and Company Manager: Freda Manweiler
Freda has worked with Smashing Times since 1999. She is highly skilled in project management, coordination and implementation. She has extensive experience working at a European level developing and delivering a range of European Initiatives, collaborating with over 50 cultural, educational and civil society organisations from over 22 European Countries. Promoting European Values through working on activities and projects that promote human rights, gender equality, positive mental health, remembrance and civic engagement.
She has worked developing and coordinating accredited training programmes, professional productions, and community exchanges using creative methods to promote peace building and reconciliation on the island of Ireland. Working particularly with hard to reach communities in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties building strong community relations. Freda has been instrumental in bringing the learning gained from the Northern Ireland Peace Process to communities experiencing conflict in other European states.
She has produced and toured a number of professional performances in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
She is coordinator of the award winning, Acting For The Future programme that uses drama and theatre to promote positive mental health and suicide prevention, which was developed and run in association with the Samaritans and the Irish Association of Suicidology throughout the island of Ireland. As part of her work for Smashing Times she is responsible for all aspects of management and project development and is also involved in teaching practice.
She has extensive experience in team management through her work with Smashing Times as a manager and as a manager and Employment Assessment Coordinator for a Working Skills Centre in Toronto, Canada. Her experience in Canada focused mainly on refugee resettlement, managing initiatives funded through the federal government of Canada. Her education includes a Bachelor in Social Work (2007) from the Open University and in 2012 she completed an MEd from the National University of Ireland/UCD.
Board of Directors
- Dr Eric Weitz (Chairperson), Associate Professor of Drama, School of Drama, Film and Music, Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College, Dublin 2.
- Sandra Berger, (ACCA), Financial Consultant, B.A. (Hons) in Finance and Accounting
- Olivia O’Hagan, Business Advisor, Invest NI
- Jules Buckley, Marketing Executive
Patrons
- Sabina Higgins, actor and political activist
- Joan Freeman, psychologist
- Ger Ryan, actor
Founding Patrons
- Maeve Binchy, author, playwright, columnist and speaker
- Brian Friel, dramatist, short story writer, and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company
Key Artists
To follow
Annual Audited Accounts
Smashing Times Audited Accounts 2021
Smashing Times Audited Accounts 2020
Smashing Times Audited Accounts 2019
Smashing Times Audited Accounts 2018
Smashing Times Audited Accounts 2017
Smashing Times Policies
Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy
Supporters and Partners
The Department of Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht’s Arts & Culture Capital Scheme have kindly provided funding for the Smashing Times Online Centre for the Arts and Equality.
We are grateful for funding received from a variety of different funding bodies, such as the Erasmus+ and Europe for Citizens Programmes of the European Union, Dublin City Council, ESB Energy for Generations Fund, the HSE, The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and more.
We are also pleased to continue our partnerships with various organisations on a number of different projects, such as the Samaritans; the Irish Association of Suicidology; Frontline Defenders, Trinity College Dublin Department of Drama; Slí an Chroí; our wide network of European partners and many more.
We are very thankful to EM Creative for designing this site. Visit their website here.
Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality
Registered Charity Number (RCN): 20033927
