Click here to visit WWW.WEWEREBROTHERS.COM Handful Productions was set up in January 2003 by a group of women writers and actors who met through a cross-community scheme run by Dave Duggan and Patricia Byrne of Sole Purpose Productions at the Playhouse in Derry. There, in the autumn of 2001, they co-wrote and performed a short play set in a maternity ward, What’s in a Name? Working initially under the name Drama in Hand, co-founder Felicity McCall was accepted for grant aid under the Millenium Awards administered by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland. The result was their collaborative play, Friends Reunited? which had its premiere at The Playhouse in June 2003. It then toured community venues and was performed at the 2003Street Ceili in Moy in Tyrone In 2004, the group changed its name to Handful Productions and secured funding from a number of voluntary and statutory agencies including Awards for All, the Community Relations Council and Derry City Council. This enabled Handful to put in practice its mission statement of making drama free and accessible to all, regardless of age, gender, social, religious and political background, disability, sexual orientation or ethnic origin. Handful continues to attract audiences who might not otherwise think theatre has anything to offer them. Feedback sessions, outreach and education work are very important to Handful’s genre of theatre, as the group has occasionally expanded to incorporate new writers and actors for specific productions, such as its two Play Festivals in 2007 and 2008. Handful is committed to performing only new, innovative, community based writing which is performed to a professional standard at the Playhouse and community arts venues. The shows can be followed by informal discussions and feedback sessions, and are always free of charge. Since 2009, Handful and Postscript Productions have shared an office in the newly refurbished Playhouse at Artillery Street in Derry -a marvellous base for future development. A history of the group and a collection of its members’ work has been published by Yes Publications (2009) Handful has secured funding from the Community Relations Council.
Handful Productions was set up in January 2003 by a group of women writers and actors who met through a cross-community scheme run by Dave Duggan and Patricia Byrne of Sole Purpose Productions at the Playhouse in Derry. There, in the autumn of 2001, they co-wrote and performed a short play set in a maternity ward, What’s in a Name? Working initially under the name Drama in Hand, co-founder Felicity McCall was accepted for grant aid under the Millenium Awards administered by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland. The result was their collaborative play, Friends Reunited? which had its premiere at The Playhouse in June 2003. It then toured community venues and was performed at the 2003Street Ceili in Moy in Tyrone
In 2004, the group changed its name to Handful Productions and secured funding from a number of voluntary and statutory agencies including Awards for All, the Community Relations Council and Derry City Council. This enabled Handful to put in practice its mission statement of making drama free and accessible to all, regardless of age, gender, social, religious and political background, disability, sexual orientation or ethnic origin. Handful continues to attract audiences who might not otherwise think theatre has anything to offer them. Feedback sessions, outreach and education work are very important to Handful’s genre of theatre, as the group has occasionally expanded to incorporate new writers and actors for specific productions, such as its two Play Festivals in 2007 and 2008.
Handful is committed to performing only new, innovative, community based writing which is performed to a professional standard at the Playhouse and community arts venues. The shows can be followed by informal discussions and feedback sessions, and are always free of charge.
Since 2009, Handful and Postscript Productions have shared an office in the newly refurbished Playhouse at Artillery Street in Derry -a marvellous base for future development.
A history of the group and a collection of its members’ work has been published by Yes Publications (2009)
Handful has secured funding from the Community Relations Council.