Veronica Coburn is a Civic Theatre Associate with a particular interest in participation and play. She was a founder member of Barabbas Theatre Company with whom she toured to, amongst others, New York/Next Wave Festival BAM, Washington/Kennedy Centre, and New Zealand/Wellington International Arts Festival. She is the author of Clown Through Mask – The Pioneering Work of Richard Pochinko As Practised By Sue Morrison. Written in collaboration with Sue Morrison it is published by Intellect Press.
Veronica was Artist in Residence in Draíocht Arts Centre for three years, 2012 – 2015. The focus of her residency was the building of Hallelujah! Draíocht’s Community Clown Choir. Ranging in age from 18 to 80, the members of Hallelujah! developed and performed original work that spanned vocal chorus and red nose performance.
Veronica is programme director of Tenderfoot, The Civic Theatre’s apprentice theatre programme for transition year students, now in its fifteenth year. Tenderfoot provides young people in South County Dublin with the opportunity to learn about theatre by making theatre. She is currently overseeing the implementation of IMPACT, a strategic plan to develop Tenderfoot to provide a comprehensive programme for engaging young adults in the art of theatre.
Favourite projects include Artistic Director of Draíocht’s Home Theatre (Ireland), an innovative project that saw thirty original plays performed in people’s homes in Dublin 15, Ghost Hares, a public art commission in The Civic Theatre for South Dublin County Council, and serving as Artistic Director of Youth Theatre Ireland’s National Youth Theatre, in the context of which role she directed it’s 2019 production of Dylan Coburn Gray’s Ask Too Much Of Me and Ciara Elizabeth Smyth’s AFTERTASTE for National Youth Theatre 2021. She is proud to have developed ARTiculate, a national playwrighting group for young writers, as part of a vision for NYT 2018 – 2023.
Veronica is the recipient of the Prix Europa/Radio France and a Writers Guild of Ireland Zebbie Award for her work on radio.
In Veronica’s own words
My core discipline is clown. The red nose is the smallest mask in the world. Masks do not hide but rather reveal. And the red nose mask reveals the wearer. The clown. For me a clown does not necessarily come dressed in big shoes and a silly hat. Rather a clown is someone who is capable of standing before their tribe and being seen for the common good. The clown stands before us and allows us to see their humanity and in doing so allows us, the audience, to remember and maybe reconnect with our own.
This concept of quiet revelation, the need to speak, and the value of articulation, underpins all of my work. It’s the quality I look for in performance when I direct a play. An integrity. A solidity. A tenderness. And, it’s why I have worked for years to develop, through programmes like Tenderfoot and ARTiculate, the theatrical voice of young people for if we learn to express ourselves artistically when we are young just think how rich our adult lives will be.
I love working with grown ups and it has been my absolute pleasure to be inspired by the Songchangers. They are beautiful people who have lived rich and varied lives and in the intersection of our worlds we all learn from each other.
