Bowler Hat Theatre Company’s recent one night show at the Theatre Royal has resulted in a €2,500 boost to the annual Ted and Mary O’Regan Bursary.  The proceeds will go specifically to a new one-off young Waterford writer fund.

In May, the local company produced a commemorative show, ‘An Evening with Jim Nolan’, to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of his inaugural full-length play ‘The Gods Are Angry Miss Kerr’ at Theatre Royal.   Directors Andrew Holden and Liam Meagher assembled six local professional actors who performed excerpts from the play. These were interspersed with an intimate chat on stage with Jim, led by another of Waterford’s finest artists, actor Carrie Crowley.

Show producer Gabrielle Cummins thanked Waterford audiences and local businesses for their support of the event: “when you consider theatre rental, insurance, royalties, marketing costs, production fees etc, putting on any type of stage show costs thousands.  Thanks to the generosity of the hundreds of people who turned up on the night and the many businesses that lent their support in various ways too, we are delighted to be able to present our profits from the show, as a €2,500 bursary to this worthwhile fund.  It’s fitting that a night aimed at celebrating Waterford’s greatest writer to date, will help to support a young Waterford writer of the future”.

Jim Nolan highlighted the benefits of a grant to a fledging artist, emphasiing that “the bursary provides practical support to help a creative artist progress to the next step. The creative process is usually long and drawn out with lots of barriers along the way so any financial support will be most welcome by any artist but especially someone just starting out”.

A special judging panel has been assembled to agree the criteria for this one off initiative and details of how people can apply will be announced in the coming weeks.