Lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance, NUI Galway

Position Openings and Fellowships

Applications are invited for an appointment as Lecturer (BTB) in Drama, Theatre and Performance at National University of Ireland, Galway. The successful candidate will have a research specialism in writing for theatre, and will offer practical classes and lectures on playwriting, dramaturgy, and other areas within the broad field of Drama and Theatre Studies. This appointment will have a start date of no earlier than 1st August 2014.

In recent years, NUI Galway has made a major contribution to the development of theatre research and practice in Ireland and internationally. An MA in Drama and Theatre was established in 2000, with the aim of combining courses in the history and theory of drama with performance-oriented courses in theatre arts. Three new MA programmes were launched in 2013: an MA in Writing for Theatre, an MA in Theatre Practice and Production and an MA in Irish Drama and Theatre.  A new BA in Drama, Theatre and Performance began in 2012, and further developments are planned, including the establishment of a Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance. When completed in 2015, the Centre will provide a purpose-built theatre with additional teaching and performance resources. The University also has a strong reputation in the field of creative writing, with a very popular MA in Writing and a BA Connect with Creative Writing programme.

These innovations have stimulated new theatrical activity throughout the University and the city, leading to the creation of several new theatre companies in Galway and elsewhere, and to the emergence of several exciting new writers.

The University is pre-eminent in the study of modern Irish drama, with our researchers having recently published prize-winning monographs and completed major funded research projects. The University’s recent acquisition of major theatre archives (the Abbey Theatre Digital Archive, Thomas Kilroy, Druid Theatre Company, Arthur Shields papers, Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe, Lyric Players’ Theatre, Siobhan McKenna, etc) means that NUI Galway now has one of the world’s best collections of material about Irish dramatic writing and performance. These archives include promptbooks and scripts from such writers as W.B. Yeats, Sean O’Casey, J.M. Synge, Marina Carr, Enda Walsh, Conor McPherson, Brian Friel, Tom Murphy, Thomas Kilroy and many others. NUI Galway is also engaged in an ambitious project to digitise the entire archive of the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s national theatre. When completed, the archive will be the biggest digital theatre archive yet completed, featuring scripts, videos, images, set and costume designs, stage management records, and more.

The links between scholarship and creativity within the curriculum are paralleled by alliances with theatre companies. NUI Galway and Druid Theatre have recently established an innovative new partnership involving a range of joint activities. Druid give workshops to undergraduate and postgraduate students, the University has appointed a Druid Director-in-Residence, and NUI Galway was a co-producer of DruidMurphy, a major award-winning production which played in Ireland and London, and at the Lincoln Center, New York. The University also enjoys close relationships with numerous other theatre companies, practitioners and agencies in Ireland and abroad. The partnership with the Abbey Theatre in the digitisation of its archive is another key example of such partnerships.

We seek a dynamic, creative, engaged, and research-active individual who will help us to consolidate and expand upon these developments. In addition to the ordinary academic duties laid out below, the individual appointed will have special responsibility for:

  •  Developing undergraduate and postgraduate modules that focus on writing for theatre (including playwriting, theatre criticism, dramaturgy, non-fiction writing on theatre, etc) as well as modules relevant to the broad field of Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies.
  • The creative and/or scholarly use of the University’s theatre archives (especially the Abbey Theatre Digital Archive) as a tool for teaching and stimulating research about playwriting,
  • Developing research on playwriting and related areas,
  • Assisting in the development of the new Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance.

For informal enquiries, please contact Prof. Patrick Lonergan, Email patrick.lonergan@nuigalway.ie

Salary: €36,230 to €51,104 p.a. (applicable to new entrants effective from January, 2011)

Closing date for receipt of applications is 17:00 (GMT) on Thursday, 27th February 2014.  It will not be possible to consider applications received after the closing date.

 For more information and Application Form please see website:  http://www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/jobs/

Applications should be submitted online.