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Events Landing PageLecturer in Drama
School of Humanities - Arts - College Street campus
HA 19
College Street
0000-0001-5095-0344
Kate McCarthy lectures in Drama at South East Technological University. Her research interests include: the arts and education; contemporary theatre practice, in particular participatory performance and live art; the work of Waterford playwright, Teresa Deevy; and Waterford’s Magdalene Laundry and Industrial School. Kate’s teaching, research, and practice explore and challenge exclusionary and gendered narratives. Her research outputs take many forms including: theatre practice, workshops, community engagement projects, public talks, podcasts, summer schools, as well as publications. As a practitioner, Kate has facilitated, devised, and performed contemporary work in Ireland and in the UK including: youth theatre, live art, site-responsive performance, community engagement project, and drama and theatre education projects. In 2021, she won the WIT Early Career Researcher Award and received a Teaching Hero award, for which she was nominated by SETU students.
Qualifications:
Research interests
The arts in education, contemporary theatre practice, in particular participatory performance and live art, the work of Waterford playwright, Teresa Deevy, and Waterford's Magdalene Laundry and Industrial School.
Ongoing research projects
Lyrical Bodies (Principal Investigator Dr Úna Kealy), 2022–2027, a research project and collaboration between SETU students, faculty, Dr Amanda Coogan, Alvean Jones, Lianne Quigley and Dublin Theatre of the Deaf, investigates Waterford playwright Teresa Deevy’s ballet Possession. The project explores and analyses ableism and gender discrimination towards the Irish Deaf community and Deaf woman via practice-based performance research. The project also considers how deafened playwright Teresa Deevy reflected on the socio-cultural environment of the mid-twentieth century. This project is funded by the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Fund (SETU) and Research Connexions (SETU).
Letters from the Past, 2017–ongoing: an archival project researching the correspondence between Waterford playwrights Teresa Deevy and James Cheasty.
Waterford Memories Project (Principal Investigator, Dr Jennifer O’Mahoney): an oral history driven project exploring Waterford’s Magdalene Heritage.
Generation Climate Change, 2019: funded by Creative Ireland Waterford, this project provided young people in Waterford city and county with opportunities for creative, critical, and reflective thinking about the climate crises. The project examined drama education and the Mantle of the Expert approach as a critical pedagogy.
Performing the Region/PLACE: Established in 2012, this research project now constitutes a working group and continues under the new title PLACE (Practice-led, Active and Creative Engagement), and is situated within the Analysing Social Change research group.
Research students
Aaron Kent (2020-2024) Re-shaping narratives: An analysis of life and culture as dramatised by Irish women
playwrights following the Irish War of Independence, (1922-1959), Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar (Co-supervisor with Dr Úna Kealy)
Completed:
Flynn, Ruth (2015) 'A Different Way of Sensing the World: Live Art and Synesthesia'.
Karol, Magda (2015) ' Performing Landscape: An Analysis of Performance Practice in Non-traditional Environments'.
Publications (peer-reviewed)
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. eds., (forthcoming 2023) Active Speech: Critical Perspectives on Teresa Deevy, Open Book Publishers.
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (forthcoming 2023) ‘Introduction’ in Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K., eds., Active Speech: Critical Perspectives on Teresa Deevy, Open Book Publishers.
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (forthcoming 2023) ‘In dialogue with Deevy: little theatres of the 1950s’ in Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K., eds., Active Speech: Critical Perspectives on Teresa Deevy, Open Book Publishers.
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (forthcoming 2023) ‘Lyrical Bodies’ in Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K., eds., Active Speech: Critical Perspectives on Teresa Deevy, Open Book Publishers.
McCarthy, M. and McCarthy, K. (2023) Teaching Drama at Senior Cycle. In Perspectives on the Teaching of Secondary English Cork University Press.
McCarthy, K. and Kealy, U. (2022, forthcoming) 'Writing from the Margins: Re-framing Teresa Deevy's Archive and her Correspondence with James Cheasty c.1952 to 1962, Irish University Review, 52.2
O'Mahoney, J., McCarthy, K., Culleton, J. (2021) 'Public performance and reclaiming space: Waterford’s Magdalene Laundry' in Haughton, M., McAuliffe, M., Pine, E., eds. Legacies of the Magdalen Laundries: commemoration, gender and systems of abuse, UK: Manchester University Press.
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (July 2021) 'Shape Shifting the Silence: An Analysis of Talk Real Fine, Just like a Lady by Amanda Coogan in collaboration with Dublin Theatre of the Deaf: An appropriation of Teresa Deevy's The King of Spain's Daughter (1935). In D. Clare, F. McDonagh and Nakase, J., eds., The Golden Thread: Irish Women Playwrights, Vol 1: 1716-1992, UK: Liverpool University Press.
McCarthy, K. and Kealy, Ú. (2018) ‘Participatory performance: spaces of creative negotiation’. In E. Jordan and E. Weitz, eds., 1st ed. The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance. London: Palgrave. ISBN 978-1-137-58587-5
McCarthy, K. (2014) Scenario Forum First International Conference: Performative teaching, learning and research, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 19.3, pp.419-421
McCarthy, K. (2014) ‘The Drama Workshop as a Catalyst for Integrative Learning’ in Blackshields, D. et al. (eds.) Integrative Learning: International Research and Practice. London: Routledge.
McCarthy. K. (2013) 'Postcards'. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 18.4, pp. 425-432.
Educational packs
O' Mahoney, J. and McCarthy, K. (2020) Exploring Waterford's Magdalene Heritage: an activity and resource pack, available: click here.
Peer-reviewed conference papers/presentations/workshops
Kealy, U. & McCarthy, K. (2022). Lyrical Bodies: Reimagining Voices through the work of Teresa Deevy and Dublin Theatre of the Deaf, Sociological Association of Ireland: Biographic, Narrative and Lifecourse Research Group: Reimagining Voices and Identities in Uncertain Times: Social Transformation, Fragmentation and Post-Pandemic Futures, 12th March 2022.
McCarthy, K. (2021). Lessons from the Past: An Examination of Disciplinary Inheritance in Drama and Theatre Education, Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA). Liverpool Hope University, UK, 6-10th September.
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K., (2021) Articulating Dissent: Teresa Deevy’s participation in creative networks of resistance (1940-1960), Theatre Ecologies: Environment, Sustainability and Politics, International Federation for Theatre Research, National University of Ireland, Galway, 12–16th July.
McCarthy, K. and O'Mahoney, J. (2021) Framing the ethics of “invisible labour” in performance practice and research, Irish Society for Theatre Research: Hard Graft: Performance, Labour and Value, Queen's University Belfast, 28-29th May.
McCarthy, K. and O'Mahoney, J. (2019) When Silence Falls: Investigating Literary and Bodily Memory at the Waterford Laundry. Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society: Art as Communication: The Impact of Art as a Catalyst for Social Change. Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, 19th-21st June.
McCarthy, K. and Kealy, Ú. (2019) In Dialogue with Deevy: ‘Letters’ from the Margins. Irish Society for Theatre Research. Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland, 10th-11th May.
McCarthy, K. (2019) Down the Rabbit-Hole: Excavating Applied Theatre. The Performative Arts and Pedagogy Project: Towards the Development of an International Glossary. University College Cork, Ireland, 28th March to 3rd April.
McCarthy, K. and Kealy, Ú. (2018) Waterford: Performing the Region. Irish Society for Theatre Research. University of Lincoln, UK. 1st-2nd June.
McCarthy, K. (2017) Transitional and Embodied Spaces in The M House (Equinox Theatre Company, 2017). Irish Women Playwrights and Theatremakers, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland, 8th-10th June.
O'Mahoney, J. and McCarthy, K (2016). When Silence Falls. 1916:Home:2016. University College Dublin, Ireland, 27th-28th October.
O'Mahoney, J. and McCarthy, K. (2016) Making a Mark. Acts of Silence Symposium: How do people make history?, Cost Action IS1205. University of Limerick, Ireland, 7th-9th July.
O'Mahoney, J., McCarthy, K. and Culleton, K. (2015) Acts of Silence and Ireland's Magdalene Asylums. Commemoration: Contexts and Concepts. University College Cork, Ireland, 3rd-5th September.
McCarthy, K. (2015) A New Word is Like a New-sown Seed on the Grounds of Discussion (Fleming, 2014): Fielding Questions on Umbrella Terms. 8th International Drama in Education Research Institute (IDIERI)- Open Culture in the Asian Century: Reimagining Drama Education. National Institute of Education, Singapore, 30th June-5th July.
McCarthy, K. (2014) Let's play/pléigh! 66th OMEP World Assembly and International Conference. University College Cork, Ireland, 1st-5th July.
McCarthy, K. and Penkert, S. (2013) Performing the City and Making Strange. Irish Society for Theatre Research. University of Birbeck, London, 1st-3rd November.
Kealy, Ú. Hayes, R. and McCarthy, K. (2012) Performing the Archive: Red Kettle Theatre Company, Waterford. Irish Society for Theatre Research, National University of Ireland, Galway, 26th-28th October.
McCarthy, K. (2012) What’s in a name? Defining Applied Theatre. 7th International Drama in Education Research Institute (IDIERI) - Borders and Translation: Towards New Paradigms and Languages in Drama Education. Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, 10th-15th July.
McCarthy, K. (2012) Playing in Role: The Teacher in Role Technique, Children’s World of Play: The OMEP Ireland Annual International Research Conference, The River Lee Hotel, Cork City, Ireland 27th-28th April.
McCarthy, K. (2012) Growing with Drama: Drama in Early Childhood Studies Care and Education. The OMEP Ireland Annual International Research Conference-Seeds of Quality: The Journey Forward for the Early Years. The River Lee Hotel, 28th April.
McCarthy, K. (2011) Class Acts: Introducing Forum Theatre. The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and the National Academy for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL)-Engaging Minds: Active Learning, Participation and Collaboration in Higher Education. National University of Ireland, Galway, 9th-11th June.
McCarthy, K. (2008) A Dramatic Intervention. The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and the National Academy for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL)-Challenging Assumptions. Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, 13th-14th November.
Publications (non peer-reviewed)
O'Mahoney, J. and McCarthy, K. (2021) 'Closed doors, closed files, hard, closed hearts', The Psychologist, 34, pp.63–64, available here.
McCarthy. K. (2021) 'Analysing Sound and Dialogue in The Tempest', Leaving Certificate Guide on The Tempest, Waterford: WIT. Click here
McCarthy, K. (2021) 'Pause for Thought: Iago Speaks’, Leaving Certificate Guide on Othello, Waterford: WIT. Click here
McCarthy, K. (2021) 'Brewing up a storm: power and empathy in King Lear', Leaving Certificate Guide on King Lear, Waterford: WIT. Click here
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (2018) Youth Theatre Ireland: Outside the Box. Dublin: Youth Theatre Ireland
McCarthy, K. (2017) Talk Real Fine, Just Like a Lady, performance programme, Peacock Theatre, Dublin.
McCarthy, K. (2017) Talk Real Fine, Just Like a Lady, contribution to The Abbey Theatre Dramaturgy pack on Teresa Deevy's Katie Roche.
McCarthy, K. and Kealy, Ú. (2017) Youth Theatre Ireland: In the Making. Dublin: Youth Theatre Ireland.
McCarthy, K. (2009) ‘The Drama Workshop: Towards a Change in Understanding’ in Lyons, D., ed., Creative Studies for the Caring Professions, Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.
McCarthy, K. and Kalin, K. (2005) The Girl whose Best Friend was a Ghost, NAYD Playshare, Dublin.
Non-peer-reviewed conference papers and presentations
Brennan, F., Kealy, Ú., & McCarthy, K. (2013) ‘Add an Activity’, Lunchtime Seminar Series on Teaching and Learning, April 18, Waterford Institute of Technology.
McCarthy, K. (2009) ‘Applied and Community Drama Innovations in the Social Studies Classroom’, the Inaugural National Teaching and Learning Conference in Applied Social Studies, May 13, 2009, NDLR and IASCE, Trinity College Dublin.
International conferences convened
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (2021) 'Active speech: sharing scholarship on Teresa Deevy', hosted by Waterford Institute of Technology in association with Maynooth University Library and Waterford Libraries.
McCarthy, K. and Kealy, Ú. (2016) 'Conversations on collaborations', Irish Society for Theatre Research, hosted by Waterford Institute of Technology.
Public talks, workshops, and post-show discussions
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (2022) 'What Tessa Did at School during the Irish Cultural Revival', Enniscorthy Library (Wexford), 26th May.
Kealy, Ú., McCarthy, K. and O’Connor, J. (2022) 'Lyrical Bodies: A Practice as Research Collaboration' [online], Analysing Social Change Research Group Seminar, 17th May .
O’Mahoney, J. and McCarthy, K. (July 2021) 'Activism and Waterford’s Magdalene Heritage' [online], Irish Studies Summer School, Dominican University, USA.
McCarthy, K. (2021) 'Out of the Abyss: A (Short) Greek Tragedy on Creating Dialogue in the Classroom' [online], CTEL Community of Practice, Waterford Institute of Technology, 17th May.
O'Mahoney, J. and McCarthy, K. (2021) 'Exploring Waterford's Magdalene Heritage', Waterford Libraries [online], 15th April.
McCarthy, K. (2021) 'And breathe: an interactive workshop to connect the mind and body through the breath, Waterford Libraries and the Keep Well programme Ireland [online], 11th March.
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (2020) ‘Practitioners' Panel Discussion: Discussing Teresa Deevy’ [online] 10th December 2020.
McCarthy, K. (2020) ‘Talking theatre with Jim Nolan and Jimmy Murphy’, Waterford Writers’ Weekend and the Image Arts Festival [online], available: https://youtu.be/80Q3kv2WHkE.
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (2020) ‘What Tessa did at school: an analysis of how theatrical actvity in St Mary’s secondary school, Waterford, influenced Teresa Deevy’s later dramaturgical practice’ [online], Culture Night Waterford.
O’Mahoney, J. and McCarthy, K. (2020) Exploring Waterford’s Magdalene Heritage, Dominican University, USA.
McCarthy, K. and Kealy, Ú. (2020) ‘Try Theatre Studies: An Introduction to Theatre Studies at Third-Level', WIT, February.
O’Mahoney, J. and McCarthy, K. (2019) When Silence Falls: Exploring Bodily and Literary Memory at the Waterford Laundry, Arts Education Research Group seminar series, TRISS Research Room, TCD, 29th May.
McCarthy, K. (2018) Wittgenstein's Theory of Family Resemblances in Arts Education, Arts Education Research Group seminar series, TRISS Seminar Room, TCD, May 2018.
McCarthy, K. (2018) Blackwater babble (Brokencrow Ensemble), post-show discussion with ensemble, A Little Room, 1 May.
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (2017) Medea: An Exploration of Character and Representation, Wexford Arts Centre, October.
McCarthy, K. (2017) Performance workshop with WIT Youth Choir, Waterford.
McCarthy, K. (2016) Acts of Silence workshop with Georgia Southern (US) students, July.
McCarthy, K. (2015) How to keep an alien (Rough Magic), post-show discussion with Sonja Kelly, Theatre Royal, 10 November.
McCarthy, K. (2015) Character study workshop, WIT, February 2015
McCarthy, K. (2015) 'An Introduction to Forum Theatre', WIT Drama & English Society, January 2015.
McCarthy, M. and McCarthy, K. (2013) Speech and Drama Teachers of Ireland Annual Conference. Workshop on Drama and Theatre Strategies for the Contemporary Classroom. Stillorgan Park Hotel, Dublin, Saturday, 31 August.
Podcasts/short communications
Kealy, Ú. and McCarthy, K. (2021) The Theatre History Podcast Episode 74: 'Discovering Teresa Deevy', [podcast], May, available here
McCarthy, K. and Kealy, Ú. (2020) Theatremaker.ie: Episode 9: 'Investigating Inclusion', [podcast], 10 June, available: https://fb.watch/43rwBDYiG3/.
O'Mahoney, J. and McCarthy, K. (2020) The Nerve: Episode 27: ‘Waterford’s Magdalene Heritage’, [podcast], 27 Mar.
McCarthy, K. (2020) The Nerve: Episode 25: ‘Gone full Havisham’, [podcast], 25 Mar.
(2020) ‘An saol ó dheas’, Raidió na Gaeltachta [podcast], 18 March.
O'Mahoney, J. and McCarthy, K. (2019) Animating Place: A practice-based performance project exploring themes of institutional abuse in the South-East of Ireland, educational resource, The Waterford Memories Project.
McCarthy, K. (2019) The Nerve: Episode 16: Shakespeare the author? Shakespeare the Screenwriter, [podcast], 28 Feb.
McCarthy, K. (2018) The Nerve: Episode 07: In Search of Valour by Teresa Deevy, live radio play broadcast with VIBE FM (WIT radio), 15 Mar.
McCarthy, K. (2017) The Nerve: Episode 02: The Great Gatsby, [podcast], 12 Oct, available: https://www.wit.ie/news/humanities/on-the-radio-listen-to-episode-two-of-the-nerve-podcast.
(2017) Swipe Right, by Elaine Larkin, live radio play, broadcast by VIBE (WIT radio).
(2015) Shakespere: Rhyme and Reason: a four-part series made by students of WIT. Podcasts available: http://www.wit.ie/news/education/shakespeare-rhyme-and-reason-a-four-part-series.
Kate teaches a range of practice-based and theory-based undergraduate modules in the Dept. of Arts. With Dr Úna Kealy, she is co-supervising IRC GOIPG scholar Aaron Kent's PhD: 'Re-shaping narratives: An analysis of life and culture as dramatised by Irish women playwrights following the Irish War of Independence (1922-1959)'. Kate was nominated as a Teaching Hero (National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning) in the 2020-2021 academic year. In 2016, Kate was a co-recipient (with Dr Kealy) of the 2016 Teaching Excellence Award.
Memberships
WIT Committees
Editorships
External Examiner Roles
Theatre Practice
2022: As part of the Waterford Imagine Arts Festival, Kate will direct 2nd year Theatre Studies students in Teresa Deevy's Within a Marble City, which will be performed as a rehearsed play reading at The Reg as part of the History and Heritage trail. Working with 3rd year Theatre Studies students, Kate will direct Mary Devenport O'Neill's ballet-poem, Bluebeard. SETU students will present these works at the Theatre Royal, Waterford in November. Kate is collaborating and performing with Amanda Coogan, Lianne Quigley, and Alvean Jones of Dublin Theatre of the Deaf, and SETU faculty and students on 'The Possession Project'. This work was performed at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, on 16 June 2022, and will be performed as part of the Waterford Imagine Festival on 27 October 2022.
Other recent work includes a collaboration with Curious State Theatre and Street Spectable company to create work for SprÓg (Garter Lane Arts Centre, 2020 and 2021), and to co-facilitate a series of drama and theatre workshops exploring the impact of climate change (Generation Climate Change, 2019). These worshops were funded by Creative Ireland and Waterford City and County Council.
In October 2016, with performance artist Dr Áine Phillips, Kate curated a series of performances for an IRC-funded project entitled When Silence Falls (PI Dr Jennifer O'Mahoney, WIT). As well as facilitating solo and ensemble work by theatre studies and visual art students, recent live art performances include Out of Time (2016), a collaborative piece entitled 12 Steps (2016) with theatre studies students and staff, and Expelling Saturn (2015) with Michael Beirne performed at SOMA Contemporary Gallery (now GOMA), Waterford.
Kate has facilitated many drama and theatre workshops in the region and nationally, for organisations including:
SETU Theatre Studies (2022) Bluebeard (by Mary Devenport O'Neill), Theatre Royal, Waterford
SETU Theatre Studies (2022) Within a Marble City (by Teresa Deevy), Imagine Arts Festival and Theatre Royal, Waterford.
Amanda Coogan, Dublin Theatre of the Deaf, and SETU (2022) The Possession Project, Waterford Medieval Museum, Waterford, as part of the Waterford Imagine Arts Festival.
Amanda Coogan, Dublin Theatre of the Deaf, and SETU (2022) The Possession Project, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.
Curious State Theatre Company (2021 and 2020) Stepping Through the Forest, Garter Lane Arts Centre.
Beirne, M. and McCarthy, K. (2018) Live Event (co-facilitator), GOMA, Waterford.
(2017) Rehearsed reading with BA CATS students, The King of Spain's Daughter by Teresa Deevy, Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick.
Beirne, M. and McCarthy, K. (2017) Live!! (co-facilitator) GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art), Waterford
McCarthy, K. (2017) Martina Collendar's 28 Hours for Waterford Youth Arts, directed by K. McCarthy.
McCarthy, K. (2016) Out of Step, (as part of When Silence Falls Event, devisor & performer), College Street Campus, WIT.
McCarthy, K. (2016) 12 Steps (devisor & performer), Cork Rd., Campus, WIT.
McCarthy, K. (2016) Rehearsed play reading: Fog (1914) by Eugene O’Neill. Irish premiere (director). JFK Summer School,
McCarthy, K. and Kealy, Ú. (2015) Teresa Deevy’s The King of Spain's Daughter [play reading], Waterford Medieval Museum, Culture Night.
Beirne, M. and McCarthy, K. (2015) Performer, Expelling Saturn (performer), GOMA, Waterford.
Awards & Nominations
Research funding
SETU Waterford, Cork Road, Waterford City, 
