Once Upon a Timeless: New Forms for Fairytales 3 Mar 2015

Tanya Dean is a DFA candidate in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale School of Drama, where she also received her MFA in 2011. Her current research focuses on fairy tales and folklore in European theatre. A former General Manger for Irish Theatre Magazine and Managing Editor for Theater, Tanya has published several journal articles on various facets of dramaturgy and Irish theatre, including "Aspects of Hibernia: Female Allegories of Ireland in Modern Irish Drama" in Theatre History Studies 34. She has also worked extensively as a dramaturg both in Ireland and the US, and served as the Artistic Director for the 2012 Yale Summer Cabaret season, 50 Nights: A Festival of Stories.

Amy Conroy is an award-winning, Dublin based writer, director and actor. She has just written and directed The Ark's new theatre show Far Away From Me which is inspired by the classic tale of The Princess and The Pea, she founded HotForTheatre in 2010. Her debut play I (Heart) Alice (Heart) I, premiered in Dublin Fringe 2010, winning the Fishamble New Writing Award, and a Zebbie Award. It was programmed in the Dublin Theatre Festival, the Peacock stage of the Abbey Theatre, the Irish Arts Centre New York, LÓKAL Festival Iceland, Glasgay Festival inGlasgow, Queer Theatre Festival Croatia, and Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. It was broadcast on RTE Radio One, and translated and performed in Poland and Iceland, it is published by Oberon. Her second show Eternal Rising of the Sun, premiered in Dublin Fringe 2011 and played Dublin Theatre Festival 2012. Both shows enjoyed a three month sold out run in Australia and New Zealand, and completed a seventeen-venue tour of Ireland. Amy’s third show Break premiered in Dublin Fringe Festival 2013. She is currently working on a new show, Luck Just Kissed You Hello. Radio plays include Hold This and Offering for RTE Radio One.

Mags Walsh has worked in the area of cultural and arts provision for children and young people for more than a decade, having previously worked at The Ark, a cultural centre for children and as Executive Director at Children's Books Ireland (CBI). She was the 2013/14 recipient of the Jerome Hynes Fellowship to participate in Clore Cultural Leadership Programme and is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Mags currently provides a range of consultancy advice and project assistance to clients both in Dublin and London. She is the current Arts Council of Ireland adviser in the area of Children, Young People and Education and is working with A New Direction to develop the London Cultural Education Challenge. In addition, Mags is completing Arts Humanities Research Council Funded research into the construction of cultural value in media coverage of cultural leadership.