Deirdre Mulrooney is a writer/journalist, and a developer of ideas. After a stint in ‘06/’07 as Artistic Talent Scout for Cirque du Soleil in their Montreal HQ, Deirdre’s talent-spotting continues in IMAGE magazine’s monthly Culture section. She is also a regular contributor of interviews and features to many publications, including IMAGE. Deirdre was RTE Dance on the Box correspondent for the recent 2008 Dublin Dance Festival, and a Consultant for The Touring Experiment/ The Arts Council.
Funded by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, Deirdre is currently working on a Radio Documentary for Newstalk on a return journey to Ogoki Post First Nations Reservation, Northern Ontario, Canada, where her parents (from Limerick), taught the local day school between 1976 and 1986.
Previously, Deirdre’s five-part RTE radio documentary series ‘Nice Moves’, on the history of dance and physical theatre in Ireland, was the basis for her 2006 book ‘Irish Moves’, (published by The Liffey Press).
As a travel-journalist and photographer, Deirdre has visited and reported on many countries, including Ethiopia (with Irish Aid), Rwanda (with NGO Christian Blind Mission), South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, India, Vietnam, Singapore, Mauritius, North America, and throughout Europe. Deirdre has also contributed to RTE Radio’s Today PK, Sunday Miscellany, The Eleventh Hour, and Rattlebag; Lyric FM’s Artszone; The Sunday Tribune; Irish Director Magazine; The Irish Times; The Sunday Business Post; Magill Magazine; IT Magazine; Dance Magazine (USA); Abroad Magazine, and more.
Deirdre was selected to participate in the NYU/UCD Scriptwriting summer school, and in the 1998 Lincoln Center Theatre’s ‘Director’s Lab’ (NYC). Among other shows, Deirdre co-directed ‘ShesaWhore’, based on an idea by Angela Carter at Project Cube in 2001, and co-curated South Africa Week at the Helix in 2002. In November 2006 she was Curator of Events for CoisCeim Dance Theatre’s ‘Threads’ series of events, exploring the dance connections between Germany and Ireland (a largely unknown subject she brought to public attention). In 2007 she wrote the programme note for Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre’s award-winning production ‘The Story of the Bull’ at London’s Barbican Theatre.
Deirdre has lectured extensively in Drama at UCD Drama Studies Centre, IES Dublin, Trinity’s Samuel Beckett Centre, and at NUI Cork. Supported by an annual scholarship from the German Academic Exchange (DAAD), and a publications award from the National University of Ireland, Deirdre’s first book (her PhD), on Pina Bausch’s Wuppertal Dance Theatre was published by Peter Lang in 2002.
After the launch of her second book, Irish Moves, at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre in April 2006, Deirdre received the Department of Foreign Affairs Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Award to travel to Ethiopia, and write about Irish Aid there (for the Sunday Tribune). She is delighted that her latest contribution to Sunday Miscellany is included in their 2008 book, published by New Island Press, Dublin.
Deirdre is developing ideas for many projects, and lives in Dublin, Ireland.
