Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando in a scene from 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.

Well that’s a wrap! And what a week for Curtain Call Productions, Dungarvan. Right from the dress rehearsal for A Streetcar Named Desire on Sunday, 25th September to the final night on Saturday, 1st October, one comment we kept hearing from the audiences was that it was “like watching the movie!” High praise indeed!

Opening night, in aid of Dungarvan and KCK Lourdes Invalid Fund, on Monday, 26th September was a huge success. We’re delighted that the community rose to the occasion to support this very worthy cause. On behalf of Dungarvan and KCK Lourdes Invalid Fund, Ann Crowther thanked everyone for their support.

And the rest of the week just got better and better! The fantastic feedback from audiences kept the cast and crew, all of whom do this on a 100% voluntary basis and in addition to their day jobs, energised and excited for the whole week, which certainly shone through in their performances.

Director Mary Kelly certainly has another hit to add to her directorial CV. Well done to the cast of Vanessa Leary-Hyde, Killian Power, Emma Walsh, Tom Rogers, Fidelma Meaney, James Fraher, Sharon O’Sullivan, David Power, Samantha Hayes and Jim Hyde on your superb performances! It was Tom, David and Jim’s first time on stage with Curtain Call.

Huge thanks to our set-building crew of Brian Sheehan, Fidelma Meaney, Hugh O’Donnell, Martin Landers, Kris Cowming, Michael Cowming, Tom Rogers, Brian Sheehan, Craig Sheehan, Darren Sheehan, Ian Sheehan, Kevin Sheehan, Thomas Rogers, David Willans, Emma Walsh, Catherine Whelan, Samantha Hayes, Sharon O’Sullivan, Vanessa Leary-Hyde, Michael O’Mahony. Special thanks to Fidelma Meaney who designed the set.

Our deepest gratitude to our friends in Brideview Drama, who gave us the stairs for our set, a key piece in the set design. Thanks also to Carriglea Cairde Services and Topline Currans for providing us with some key props for our beautiful 1940s set! Also, we extend sincere thanks to Deise Scaffolding for their (quite literally) support! Thank you Christy and co! We really appreciate it! Not content with building the set, Brian Sheehan also stage managed the production each night.

Thanks to Dirk Baumann, who did a great job on lighting and sound, which added greatly to the atmosphere of the production; to Debbie Collins for all her help backstage on hair/make-up; Samantha Hayes and Sharon O’Sullivan on prompting; Catherine Whelan for co-ordinating the front of house team; Michael Walsh for meeting and greeting everyone each night on arrival; our MCs for the week.

Our wonderful Front of House team – the team did a wonderful job all week – thank you Aaron Cowming, Kris Cowming, Teresa Fennell, Aileen Hogan, Colin Kirkham, Martin Landers, Tara McAndrew, Liam McDonnell, Mary Nagle, Hugh O’Donnell, Caroline O’Toole, Ann Power, Trish Sheehan, Lena Walsh, Michael Walsh, Orla White.

Thank you to our nightly raffle prize sponsors – we hope you all continue to support them. Thank you to Audrey’s Vintage, Beauty and Beyond, Crews Restaurant, Dungarvan Encore Stage Academy, Kirby School of Performing Arts, Garvey’s Supervalu, McKenna Computers, Noel Devereux Menswear, Revival Beauty Salon, The Lady Belle, The Moorings, The Wine Buff.

Thank you to WLR (especially Geoff Harris, Mary O’Neill, Oliver Carroll, Aoibhin Fallon, Teresanne O’Reilly and Sean Drohan, who were all so supportive); Community Radio Youghal; Dungarvan Leader and Dungarvan Observer and The Avondhu newspaper – all papers have been unstinting in their support, for which we are most grateful; Dungarvan Community Noticeboard; your help in promoting our productions is very much appreciated.

Thank you to Aileen Hogan for providing us with rehearsal facilities in The Rehearsal Hub. We’re delighted to have had Ron Bending offer to take our headshots and production shots. We are also most grateful to Pawel Lorenc/I Do Photography for his fabulous shots backstage and to Pepe Martello/Dungarvan Shop Window for his amazing shots of the production.

Thank you to Joe Kelly and his staff (Kelly’s Pharmacy, Abbeyside) and Michael Sheehan (The Wine Buff, Grattan Square) for handling ticket sales for us once again. Thanks also to Noel Devereux for co-ordinating ticket sales for our opening night!

A huge thank you to the Curtain Call Productions Dungarvan team – Fidelma Meaney (Chairperson), Vanessa Leary-Hyde (Vice Chairperson), Mary Kelly (Secretary), Emma Walsh (PRO), Brian Sheehan, Catherine Whelan, Samantha Hayes, Sharon O’Sullivan and Colin Kirkham for all the hard work they have put in over the last few months, and especially in the weeks running up to and during the production.

To all our friends and families, thank you for your support. As we reflect back on the week and the success of this, our fourth production in just over two years, we feel very humbled by the support from all corners of our community.

We’ll take a very short break now… but watch this space for details of our next production, which we will be staging in and taking on the ADCI Festival Circuit in Spring 2017!