Congratulations to:

Anne Crilly  for her film "Limbo" being short listed by the Irish Film Board and commissioned by TG4. We will inform you when TG4 will air the film.

Aisling Doherty  for her appearance on RTE1 during the AIB annual Community Service Awards Ceremony. She was in the Arts & Entertainment segment reading her poem that was featured in the >Poetry in Motion= nomination for Yes! Magazine.

We also extend congratulations to The Playhouse and its nomination for an AIB Arts & Entertainment Award.

Paddy McGuffin in his position as a reporter for the newly launched Derry News.

To be included in future newsletters, send us your success stories. Also, hang on to any rejection noticesByou may be the grand prize winner of our annual Perseverence Pays Award!

Our Showcase:

As you know, we have received a ,1000 grant from the Northern Ireland Arts Council to fund a showcase. This will be held 14 June 2001 and co-directed by David Gothard and Ellen Factor. Please submit work(s) you wish considered for inclusion. These may be mailed or left in our mailbox at The Playhouse.

We are also seeking people interested in working on the various tasks involved: stage production, event publicity and producing a publication of featured writings. Expertise sought but for those with no prior experience this will be a great learning opportunity. And, as this will be a collective effort no one person will be unduly burdened. We need your input & help. To volunteer please contact Margie Bernard either by telephone: 353/776-0001 or e-mail at: margiebdc@eircom.net.

The success of this, our first DPW venture, depends upon all our efforts and will pave the way for future grants to conduct other projects.

Our New Office & Meeting Room:

We will be sharing office space with the Derry Film Initiative folk (some of whom are DPW members) on a six-month trial basis. They have a spacious facility and we will have a cordoned off corner of this space. This room is located in the Old Convent adjacent to The Derry Playhouse. The main entrance to this building is on Pump Street although you may also enter through the Artillery Street entrance. We are up stairs next to the kitchen.

This space will allow us to hold our weekly workshops in this room as well as have a place to post announcements of upcoming events of particular interest to us as writers, i.e., contests, workshops, residencies, etc. We will also begin to develop a useful reference library.

Donations Needed:

NICVA has provided us with a computer but we need donations to cover the ,40 transportation costs to pick it up. The computer will be permanently housed in our new office and available for your use upon making a scheduled appointment. No amount to small to be accepted! If you wish, you may make a deposit to our bank account: Bank of Ireland account name: Derry Playhouse Writers; account number, 10807342; Branch Sorting Code, 904958. Thank you.

Brian Foster's New Play:

Some DPW members participated with recent EuroCAT students in a week-long script-in-hand reading of Brian Foster=s newest play >The Trophy Collector=. Those of us who attended had only praise for the play and its totally surprise ending! This is Brian=s first venture into drama as his previously produced plays have been comedies. An evening of suspenseful entertainment to look forward to whenever it is produced! We will keep you informed.

DPW Mentors:

We are also pleased to announce that Brian Foster has agreed to add his name to our growing list of DPW mentors.