M.Sc., M.A. (Theatre)
Geraldine is a qualified teacher and examiner and has her own speech and drama
school in North Kildare for over twenty years. She holds both Associate and Licentiate
Teaching Diplomas with the Irish Board of Speech and Drama. She has adjudicated at
speech and drama festivals all over Ireland as well as running her own Feis in North-
Kildare. She has facilitated Shakespeare workshops for leaving certificate students
sponsored by Kildare County Council Library Service for many years. As a young adult
she studied Stanislavski Acting in Questor’s Theatre, Ealing, London. More recently she
received an MA in theatre from Maynooth University.
Currently, she is Artistic Director at Straffan Drama Club, a youth theatre for teenagers
which she co-founded in 2020. Prior to that, she founded PlayActing Youth Theatre in
Celbridge in 2016 and served as Artistic Director until 2020 facilitating stage, film, one-
world and skill workshop projects in addition to securing funding for these activities. She
was awarded a certificate in Youth Work Studies (NUI) in 2019, underpinning her
commitment to using drama to teach life skills to young people. In youth theatre, she
has directed young people in the National Theatre Connections programme performing
locally and in the Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge and the Lyric, Belfast. She has
written and directed local historical site-specific theatre in Celbridge. These include
Under Lady Louisa’s Bonnet in the grounds of Castletown Parklands in 2021 (funded by
Kildare County Council) and Swift’s Secrets for the inaugural Swift and Vanessa
Festival in 2023. Most recently she directed Sophocles’ Antigone at Maynooth Castle
for Culture Night 2023.
A native of Co Clare, Geraldine participated in Féile Luminigh as a teenager. Returning to
Féile Luimnigh as an adjudicator holds a special place in her heart.