Galway Theatre Festival Autumn Residency Participants

We're thrilled to introduce the six incredible artists selected for the inaugural Galway Theatre Festival Autumn Residency in partnership with Fishamble: The New Play Company!

Taking place this September, the residency supports emerging and mid-career artists in developing bold new ideas for the stage, with mentorship from Fishamble's Gavin Kostick. It offers time, space and creative support to artists connected to Galway City and County.

Meet the 2025 residency recipients:

     Rosa Mäkelä is a writer from County Galway. Her work has been      performed at Cork Midsummer Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival and the Prague Quadrennial. Her fiction has been published in literary journals such as The Stinging Fly, The Pigs Back & Banshee.

Ari Bhatti is a mixed-race theatre maker from Galway. She is a graduate of the BA in Drama, Theatre and Performance from University of Galway and the MA in Shakespeare Studies from the Shakespeare Institute. She works as a director, movement director and performer, and takes a research-based approach to creating theatre.

Ari's work places importance on pushing boundaries while maintaining ethical portrayals of sexuality, intimacy and nudity. She has a particular interest in where the line can be drawn between pornography and art, which is explored through her experimental, movement-based theatre practice. Interrogating Irishness is an important aspect of her work, which shines a light upon aspects of our culture that oppress, for example, women and people of colour. Recent credits include direction of 'BEASTS' at Dublin Fringe Festival 2024 and movement direction for 'Pupa' at Galway Theatre Festival 2024. 

The Horgles: Kyle Moss and Ceilbí are writers and puppeteers. Together they call themselves The Horgles. Kyle Moss (he/him) is a BBC top 1% writer, puppeteer, and comic book artist from West Cork. Ceilbí (they/them) is trans-non-binary BBC top 1% writer, puppeteer, and puppet maker from Kerry. Their work often explores absurdist, queer, and social issues, always told through puppetry.

Lorraine Stack is a Galway-based writer, actor, and drama facilitator, originally from County Meath. A graduate of Bow Street Academy and the Gaiety School of Acting, she co-founded Grow Act Learn to deliver innovative Drama in Education workshops in primary schools.

As an emerging writer, Lorraine is passionate about creating work that reflects contemporary Irish life and youth perspectives. She is equally committed to developing work through the Irish language, and to making theatre that is relevant, inclusive, and accessible. Her creative projects have been supported by the Arts Council, Mayo County Council, and Meath County Council.

Sarah-Jane Scott is a writer and actor from Co Galway, working across screen, theatre & radio. Her debut play APPROPRIATE (Dublin Fringe, National Tour, Edinburgh Fringe -Winner Lustrum Award, New York -Winner Spirit of the Fest @ 1st Irish Festival) which she also performed, is currently in development as a feature film with EZ Films.

She is currently part of GREENLIGHT Screenwriting LAB with Danú Media/Philip Shelley (Channel 4 Screenwriting) writing a new 1hr TV drama pilot. Earlier in 2025 she won The FÍS TV Summit Pitching Competition (Jury Prize and Audience Prize). Recent Writing: EAMONN GIBNEY: WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE (24 Hour Plays Dublin 2025/Abbey Theatre). GHOSTED (Screen Ireland Actor As Creator Short, directed by Jeda De Brí). SKEWED (RTE Radio Drama on 1, nominated Irish Writers Guild Zebbie Award 2023 for best Radio Drama Script).

Shannon Ayako Martin is a Galway/Dublin-based theatre-maker, playwright and actor whose work blends physical theatre, surrealism and intermedial techniques. Shannon first got her taste for performance when she joined the street theatre group, Macnas, at seventeen. She graduated from the Giles Foreman Centre of Acting in London in 2019 and from the University of Galway in 2023 with an MA in Theatre Practice and Production. Shannon has received multiple Agility Awards to develop her plays The Tale of the Japanese Sea Lion and Ella est où?, of which began as a practice as research performance for her MA dissertation: ‘Exploring Perspectives of Identity and Reality a Person with Alzheimer’s May Experience through Intermedial Theatre’. Shannon is delighted to continue developing ‘Ella est où?’ throughout this residency.

The GTF x Fishamble Autumn Residency is all about supporting bold creative practice, amplifying new voices and building new networks for theatre artists in Galway and beyond.

This residency was made possible through a partnership between Galway Theatre Festival and Fishamble: The New Play Company. We are proud to support artists from a range of backgrounds and practices, including Irish language work and Galway County-based artists, thanks to the generous support from Galway County Arts Office.

We can't wait to see what emerges!