OWEN O'NEILL
Owen is probably best known for his one-man stage plays. He has written and performed seven in all and has won a string of awards including three Fringe Firsts at the Edinburgh Festival, the Edinburgh Critics Award for Best Play and the Herald Angel Award for Best Original Play. He has toured his plays in America and Australia to critical acclaim - performing at the Westbeth Theatre in New York, The Irish Centre in Boston, the Adelaide Opera House and the Nova theatre in Melbourne. His debut feature film Arise and Go Now - a dark comedy about priests, pigeons and the IRA - was adapted from his short story WB Yeats and Me. It was screened as part of the BBC Film on 2 series. His short film Shooting to Stardom, which was adapted from his short story The Night Bus, won the best Irish short at the Cork film festival in 1999. In 2006 five of his seven one-man plays were adapted by him and aired on BBC Radio Four's Late Night Theatre slot. His stage play Gulliver Rides Again adapted from Swift's Gulliver's Travels was performed at the Museum Arts Theatre in Belfast in 2005 in association with The Northern Ireland Children's Theatre Company. He has currently written and directed another short film which was adapted from his short story The Basket Case (published in 2004 by Random House). It will be screened at the 2007 Cork film Festival. Owen also co-produced and shared (with Guy Masterson) the original idea of staging the classic American play Twelve Angry Men using twelve stand-up comedians. The play received rave reviews and holds the record for the fastest sell out play in the history of the Edinburgh Festival. Due to the play's success, it was followed the next year by One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest starring Christian Slater with Owen co-starring as Harding. This later transferred to the West End of London and ran for six months. In 2005, he also co-starred with Bill Bailey in Guy Masterson's acclaimed production of The Odd Couple.

RACHEL O'RIORDAN - Director
Rachel trained at the Royal Ballet, the Central School of Speech and Drama and holds a PhD on Shakespeare from the University of Ulster. She is Artistic Director of Ransom Productions. Directing credits include: The Winners (Ransom Productions, OMAC and touring); Animal Farm (Peter Hall Company, Theatre Royal, Bath); This Piece of Earth (Ransom Productions, Irish tour and Edinburgh Festival, British Council Showcase 2007); Much Ado About Nothing (Lyric); The Early Bird (Ransom Productions, Belfast Festival) Everything Is Illuminated (Hampstead Theatre); Miss Julie (Peter Hall Company, Theatre Royal, Bath); Merry Christmas Betty Ford (Lyric, Belfast); The Half (Belfast Festival and The Helix, Dublin); The Glass Menagerie (Lyric Theatre, Belfast); Elizabeth-Almost By Chance a Woman (Kabosh Theatre, touring and Project, Dublin); Protestants ( Soho Theatre, London); Hurricane (Arts Theatre, West End and 59E59 off-Broadway); Group (Edinburgh Festival). Rehearsed readings and development projects include; Grace and Elizabeth (Abbey Theatre); Any Other Business ( Soho Theatre); Way To Heaven (Queen's Theatre); That Driving Ambition (The Linenhall Theatre) and Write Now (Ransom Productions). Work for students includes- The Trojan Women (Queen's studio), The Man of Mode (Lyric), 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (Tower St) for Queen's University Drama Department and The Diary of a Madman, for LAMDA. As Associate Director: Sir Peter Hall's Measure for Measure (Theatre Royal, Bath and RSC 'Complete Works' Season). Rachel also has extensive previous experience as a movement director/choreographer. Her credits include Oriana (Project, Dublin); Weddins, Weeins and Wakes, Alice in Wonderland and Hansel and Gretel (Lyric Theatre); Sleep Show and Torch Song Trilogy (Kabosh Theatre). Awards include: 2003 'Best Production' Winner (Tron Theatre) and 2004 'Best Touring Production' Nominee (Manchester Evening News) for Hurricane; 2004 'Best Production' Nominee (Dublin Theatre Festival) for Elizabeth. She was nominated as 'Best Director' in the 2007 TMA Awards for Much Ado About Nothing.