Birth of a theatre
The following is an extract from the souvenir brochure which was published to mark the official opening of the theatre in 1999. It gives a brief history of how An Grianán Theatre came into existence:
"As one might expect for a project of this importance, the dream of having a purpose built theatre for Letterkenny and the north of County Donegal has been around a long time. It was only in the late 1980s, however, that a number of factors came together which allowed the plans to eventually reach fruition.
"In 1985 a committee was formed in Letterkenny to promote the building of a theatre and arts centre. At the same time Donegal County Council was finalising plans for a new Central Library, and following a series of meetings over the winter of 1985/6 between the local committee – soon to evolve into the Earagail Arts Group – and the County Librarian and other Council officials, the then Assistant County Manager proposed to the council that a cultural complex, involving a theatre, arts centre and central library be built on a Council-owned site. The site in question was the Rectory field, where An Grianán Theatre is now located, and which had been bought in 1983 by the Council from the Representative Church Body of the Church of Ireland as the location from the Library. This proposal was endorsed by the Council and in September 1987 fully developed and costed plans – costing just over £2M (€2.5M) for the theatre and arts centre – were submitted to the Department of the Taoiseach, the Arts Council, Bord Fáilte and the new established International Fund for Ireland. The theatre design evolved from the expressed needs of the local community, the overall approach was greatly influenced by the late Ray McAnally, Donegal's most accomplished actor, and the detailed design of the stage and backstage areas owed much to the people involved in the local drama movement. (con't)
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Ten years on: check out this Irish Times feature by Sara Keating which includes a section on An Grianán.