Colm is a writer for and about performance. His work has been published by Oberon, Brill and Études Magazine, and his plays have been developed with the support of Fishamble: The New Plays Company, Pan Pan Theatre, Project Arts Centre, Dublin Fringe Lab, Live Collision International Festival, among others.
Influenced by his parents, investigative journalists, Colm’s solo work to date has focussed on true stories told from the margins. His practice uses documentary processes to create original theatre pieces in which character drives form. He is interested in extreme acts of the human heart.
He has written two full length plays as a solo playwright: To Be Young and Alive on a Beautiful Day and Margo in the Bardo. His short play Psychic Advisor is currently in-development. His current work includes When David Buckel Saved the World with Pan Pan International Mentorship, and Local Anesthetic supported by the Irish Arts Council.
As a co-author/director, Colm has written two plays, The Keening with LeAnne Howe (read more about it here), Purgatory After Yeats with Ciara Ní Chuirc.
He is working on a tv-pilot, The Revolutionist with co-creator Marc Atkinson.
Photographed by Ryan Borque.
Full Length Works
When David Buckel Saved The World
A speculative science-fiction history of the future, in which we save the world. On April 14th 2018, real life climate activist David Buckel committed public suicide by fire in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Created in collaboration with his widow, Terry Kaelber, this evening length work asks how hope can spring from grief and what the world might look like if we heeded Buckel’s call to arms, and ended the destruction of the planet. Read more about this project here.
Margo in the Bardo
One April Fool’s Day morning, Margot walks out of her apartment in Upper Manhattan. She walks out of her marriage, away from her career, and out of her life. She escapes down the island...to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. From there she takes a strange bus to an even stranger place, The Bardo. When her fiancé, Malcolm, discovers her missing, he flies across the country to find her. In the purgatory-world of The Bardo, Margot—along with John Wayne and other mythical characters—confronts her past. Meanwhile, the present is broken down into clichés and bad jokes. MARGOT IN THE BARDO is a dream play about leaving, loving, and losing. Part surrealist tragedy, part musical road-movie, MARGOT IN THE BARDO is a story for America’s missing people, told without judgment through a fractured romance.
SHORT PLAYS
Psychic Advisor.
You meet in the agreed place at the agreed time.
Do you know someone who knows Babusya Olena? You must, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. This invite-only, theatre-for-one, site-specific experience welcomes you into the hidden history of New York City’s psychics. In this bespoke one-on-one experience, palmistry and card reading are the order of the day, but when Babusya Olena decides to tell you the secrets of the trade, you will be forced to ask, “what do I believe?” To schedule your appointment with New York City’s most subversive psychic, call 718-XXX-5479 and ask for Kostya. The codeword is “I’d like to visit Grandma.”