Robyn catches the Ennis Stagecoach

NINE-year-old Robyn Dowling from Spancilhill was this week announced as the winner of a year’s scholarship to attend Stagecoach Theatre Arts School in Ennis after her entry was selected as parta competition held in association with The Clare Champion.
The student of Ennis CBS NationalSchool moved to Spancilhill recently from Cahirciveen, County Kerry and was selected on the back of her entry to the competition, which called for applicants to outline in 50 to 100 words why they would like to win the scholarship.
“The reason I would like to go to Stagecoach is I recently moved to Ennis and really wanted to meet new friends with the same interests as me. I absolutely adore singing and wanted to show my talent. I also like dancing and drama as well. I’ve been in many plays like Dracula and Santa Claus Comes to Town. So I just love everything,” Robyn said.
Speaking to The Clare Champion after she was told about her success, Robyn said, “I feel really happy about winning the competition. I was really excited to go to Stagecoach.”
“I would really like to be a singer when I grow up. Stagecoach will definitely give me more confidence,” she said.
Having attended the theatre arts school for her first week, Robyn explained the fun ways that the arts are taught.
“First we go to singing and we do warm-ups where we sing questions to each other, then we go to drama and then to dancing. In drama, we are pretending to be different people and in dance, we watch a video and learn half the dance in the day. I really like hip hop,” she added.
The Stagecoach franchise, which is run at Cois na hAbhna in Ennis, also has four schools in Dublin, two in Galway and one in Kildare and its aim is to give students an all round theatre experience within a small class environment.
They award their students in various ways and students can also do LAMDA examinations and it caters for those aged between six to 18 of all abilities and holds an annual production in December. This year’s grouping will perform Ebenezer by Malcolm Sircom, which is an adaptation of A Christmas Carol and rehearsals begin for this in a couple of week’s time.
For more information visit www.stagecoach.ie or email clare@stagecoach.ie.