We’re inviting you to join us in the Abbey Bar to do your day’s writing work here, in community with other theatre artists. Pen to paper. Fingers to keyboard. However you like to get it done.

We have a different guest playwright with us every month as a host. They are trying to write something too. They’ll take some time out for a Q&A before lunch to share reflections about their writing process, answer your questions, and talk about how they like to get it done.

This isn’t a workshop – it’s a quiet, co-working gathering that ring-fences time for you to write. There aren’t any craft exercises or sharing of work. It’s an opportunity for inspiration, solidarity and for getting your idea down on paper. It’s free and open to playwrights and performance makers of any experience level. You can be writing a play, a blurb, a funding application or a secret something you aren’t ready to talk about yet.

What to expect 

10am – 10:30am: Pick your seat, have a coffee, get comfortable and chat to your fellow writers

10:30am – 12.30pm: Quiet writing time

12:30pm – 1:30pm Q & A with our guest playwright about their writing process

1:30pm – 2:30pm: Lunch break

2:30pm – 4.00pm: Quiet writing time

Please note: This event takes place in the Abbey Bar. We have tables, chairs, high stools and benches. You’ll need to bring your laptop, and we recommend you bring it charged as plugs are limited. We’re a busy working theatre so the work space won’t be silent – this will work best for you if you like a bit of background noise while you write. The Abbey Bar is only accessible via stairs. Tickets are limited to one per person.

2025 Dates 

• 13th October – registration now up
• 10th November
• 8th December

October guest playwright: Sonya Kelly 

Sonya Kelly is a playwright and screenwriter.

Her plays include The Wheelchair on My Face, a look back at a myopic childhood, (Scotsman Fringe First Award 2012, New York Times Critic’s Pick) and How to Keep an Alien (Best Production, Dublin Fringe).

Sonya’s work for the acclaimed Druid Theatre Company includes Furniture (Stewart Parker Award, ZEBBIE Award), Once Upon A Bridge (Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Best New Play nominee) and The Last Return (Scotsman Fringe First Award 2022). She is the 2024 recipient of the Windham Campbell Prize for Drama in association with Yale University.

She is currently working on a number of theatre projects in Europe and the US. Her TV work includes collaborations with BBC, Treasure Entertainment and Avalon Television, including Smother for BBC and RTE and Series 4 of Breeders for Sky and FX.

Her latest play, POOR, is an adaptation of the best-selling memoir of the same name by Katriona O’Sullivan.  The show is part of Dublin Theatre Festival and has already sold out for its entire run.