FOLLOWING a sell out premiere production at the Dublin Fringe Festival 2019, Making A Mark returns for a national tour playing at Belltable, for one night only on Saturday April 9.
Making A Mark is a documentary style, autobiographical piece that places the voice and lived experience of an artist with an intellectual disability front and centre stage.
Mark Smith, a 40 year old performer with Down Syndrome, first began to develop the piece across a 6 month residency at Axis Ballymun in 2018.
Here, he worked alongside leading documentary artist Shaun Dunne and long time collaborator Aisling Byrne.The production was further developed with the support of the Abbey Theatre’s 5 x 5 programme and premiered with support from Project Arts Centre in 2019 to a sold out run and several award nominations including Best Performer and Best Production at that year’s Dublin Fringe Festival.
Mark is a founding member of Run of the Mill Theatre. He was nominated for Best Performer at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2019 for Making a Mark (winner of Judges Choice Award, nominated for Best Production).
Other credits include Outside History (St Patrick’s Festival, 2021),Vulnerable (Abbey Theatre, Dear Ireland 3 commission, 2020), Quarantine (Culture Night, 2020) and Singing for Survival (Draiocht, 2019)
He regularly advocates for artists with Down Syndrome and disabilities in National media and was featured to widespread acclaim on the The Tommy Tiernan Show in 2020. Mark studied Anthropology at Maynooth University and achieved a silver medal at the Special Olympics World Games in North Carolina.
Mark comes from a community that has placed him on a pedestal – he was always told that he was “special”, and due to this constant reiteration, he has often felt obliged to keep the darker, more troubled aspects of his experience a secret from those around him who would prefer to focus on his far-reaching achievements.
Making a Mark aspires to articulate Mark’s incredible journey to date alongside the more complicated facets of his lived experience. Mark has competed in the World Games, played King Lear before packed houses and packed bags for 20 years in Tesco’s… But that’s not even half the story.
Part live interview, part self-led confessional, this is Mark’s life and he’s ready to take a seat at the table.
Making A Mark at Belltable on Saturday April 9. Booking: www.limetreetheatre.ie
