Since opening its doors in 1995, The Ark has operated in Dublin city as a dedicated cultural centre for children – making and sharing fun, ambitious work that aims to realise every child's right to participate freely in the arts.

At the heart of the award-winning building is the intimate, child-sized theatre, which for thirty years has been launching new plays written for and with children up to age twelve. Dream Big: New Plays from The Ark 2019–2025 brings together five playscripts commissioned for performance in this unique space, collected and lovingly introduced by The Ark's Director Aideen Howard. Each play incorporated child consultation as an essential part of its development, each is bursting with its own creative spirit, and all five are ready to find new audiences in theatres and classrooms around the country and beyond.





Plays included:

Peat by Kate Heffernan

The Haircut by Wayne Jordan

What Did I Miss? by Shaun Dunne

The Giggler Treatment by Fionn Foley

The Making of Mollie by Anna Carey



Aideen Howard is Director of The Ark Children's Cultural Centre. She has worked in theatre and the arts as artistic director, producer, dramaturg and commissioner of new work. Her leadership of The Ark combines advocacy and art-making, including the establishment of a rights-based participation practice and the founding of the Right Here Right Now! festival of children's rights.

Aideen is a PhD student in Queen's University Belfast researching child and adult collaboration in performance and a deputy Chair of the Convention for Education. Prior to joining The Ark, Aideen was Literary Director of the Abbey Theatre, and she is editor of Irish Shorts: New Plays from The Abbey Theatre. She was founding Artistic Director of the multidisciplinary Mermaid Arts Centre and a member of the National Campaign for the Arts 2016–2022.