Pitch at Spraoi 2025

Bridget Ní Dhuinn is a weaver of worlds – a designer and maker whose hands bring to life towering puppets, sculpted masks, and dreamlike sets. Her work moves between theatre, dance, contemporary circus, and the grand spectacle of street procession. Recognised for her striking procession pieces, her work has toured both nationally and internationally, often noted for its imaginative and immersive design. In 2024, she was nominated for Best Design at the DublinFringe Festival and is a core artist with the internationally acclaimed spectacle company Macnas. Based in her workshop in south Kilkenny, Bridget designs and crafts bespoke creations for artistic groups and festivals, alongsidedeveloping her own original work.

Jenni Nikinmaa is a playwright & performer based in Inishmore, Aran Islands. She writes weird, wonderful & poetic plays about darkness in an offbeat comedic manner. Most recently, she presented Sheep! a monologue about sheep, flocks and assaults at Scene+Heard Festival of New Work 2025 and toured with The Enchanted in Galway and Cork in 2024 where audiences experienced this site-sympathetic piece about magical islands, loss and climate change. Jenni has been an associate artist of Big Telly Theatre Company, Druid FUEL artist and holds an MA in Playwriting & Dramaturgy from The University of Galway.

Kathleen Doherty’s work merges contemporary dance,aerial, and performance art. As a consequence of existence,it is emotionally driven. The thematic focus is personalgrowth and the eternal question of what it means to behuman. She creates immersive, often site-responsive worksexploring trauma, healing, and the body’s relationship tospace. Her practice is collaborative and interdisciplinary;recent works include The Space Between, FALL, andTIME-This is My Eternity, which have been showcasedinternationally. She uses movement as a language to shapeenvironments, honour vulnerability and transformation, andshed light on the unseen threads of human experience.

Matt Szczerek is the director of Kundle Cru, an international collaborative company of contemporary dance and circus. They are well known for using elements like krump,hip-hop, house dance, body contact, juggling, Chinese pole, parkour and creating a fusion of those disciplines in order to make unique contemporary theatre. Funded by the ArtsCouncil of Ireland. Past dates have included Atoll Festival Germany, Belfast International Arts Festival, Birmingham Dance Festival, Bristol Circus City,Composé Festival Germany, La Verrerie d’Alès Pole NationalCirque, Occitanie France, Lowry Theatre, Oxford Playhouse and Pitch’d Circus & Street Arts Festival Cork.

Polina Shapkina is a Russian-born, Irish-reared artist, aerialist, fire performer and emerging director. Her work is often driven by existentialism, psychology and is often interwoven with elements of folkloric and mythological traditions. Polina has been creating original work in the form of solo works and groups since 2019. She has since co-founded two companies: Erebidae Circus ( “Who’s There?” KALI, TripleGoddess, DANU) and VolkiDana- (Raiders Of Cooley.)

Polina currently works with companies such as Fidget Feet,Broken Theatre, Pyro Collective and Circus 250 and has presented work across Ireland as well as in India, Thailand and the UK.

Tom Meskell is a professional Irish artist with over 30 years of experience creating sculptural installations, lantern-based work, and socially engaged art in Ireland and internationally. His practice is rooted in collaboration, often using illuminated and translucent materials to explore themes such as heritage, memory, identity, and wellbeing. He strives to make work that is authentic, celebratory, and respectful of community participation.

Over the years, Tom Meskell has exhibited through solo and group shows and has completed residencies and public commissions in Ireland, Finland, Germany, Spain, the UK, France, and the USA.