History
The Cork Arts Theatre (CAT) was established in 1975 as a non-profit making organisation, to support and encourage the growth of theatre in Cork. Since that time it has grown from a small occasional theatre to one of the busiest venues in the region.
The day-to-day running of CAT is overseen by manager Dolores Mannion. She is supported by Assistant Manager Angela Newman, a small full time staff and by a team of volunteers, many of whom are professional artists. An executive committee, elected by members and drawn from the artistic and business communities, meets monthly to decide and implement policy.
CAT provides a forum for both amateur and professional theatre companies, playwrights, contemporary and modern works, and practitioners in all the arts disciplines.
From the start, CAT built a reputation for staging cutting edge and diverse theatre and music. To the artists with whom we collaborate we give the support necessary to fulfil their visions.
The venue is available for stage productions, art exhibitions, rehearsals, lectures and business meetings. It also continues to fulfil the role of a much-loved meeting place for all those involved in the arts.
CAT is committed to the production of new works and works new to the region. We will host twelve shows a year as well as special events.
We will continue our education outreach program, Community and Education, through which we introduce younger members of the community to drama as an art form that builds self-confidence, sharpens self-expression and sparks the imagination.
The programme also strengthens our links to the community, and helps us to discover new writers and develop new audiences.
We bring together the focused work of a producing theatre and the activities of the wider writing community through our script-reading service, open access workshops, awards and competitions, and through a range of community and education initiatives.
In our intimate environment, our audiences have such proximity to the actors and playing space that they can find themselves part of the dramatic action, not watching our productions so much as experiencing them.
CAT has always acted on the belief that the most thought-provoking theatre is created by a group of artists working intimately over a long period of time towards the development of a specific and cohesive style.
A second key belief is that theatre can be a great resource for many members of the community for whom it often is not - that theatre can be a source of empowerment, enrichment, and joy.
Being a 100 seat theatre makes what we do possible. We fill a place in the market that bigger theatres can not. CAT is a non-profit theatre that provides an artistic home to audiences and artists. By developing and producing quality affordable theatre with an emphasis on new and world-premiere plays, we prove that there are no small theatres - only limited imaginations.