On this week's episode we chat to Al Bellamy. Al Bellamy first became interested in challenging traditional direction methods with her debut production, Anne (Samuel Beckett Theatre, 2019) where she self-directed her foray into ethics and intimacy onstage. She spent some years engaging as Creative Producer and Production Manager for works such as DUBH (Dublin Theatre Festival, 2021), The Tolu & Feli Show (YouTube & Spotify, 2021), Tough Meat (YouTube, 2022). She first took the leap into Disability-Inclusive practice through Jody O’Neill’s What I (Don’t) Know About Autism (The Peacock Stage, The Abbey Theatre, 2021) as the captions operator, working closely with the cast and production team to ensure the production was fully captions-accessible. She followed this up as Production Manager on Aine O’Hara’s The Rest Rooms (Dublin Fringe Festival, 2022). She has also explored film mediums for her work, completing the X-Pollinator Elevator programme in 2021 with an honourable mention for her pitch, and was awarded the Project Arts Centre’s Short Cuts Award to produce and direct The Merrow in 2022. Al Bellamy’s directing credits include: The Amanda (Saoirse) Show (The DLR LexIcon Theatre, 2022) and Yellow written and performed by Jody O’Neill (Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas, 2022) and later performed by Eleanor Walsh (Draíocht Arts Centre in Blanchardstown, Granary Theatre in Cork, Neuroconvergence in Dublin, National Festival of Youth Theatres in Kilkenny, Bounce Disability Arts Festival in Belfast) from November 2022 to September 2024. She was Director and Co-Lead Artist with Jody O'Neill for Cork Midsummer & SUISHA Inclusive Arts Organisations' Be Part project in Cork Midsummer 2023, workshopping and creating a new script around the themes of disability justice with a group of disabled artists in Cork. She continued as Director of this production, Home Sweet Home, which premiered in the Granary Theatre Cork in Cork Midsummer Festival 2024. In 2022, Al Bellamy was funded by the Arts Council Agility Award for Mythics, creating a space for neurodiverse people to explore and discuss reworkings of Irish Folklore and Mythology. In 2023, she received the Arts Council Theatre Bursary to develop a holistic methodology for disability-inclusive productions. In 2024, she received an Arts Council Arts Participation Project Award for her project Home Sweet Home in Cork Midsummer Festival 2024. She also gave a Masterclass in Disability Inclusive Theatre to final year and MA Directing students in the Eduard Smilgis Theatre, Riga, Latvia, and created and led Embedding Access: A Workshop for Disability Inclusion in association with Draíocht Arts Centre for Dublin Fringe Festival 2024 and Cork School of Music. Recently, she has completed The Next Stage with Performing Arts Forum and Dublin Theatre Festival 2024.