Sandra Coffey is a solo artist, writer and performer from Athenry, county Galway. She released her first album, Morning Zoo, last year to much acclaim. She is the founder and director of the Oscar Wilde Festival, Galway.

There Was Once gives a voice to the Constance Wilde story.

Tom Critch writes for both stage and screen; having had a short script produced (www.primaverapictures.co.uk) and a short play performed (www.writersbloc.org.uk) He’s been on the Liverpool Everyman theatres Young Writers Programme, and is currently re-drafting a screenplay.

Breakdown Assistance. A boyfriend, a girlfriend, a broken car, a Birthday bash to get to and roadside assistance from the most unlikeliest of places.

Olly Kendall is 34 and is the Managing Director of Westminster Public Affairs, a lobbying and PR agency based in London.

The Handshake: Loyalties are tested when a newspaper threatens to publish confidential details about an MP’s private life.

Anne Donnelly is originally from Carlow and now lives and works in Castlebar. When she’s not working or mothering she loves to write and has written poetry, short stories and some short plays. This is the second year she has been short-listed for the Fringe festival.

Poisoned is set in a funeral home in modern day Ireland. Seamus, the Undertaker, is getting ready for another funeral when he has some unexpected visitors.

Jane McNulty has written for EastEnders, Heartbeat, Peak Practice, Doctors, Crossroads and The Bill. Her play, Our Lady of the Goldfinches, about the murder of Jean McConville, toured in Spring 2012. Her short plays have been performed in the UK and Ireland. She is currently devising a piece of physical theatre.

Fancy/Free. Sonia and Cal may be birds of a feather, but will they ever agree over what makes life truly worth living?

Philip Pearson has been a journalist for nearly 20 years having worked at The Guardian, The Independent and The North West Evening Mail. He currently works at The Manchester Evening News.

To You, The Son I Never Had is a play about betrayal and the loss of innocence.

Jonathan Skinner is a playwright whose work has appeared regularly on the London fringe, throughout the UK, and internationally as far and wide as Australia, Dubai, and now, happily, Ireland too! Recent credits include: The Assistant (Greenwich Theatre); Kind (Oxford Playhouse); The Kiss (Barons Court Theatre); Indignitas (King Street Theatre, Sydney, Australia)

Flop. Gill and Dan make sweet love until a little something stops them – Dan’s little something…

Bob Canning was born in Brooklyn, New York and is now living in Northern California. His plays have won numerous awards, and have been produced around the U.S. His farce, Dances with Dinosaurs, is a semi-finalist at the prestigious Eugene O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, and his musical, Saloon Singer, is comprised mainly of the “lost” or forgotten songs of Cole Porter, and will star a top rock star of the ‘60s. He is a freelance reporter for the hometown paper, The Argus-Courier, and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Bob wrote Tippi Hedren for longtime friend, actress Tippi Hedren, to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the filming of The Birds. He is thrilled to have it premiere at the Claremorris Fringe Festival.

What Would Tippi Hedren Do (Hypothetically Speaking of Course)? After a screening of Hitchcock’s The Birds, a professor at an adult education school walks a female student to her car, but a hypothetical mugger keeps interrupting their conversation.

Mary Bradford is from County Cork. Married with four children, she has enjoyed publishing success with short stories for many years. Her first short story collection is titled A Baker’s Dozen and is available in paperback and e-book format from Amazon.

Something About Her. Sure of a connection with the pretty girl he meets each morning at the bus-stop, Eddie is out to prove it to be true to his friend. When they finally speak, will Eddie be proved right?

Ken Armstrong is from Castlebar. He has written a number of plays for Theatre, Radio and Film. His play, ‘The Doubles Partner’ was the winner at last year’s Claremorris Fringe Festival.

Dance Night. Diana presents her short talk on the nature and joy of Amateur Drama but sometimes it’s hard to keep focused.

Kate Ennals completed the MA in Writing in NUI Galway last year. She has poems published in Crannog, Skylight 47, the Galway Review. Kate won 3rd Prize in the Dead Good Poetry Competition. She is to be published in the next editions of Burning Bush 2, Boyne Berries and Ropes.

The themes of power, age and friendship come to the fore in My Rings for a Cushion when a young man and old woman are thrown together in an unusual situation.

Gillian Grattan lives in Kilkenny. Plays include Beyond the Forest, Ascension, Lost Weekend and Hooked! Fish Out Of Water was staged by the Irish Classical Theatre Company, New York, receiving the Katherine Cornell award. Gillian has produced radio drama and documentaries and is artistic director Of Evil Little Genius Productions.

In Last Orders, A sweet old lady two fingers our dying Celtic Tiger.

Alan Balkema is an American enjoying retirement in Dublin with his Irish wife. He is delighted that Let Me Share will be performed at the Claremorris Fringe Festival. This, he says, is the pinnacle of his writing career. His previous experience was writing and editing research reports. He says that storytelling is much more fun.

Let Me Share features a middle-aged American woman as she reflects upon her troubled history.

Veronica Mackessy was born in 1936 in Waterford. She joined the Tramore Writers Group in 2010. Had some short stories and articles published in Irelands Own.

Chance Encounter Sheila chats to an old man while waiting for a bus with surprising results.

Michael Joe Ginnelly lives in Mulranny and is the author of the highly-successful full-length plays “Awake In The West,” and “Pretend Sick.” He says that he didn’t really write them, that the characters wrote them themselves.

Separate Table is a comedy in which a daughter looks after uncooperative parents.

Linda Duncan McLaughlin is a professional actor based in Glasgow, Linda’s been writing for around five years, and has had some short stories published and one play produced so far. She’s delighted that Boldly Going has been selected for the Claremorris Fringe, and is looking forward to sampling some world-class craic in the bar…

Boldly Going is a comedy about fish-slices, plagiarising Shakespeare and how to survive an apocalypse using Star Trek philosophy.