Grant Recipients Grants to Artists Performance Art/Theater 2007

Pan Pan Theater

A split black and white portrait of the members of Pan Pan Theatre. Gavin is on the left and has a goatee and short side swept hair. Aedin is on the right and has wavy, side swept shoulder length hair.
  • 2007 Grants to Artists
  • Performance Art/Theater
  • Born Cork, Ireland, 1966
  • Live in Dublin, Ireland

  • Gavin Quinn
    Born Dublin, Ireland, 1969

    Aedin Cosgrove
    Born Cork, Ireland, 1966

  •  
  • Additional Information
  • panpantheatre.com

In many ways the recognition is equal in terms to the money because of the go forward energy it provides for continued artistic pursuit. It really puts a spring in our step and perhaps goes someway towards extinguishing any doubts one might have about the relevance and quality of one's own work. It helps validate the years of hard graft and the belief in what you are doing, especially in terms of a greater relevance and impact.

- January 13, 2008

Artist Statement

Since its inception Pan Pan has constantly examined and challenged the nature of its work and has resisted settling into well tried formulas. Developing new performance ideas is at the centre of the company's raison d'être, which is born from a desire to be individual and provide innovation in the development of theatre art. All the works created are original, either through the writing (original plays) or through an idiosyncratic response to established writings. Pan Pan tries to approach theatre as an open form of expression and has developed an individual aesthetic that has grown from making performances in a host of different situations and conditions. The theatre that Pan Pan creates is of a contemporary attitude with a lot of personal feelings attached.

Pan Pan is willing to use any language of the theatre to express an intended meaning. Conventions, attitudes and barriers that are both psychological and physical are always limiting performance. We work on the exploration of new forms, new approaches and experiments with time, space, music and performance.

- December 2014

Biography

Pan Pan is a contemporary theater company based in Ireland, founded in 1991 by co-artistic directors Aedín Cosgrove and Gavin Quinn. Throughout their career they have created 28 theater and performance pieces. Pan Pan presents performances nationally and internationally and develops links for co-productions and collaborations.

Artistically, the company is committed to fostering contemporary theater-making in Ireland. From 1997 to 2003 Pan Pan produced the Dublin International Theatre Symposium, a program of talks, workshops, demonstration-performances and full productions. The Symposium gave Irish audiences the chance to engage with a variety of styles, approaches, and viewpoints in contemporary theater from Europe and elsewhere. It was nominated for the Special Jury Award in the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2001 and it served as a springboard for two new initiatives: International Mentorship and Bursary Programme. The company has toured in Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe, United States, Canada, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and China.

Outside of his work with Pan Pan, Quinn has directed for opera, including The 4 Note Opera (Tom Johnson, 2000), The Magic Flute and Hamelin for Opera Theatre Compnay (Ian Wilson, 2003), The Abduction from the Seraglio for English Touring Opera (Hackney Empire, London 2007), and Così Fan Tutte for Opera Ireland (2007). Outside of her work with Pan Pan, Cosgrove has worked with Corcadorca as a production designer, with Abbey Theatre as a lighting designer, and with Crash Ensemble as a designer.

With the support of their Grants to Artists Award, Pan Pan created The Crumb Trail (2008). Their subsequent productions include The Rehearsal, Playing The Dane (2010), Everyone Is King Lear In His Own Home (2012), Embers (2013), and Americanitis Presents The Seagull and Other Birds (2014). Since receiving their 2007 FCA grant, Pan Pan Theatre's works have been performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music Harvey Theater; Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival, Ireland; The Melbourne Festival, Australia; Dunamaise Arts Centre, Ireland, Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York University; Wexner Center, The Ohio State University; Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Taipei, Taiwan; Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, China; Edinburgh International Festival; and New Zealand International Arts Centre.

They received the Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival 2013 and two Irish Times Theatre Awards for Best Sound Design and Lighting Design for their production of Samuel Beckett's All That Fall (2011). Their work is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland and Dublin City Council. Quinn's work A Bronze Twist of Your Serpent Muscles (1995) won Best Overall Production at the Dublin Fringe Festival.

Quinn received a B.A. in Drama and Classics in 1991 from Trinity College Dublin. Cosgrove received a B.A. in Drama and Art History in 1989 and an M.S. in Multimedia Systems in 2000 from Trinity College Dublin.

A performance still of four performers in street clothes hanging by their hands from a suspended horizontal rod. On the white wall behind them, there is a projection that reads
Performance still from FCA-supported The Crumb Trail, 2008.
A performance still of three performers in a bare, darkened space. In the foreground, a man dressed in pants and a white tank top and holding a colored plastic bag squeezes their hangs into fists and turns their head upwards with their eyes squeezed shut. Behind this performer, another performer, dressed all in white and illuminated brightly, lunges sideways and looks downwards while another performer in a suit looks intently at them.
Performance still from FCA-supported The Crumb Trail, 2008.
A performance still of four performers clustered around a table filled with a lit candelabra, sound equipment, glasses of red wine, and a laptop which shows an image of people standing and looking intently ahead. One performer leans forward on the table with an exuberant expression on their face while the three performers around them look concerned. The wall in the background is painted with diagonal white and green stripes.
Performance still from FCA-supported The Crumb Trail, 2008.
Two performers stand, looking surprised in a dark stage with a projection of flowers illuminating them and the back wall. The performers wear shirts but no pants and have smudges on their faces.
Performance still from FCA-supported The Crumb Trail, 2008.
Two performers stare intently at each other with their faces covered in mud. One performer wears a white dress and headphones and the other has a tank top, sweatshirt, and unzipped pants.
Performance still from FCA-supported The Crumb Trail, 2008.
Three performers are around a table in a darkened space. Two performers stand on benches and appear mid-dance. A third performer sits on the bench and speaks into a microphone. On the wall behind them, there is a projection of text in a green font, part of which reads
Performance still from FCA-supported The Crumb Trail, 2008.
Three performers play instruments in a darkened space illuminated only by a projection which is composed of an abstract colored in background and white text.
Performance still from FCA-supported The Crumb Trail, 2008.
In the foreground, two performers looks intently at one another and one points to the forehead of the other. Behind them, there is a green plaid rug on the floor and another performer who looks distressed and stands hunched with their hands in their pants.
Performance still from FCA-supported The Crumb Trail, 2008.