Sean’s 100 shows – but it’s a team effort

The staff at Mullingar Arts Centre recognised the efforts of director Sean Lynch when they presented him with a cake to mark his 100th show, after the final performance of Phantom of the Opera by the Mullingar Student Players.

The arts centre hosts multiple large productions each year, and during Sean’s time, he has been involved in 17 pantomimes, 24 separate student productions, 17 school productions and 18 reviews. He has also overseen the work of the Mullingar Musical Society and some Junior School productions.

Angie Lynch, choir director at Mullingar Arts Centre, said “Sean is a phenomenon, he has been at this since he was knee-high and has been doing all sorts of plays, musicals and student player productions for the last three decades.

“The man is a genius, and I know that word gets thrown around a lot, but when you stand back and watch him work, it’s just astonishing to believe that it all came out of his head.”

Speaking after he accepted the cake on stage, Sean said: “I have been really lucky to have the support of a board of directors that were committed to the community.

“We went through a bit of a tough time some years ago, and the community ethos of the arts centre was in question, but thankfully, the board and local politicians stood behind us and helped maintain us as a community-based arts centre.

“When I think about it personally, the fact that the arts centre is so community-based is important to me.”

Mullingar Arts Centre has produced many talents over the years, (Mary McEvoy, Niall Horan, Niamh Algar, Tina Kellegher, Niall Breslin, Emmet Cahill, Conor Moore, Mark Irwin, Foster and Allen…), and Sean puts that down to an ethos of training younger people to be able to take on difficult roles.

“We have produced a host of talents, and have been punching well above our weight. I’d like to think that this is down to how we choose to give young people hard roles to do.

“Look at the Phantom of the Opera – the youngest member of the cast was 16, and the oldest was 20. Most of those kids step outside their normal selves and into a professional acting performance that we are expecting of them.

“We support them in every way, we have tutors through music, drama and dance, those people are phenomenal tutors, and we couldn’t do it without them.”