Join DYT

Open Day & Workshops

The Open Day will happen over a weekend in September 2026. You’ll meet current members and leaders and find out about the organisation. You will also get a taste of what’s involved in being a member of DYT. You will have the opportunity to ask questions, we’ll take your photo and you will take part in a group workshop. Once you fill out an application here on our website, we will send you a form to pick your Open Day time slot. (Open Day time slots can be selected from August 2026)

The Workshop will take place on the Open Day, after the information session, and last about 90 minutes – in groups. There are normally approximately 15 young people in each workshop, where you will play some basic drama games and exercises and be asked why you’d like to join. You do not need to prepare anything for this workshop.

The 1st 10 Workshops Programme 

If you are offered a place, you are expected to commit to attending all of the first 10 induction workshops. These workshops are a fundamental part of Dublin Youth Theatre and lay the foundations for the future work that we do. If you can not attend all the workshops, it is important that you let us know on the day of your audition.

The induction workshops are led by experienced facilitators. You’ll be introduced to trust, team work, audience-performer relationship, group dynamic, stagecraft, voice, movement, rhythm, observation, storytelling, improvisation, character development, taking direction, devising & text. 

Once you’ve completed The 10 Weeks, you’ll join the “second years” for general workshops and a varied programme of theatre related activities, all of which you’ll find out about here on the website, on social and at the Open Day.

Productions

Dublin Youth Theatre has built a reputation over the last forty-five years for producing high-quality, exciting, challenging theatre. The annual programme includes the production of between 6 to 12 plays. These are a combination of high profile shows in recognised professional venues and low-key productions which allow new members with little or no experience an opportunity to perform in a ‘safe’ environment.

DYT Big Shows have featured in the Dublin Fringe Festival and Dublin Theatre Festivals.

In August 2025, our annual ‘Big Show’ was Ubu after Alfred Jarry, directed by Dominic O’Brien. The production ran in Smock Alley Theatre’s Main Space.

In 2023, we presented Animal Farm: A Musical directed by Jeda de Brí with musical direction from Morgan Cooke.

In spring 2020, a cast of 14 members worked with Cal Folger Day and Director Tom Creed to create ZOONOSIS – a bedroom pop opera about lifeforms in lockdown.  The show exists as a website, which we invite you to experience at HERE.

Director Liam Halligan created a contemporary, Brexit-influenced setting for Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors in Smock Alley Boys’ School in 2018 along with live musical accompaniment from a band formed of DYT members.

For DYT’s 40^th anniversary Big Show in 2017 two generations of DYT alumni created this is a room… with Carys Coburn writing and Veronica Coburn directing a new piece of contemporary theatre that explored the ways in which young people choose spaces and people to make a family and home of their own.  The development of the piece involved DYT partnering with Focus Ireland to work with a group of young people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, as well as workshops with DYT members.  The cast included 21 members of DYT and it was staged as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival in Project Arts Centre.

In 2016 DYT presented RISING on the Peacock stage of the Abbey Theatre inspired by the role young people played in the lead-up to 1916. RISING was a wide-ranging contemporary look at what revolution means to young people in Ireland now. Developed with a cast of 20 DYT members in collaboration with documentary playwright Helena Enright and director Tom Creed, RISING explored art as activism, music as mobilizer and theatre as propaganda machine.

National and International Opportunities

Dublin Youth Theatre welcomes opportunities for exchanges with other youth groups at local, national and international levels. We have participated in festivals and exchanges in Britain, Austria, the US, Belgium, Sicily, Denmark, Shetland Islands, Slovenia & Germany, as well as with other youth theatres all over Ireland.

As members of Youth Theatre Ireland, DYT are available to apply for Youth Theatre Ireland events such as the National Youth Theatre production that takes place every two years and the National Festival of Youth Theatres. In 2016, DYT participated in an exchange with The Lyric Drama Studio in Belfast where a group of members spent the day visiting Belfast, going on a tour of the city, learning about their history, and finally seeing their production of The Patriot Game, later on in the year, some of their members visited Dublin and saw our production of Rising. 

In 2025, Dublin Youth Theatre was selected to be a part of Youth Theatre Island, a partnership between Youth Theatre Ireland & Theatre and Dance NI. Six members presented an excerpt from ‘Like We Were Born to Move’ by Eimear Hussey in Bright Umbrella, Belfast

How Much Does It Cost?

€125 per year. 

DYT is grant aided by The Arts Council, City of Dublin Youth Service Board and Dublin City Council, supplemented by donations, box office income and membership fees. Our grant funding enables us to keep membership fees low. If you don’t have €125, don’t you dare let that stop you, we’ll find a way! Members are expected to actively participate in members’ fundraising initiatives.

Got Questions?

You can contact Ellen, Sam or Áine in the office on 085 850 0856/ 089 447 7611 / 087 038 8203 (WhatsApp’s free!) or email samuel@dublinyouththeatre.com with any questions. Please note that it may be a while before we respond, due to remote working and holidays, but rest assured you will hear back from us as soon as possible!

Keep an eye on our instagram and the website for updates.

We can’t wait to meet you.

Submit your application by completing the form at the bottom of this page. Applicants under the age of 18 must have parental / guardian consent to participate.