By Joe Hanratty

THE 19^th annual Castleblayney Drama Festival is all set to open tomorrow night Friday.  The official opening will take place in the foyer of Íontas where a wine and cheese reception will take place for all first nighters. The festival will run from tomorrow night until Saturday week when they winners will be announced. The festival will be officially opened by Carrickmacross man, Michael McMahon, and will be adjudicated by well known actor and director Roma Tomelty.

The Casatleblayney Drama Festival started off in the little Gatehouse theatre in Castle Square in 1989 with the well known actor Barry Cassin as the first adjudicator. That little theatre closed in 1991 as the building became unsafe. At that time it was the Co Monaghan Groups’ Festival and was confined to groups from Co Monaghan.  In 1993 it got a nomination to the All-Ireland Confined Finals and the following year got a nomination to the All Ireland Open Finals in Athlone.

The Castleblayney Drama Festival is Co Monaghan’s nominating festival and the organisers and supporters alike are delighted with the way the festival has gone from strength to strength. This is in no small measure due to the band of faithful sponsors who have supported the festival over many years. Over the last nineteen years groups from all over Ireland have competed in the festival and this year’s line up once again reflects the broad geographical spread of the competitors with groups travelling from  Wexford, Kildare, Leitrim, Louth, Down, Armagh and Tyrone.