Russell Academy 2.52

Ann Russell combines a career as an actor and theatre director with her work as a teacher, examiner and adjudicator. She trained with the late Deirdre O’Connell at the Focus Stanislavski Studio, has an MA in Modern Drama from UCD and Associate and Licentiate Diplomas from the London College of Music and Drama. A former teacher and Senior Examiner with the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Ann formed her own school in 2004. Since then she has developed a highly successful Effective Public Speaking programme and has an outstanding record in training teachers of Speech and Drama.

Ann recently performed in Portia Coughlan at The New Theatre, Elysium Nevada in Bewleys Cafe Theatre and Richard 11 in Smock Alley. As a member of the Focus Theatre she appeared in many productions including The Secret Rapture, All my Sons, The Balcony, Precious Sons, Jack’s too Open and Awake and Sing. She has toured the UK and Ireland performing in Marie Jones’ hit play Women on the Verge of HRT and toured Ireland with John B. Keane’s The Chastitute and Moll. Other theatre includes Reading Turgenev for Meridian in Cork, Dancing at Lughnasa for Punchbag in Galway and Vampirella and the Company of Wolves at the Project Arts Centre.

Directing includes Macbeth for Rathmines Festival 09, The Cut and The Shape by Tara Maria Lovett and Stump by Liam Brennan at Focus Theatre; Greatest Hits by Thomas McLoughlin at the Dublin Fringe Festival and Mary Halpin’s Are You Listening to me Gaybo? for Black Box Theatre Company which toured throughout Ireland.

Ann has appeared in RTE’s Fair City and Roddy Doyle’s Family and Ballykissangel for BBC. Film work includes Frankie Starlight and Snakes and Ladders