The Calipo Team consists of the Artistic Director – Darren Thornton and the Company Manager – Collette Farrell.
Darren founded Calipo Theatre and Picture Company in 1994 and has been Artistic Director since then. He co-wrote and directed LOVE IS THE DRUG as a six part TV drama series for RTE in 2004. The series was based on the original Calipo Play and won an IFTA for Best Drama Series in 2005. His short film script Frankie was awarded an RTE/IFB short cuts funding in 2006 and was shot early in 2007.He also initiated and facilitates SHARP FOCUS for Calipo, a cross-border film project where established filmmakers work with young people on the production of original short films
For Calipo Theatre Company, Darren has written and directed many of the company’s theatre productions including Xaviers, Makin Hits, Love is the Drug Wunderkind and All Over Town. darren@calipo.ie
Collette has worked in professional theatre since 1986, as an actress initially and then as a drama facilitator in the first Community and Education Department in the Abbey Theatre. She set up a successful children’s theatre company, Tell Tale Theatre in the late 80’s with actor Sean Campion and she also taught in the Gaiety School of Acting from 1988-1994. From 1994 - 2000 Collette worked in the City Arts Centre, Dublin, as General Manager, and then in 1998 she was appointed Programming Manager. As Programming Manager, she co-founded and managed the very successful late night Comedy Club - Stiryfry, and was also responsible for programming all the various exhibitions, festivals and theatre/music events. Collette has been with Calipo since 2002, and she has produced the Sharp Focus Project – thirteen short films with young people and professional film makers and all of Calipo's theatre productions including, Wunderkind and All Over Town. In 2007, she produced Frankie, an award winning short film written and directed by Darren Thornton, which won the European Academy Award for Best Short in December 2008. collette@calipo.ie
