Fregoli is a West of Ireland company, primarily based in Galway founded in 2007. Fregoli aims to produce and perform energetic and stimulating work that appeals to a large cross section of the public. We focus mainly on new and original work. Our work is mostly ensemble based and we strive to maintain reciprocal collaboration between artists, venues and communities.
We take our name from Leopold Fregoli, the world’s most famous impersonator and an element of his character changing style is evident in our work. We are committed to the promotion of the arts and theatre on a local, national and international scale.
Fregoli’s debut production was Bedbound by Enda Walsh in 2007, to date Fregoli has had over 20 productions with performances all over Ireland, including Galway Theatre Festival, Boyle Arts Festival, Electric Picnic and three performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
From 2020-2022 Fregoli was the company in residence at Roscommon Arts Centre, during which we produced three digital works, I want you to Know me in association with Safe Ireland, Inside You Stay and Home for Christmas, we also produced and debuted Cross Street with the centre in 2021.
CROSS STREET - Jarlath Tivnan, Delia Keane (2021)
The company has seen many changes and developments since the early years, with a repertoire that now includes community projects as well as site responsive and outdoor work.
THE GREAT GREEN GIANT IDEA - Daniel Guinnane, Jojo Hynes, Midie Corcoran (2024)
OUR PEOPLE
Over the years, Fregoli has worked with many wonderful artists
including performers, designers, writers, mentors, composers, musicians and with community groups and organisations. Fregoli maintains strong links with the Townhall theatre Galway, Galway Arts Centre, Macnas, Galway, the Department of Drama, Theatre and Performance at the University of Galway, the Drama Society at the University of Galway, the Boyle Arts Festival and Roscommon Arts Centre.
Fregoli has been shaped by the energy, spirit, talent and generosity of all the artists who have worked with and continue to work with the company, and the audiences and communities we encounter.
Current Company Members
Maria Tivnan - Artistic Director
Maria is from Boyle, Roscommon and is the artistic director of Fregoli since its founding in 2007. She has performed, directed and written with the company. Maria recently completed a practice based PhD on the Performance and Politics of Home with the University of Galway. Maria is the director of the Macnas Youth Theatre and was a founding member of the Galway Theatre Collective Theatre57. Maria lives in Galway with her family, her special areas of interest are community, ecology, devising and site responsive theatre. She received an Agility Award from the Arts Council in 2024 to draft a play called Hill of the Hares, which had a reading in the Mick Lally Theatre in January 2025, she hopes to produce this with Fregoli.
Acting credits include: Disco Pigs (2010), Home (2012), Let Me Be (2013), Directing Credits include: Bedbound (2007), Breathing Water (2011), Dorset Street Toys (2013), Pleasure Ground (2015), You Could Be Us (2017), The Streets are Ours (2018), The Fregoli Heart Project (2019) Writing Credits include: The Sweet Shop (2012), Shur I’ll be Alright Here on Me Own (2014), Mary, Mary, Mary (2015), I want you to know me(2020)
For more info on Maria’s practice see www.itsallperformance.squarespace.com
Rob McFeely - Company Manager
Rob is from Donegal and is a founding member of the company. He directed Bedbound (2007), Tape (2008, 2016), Disco Pigs (2008/2010), Home (2012) and Dorset Street Toys (2013) with Fregoli. He is a computer engineer and CEO of a software company. He currently designs posters for Fregoli, and supports the company with technical production, photography and administration.
Tara Finn - Performer and Head of Social Media
Tara is from Galway and joined Fregoli in 2019. In 2020, Tara wrote Inside You Stay and directed community project Home for Christmas - these works were produced for online audiences by Fregoli as part of our residency with Roscommon Arts Centre. She has been head of Fregoli’s social media since 2019. Recent acting credits include: As We Face the Sun; Meat and Salt; Our Teacher’s A Troll; Animal Farm; The Star Child; Wit; (Galway Youth Theatre/Galway Arts Festival) May’s End; (Órfhlaith Foyle & Alan Meaney/Newstalk) Angels Street show; Home for Christmas; (Fregoli Theatre Company) The Thing About December; The Pillowman; The Dead School; Vernon God Little; (Decadent Theatre Company) Crime and Punishment (Morgan Creative).
Jarlath Tivnan - Performer and Writer
Jarlath is from Boyle, Roscommon and is based in Galway City. His previous stage acting credits with Fregoli - Breathing Water, The Sweet Shop, Pleasure Ground. Jarlath has written three plays for Fregoli Theatre Company - Pleasure Ground, You Could Be Us and Cross Street. He also wrote the stage adaptation of Donal Ryan’s acclaimed novel The Thing About December for Decadent Theatre Company in collaboration with Andrew Flynn, and The Acting for Glass Mask Theatre Company, staged in 2024.
Other theatre credits include There Are Little Kingdoms, A Skull in Connemara, The Pillowman, The Dead School and Vernon God Little with Decadent Theatre Company. Screen credits include Driftingand Angels Guard Thee with Harp Media, Oh, Brother with Ishka Films (Best Actor, Wexford Film Festival), and Scratchwith Project Spatula. Jarlath was a mentor to Maria while writing Hill of the Hares, and played the part of Michael at a rehearsed reading of the piece in the Mick Lally Theatre, Galway in January 2025.
Kate Murray - Performer
Kate holds an MA in Drama and Theatre Studies from the University of Galway. Kate has been a member of Fregoli Theatre Company since 2011. Previous credits with Fregoli Theatre Company include: You Could Be Us, Pleasure Ground, Home, Breathing Water, Let Us Be, The Sweet Shop. Other theatre credits include : King Of the Castle ( Druid Theatre Company) The Dead School, Vernon God Little, The Pillowman, Doubt (Decadent Theatre Company). Kate is currently working as a Broadcast Co-ordinator across a variety of drama and live TV programmes at RTE. Kate was a mentor for Maria while writing Hill of the Hares play, and played the part of Cass at a rehearsed reading of the piece at the Mick Lally Theatre in January 2025.
Tracy Bruen - Performer and Musician
Tracy Bruen is an actor, musician, and performer with Fregoli Theatre Company, she has played a wide range of roles in both scripted and devised work, including The Secret Life of Me (2011), which she co-wrote, Angels, Street show (2021, 2022) and Mary, Mary, Mary (2014, 2023), written and later adapted into a radio play by Maria Tivnan. She has received multiple acting awards for performances in Borrowed Robes, The Good Father (Christian O'Reilly), and The Galway Girl(Geraldine Aron).
A trained singer and multi-instrumentalist, Tyracy’s work often integrates live music with theatre, including the critically acclaimed radio musical Playboy of the Western World. She has composed for stage productions and performed as a musician in In the Midst of Plenty. As a singer-songwriter, she has toured extensively across Ireland and Europe, supporting artists such as Mary Coughlan and Lisa Hannigan. Her skills in voice work and accents have led to roles in radio drama and voice-over projects. Tracy continues to explore the intersection of theatre, movement, and music, bringing a distinctive energy to every project she undertakes.
Eimear Finan - Performer
Eimear Finan is an award winning actor, writer and director with an M.A in Drama and Theatre Studies from NUIG. She continued her training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NY. Acting credits include Jo in Anam Theatre’s Low Level Panic and Bernie in Fregoli Theatre’s Mary, Mary, Mary. In 2018 she was assistant director on The Fregoli Heart Project. During Fregoli Theatre’s 2020 residency at the Roscommon Arts centre Finan starred in Tara Finn’s Inside You Stay and a series of play readings called Tangents. In 2021 Finan directed Fregoli’s newest production: Jarlath Tivnan’s Cross Street.
Finan developed her debut script Tart under the guidance of Justin Martin and Claire Mullane and with the support of the Arts Council and the Galway Theatre Festival. Tart had a sold out run at The Galway Theatre Festival 2022 with rave reviews. She is currently developing two more scripts: Fat and Wife which were supported by The Patron Donation Award from the Town Hall Theatre Galway and Theatre57, Dramaturgy and You and Jessica Traynor. Finan strives to make visceral high-quality theatre that can change minds, leave a lasting impact and surpasses expectation. Lived experiences informs her work which often tackles feminist issues in the current social climate.
Eilish McCarthy - Performer
Eilish McCarthy is a Galway based performer with experience in devising, writing and facilitating youth and community theatre. She began working with Fregoli in 2015. Credits with Fregoli include Inside You Stay as part of Fregoli’s Roscommon Arts Centre residency 2020, The Fregoli Heart Project, You Could Be Us, Tape, Pleasure Ground and Mary, Mary, Mary. Other credits include Playboy of The Western World (Justin McCarthy and Milestone Productions), Shelter(Druid Debuts), A Matter of Modesty (RTE Radio 1), The Dead School, and Vernon God Little (Decadent Theatre), and The Shadow Of Carmilla (Thereisbear!).
Eilish currently teaches with Galway Youth Theatre, She recently toured with Hystetria Theatre’s production Jezahel to the Edinburgh Fringe (2024) and has performed with Macnas (2023/2024).