News Recap: AIMS Bulletin July 2025

Darragh Carroll
Jul 11
5 min read

"What's the buzz? Tell me what's happening!"

A brief round up of what's been happening in the AIMS world lately.

(A digest of recent events & social media posts for those who may have missed out!)

AIMS 60th Anniversary Concert - Ovation

As previously announced, AIMS will are putting together a special concert to mark 60 years!

This production will be in The Convention Centre on October 11th, 2025.

This will be a massive celebration, with some of the finest talent in the country involved be sure to mark it into your calendars & stay tuned to the AIMS Socials for ticket news.

Full ticketing information will follow when the finer details are locked in!

Production Team

Director

EJ Reilly

Musical Director

Shane Farrell

Choreographer

Jonny Smith

Casting:

After a series of hundreds of video auditions and callbacks around the regions, we can reveal the final cast for the show:

Soloists

Amy Penston-Hendley

Andrew O’ Grady

Anna Bergin

Ben Cully

Christopher McDonald

Conor Kilduff

Elaine Moore O’Donohue

Fergal White

Gavin Molony

Grace Shesgreen

Hedwig Hauskeller

Jen McGann

Jenny McCabe

Kacey Mooney

Karl Dawson

Kevin Hartnett

Naoimh Penston

Ronan Walsh

Sarah Corcoran

Tim Landers

Tony Carty

Yasmine Missaoui

Featured Ensemble

Aimee O’Neill

April Kelly

Bronwyn Goulding

Charlene Masterson

Daniel Furlong

Daniel Ryan

Emma Moran

Eoghan Mann

Heather Colohan

Holly Rossiter

Isaac Carey

Jamie Callanan

John Conroy

Karen McCourt

Katie Feeney

Lauren Dooley

Nathan Canning

Nicole Kennedy

Nicole Lamb

Oisin Dowling

Rebecca Gamble

Thomas Furlong

Ultan O'Cinnéide

Juniors

Aidan Morrisey

AJ McGuane

Amber Simmons

Anna McAleenan

Aoife Cathcart

Aoife Nicola Warner

Ebony Keavney

Éibhín McElwain

Eliza White

Ella McElwain

Ellie Quinlivan

Elliot Kelly

Emily Cronin

Fred Kennedy

Holly Harmon

Katelyn Harrington

Leah Jordan

Leighton Downey

LillyMay Tolley

Mary Duggan

Matthew Drysdale

Orla McCabe

Robin Morley Manning

Ronan Harney

Scarlett White

Seán O’Callaghan

Teagan Farrell

Dancers

Aisling Benson

Alan Lau

Alannah Corcoran

Amy Cassidy

Amy Ward

Aoibh Tully

Aoife Carroll

April Kelly

Darren O’Reilly

Eamonn O’Callaghan

Emma Daly

Emma Nolan

Eoin Hamell

Gráinne Ní Chuinn

Holly Rossiter

Isabel Lee Morris

Jackie Drew

Jamie Hickey

Jamie O’Callaghan

Jenn Nolan

Karen McCourt

Katie O’Connor

Laoise O’Connell

Lauren Dooley

Mia Mae Kavanagh

Mikey Smith

Orla Connolly

Rachel Morrissey

Rachel Bermingham

Sinéad McCrohan

Tara Dore

And a chorus made up of over 200 individuals representing each corner of the island!

AIMS Summer School 2025 Recap

At the start of July we had our AIMS Summer School, the annual week long residential musical theatre workshop, introducing teens to the various aspects of performing musical theatre. It's growing more and more popular each year, with applications filling up within a day or two of announcement! This year was no exception!

Under the watch of Máirín Heffernan, the crew of AIMS councillors and mentors and this years production team of 'Peter Kennedy, Stephanie Browne, Shane Farrell and Megan Maher, they put together a fantastic showcase in the Ursuline school at the end of the week.

A cast of 78 on the final night for their showcase performance!

Peter, Megan and Shane before the Friday showcase! (Not pictured: Stephanie who had to attend to welcoming baby Ria into the world a few days prior!!)

Photo gallery from the week:

https://photos.darraghc.ie/-aimssummerschool2025/

AIMS Bursary Winners

We are delighted to announce the Bursary Winners for 2025.

Darragh Cox (nominated with Gorey Musical Society) - AIMS Bursary 2025.
Jayden Guilfoyle (nominated with Nenagh Choral Society ) - Anne O’Neill Bursary 2025.
Hedwig Hauskeller (nominated with Mitchelstown Musical Society) -Dee Moloney Carter Bursary 2025.
Rìona McElwain (nominated with Coolmine Musical Society) Anna Maire McQuillan Bursary 2025.

Huge Thanks to Derek O’Neill and the O’Neill Family, to Lynn Carter and the Maloney Carter family and to Philip Nolan and family for their ongoing support. Alongside these families and AIMS we are thrilled to keep these bursaries alive. They have used this opportunity to keep the name of their loved ones alive and we are so grateful for their ongoing support.

AIMS Adjudicators 25/26

Pat and Therese return for another round at the AIMS circuit - but swapping categories this year. Therese will take the Gilbert section and Pat to Sullivan!

Therese Maher - Gibert Adjudicator 2025-2026:

We are thrilled to welcome back Therese Maher as the Gilbert Adjudicator the 2025-2026 season. She holds a B.A in Music from Mary Immaculate College, a diploma in Event Management (Limerick Business School), and a post-graduate in Stage Management and Technical Theatre (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama). For the last 14 years she has been running her own performing arts school Dwan Academy Performing Arts School in Thurles and in 2023, she set up Limelight Theatricals, a youth musical theatre group.

She brings with her a wealth of experience in production, direction, choreography and much more. Her directing &choreography credits include Miss Saigon, Les Miserable and Copacabana to name a few and she has also worked as Production Manager all over the world including Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, East End Film Festival and Only the Brave.

Pat McElwain - Sullivan Adjudicator 2025-2026:

We are delighted to welcome back Pat McElwain as Sullivan Adjudicator for the 2025-2026 season. He holds a MA in Theatre Studies from Dublin City University and brings a wide, valued and extensive experience to this role from his work as a Producer, Actor, Writer and his work as an acclaimed Director. His directing credits include Honk!, Fiddler on the Roof, Michael Collins-A Musical Drama and Crazy for You to name a few! On nine occasions shows he’s worked on have been nominated for Best Overall Show at the AIMS Awards. He has also won and been nominated on multiple occasion for Best Directors, Best Comedian and Best Supporting Actor. He is a three time winner of the Best Director Award for the Waterford International Festival of Light Opera.

Pat brings with him a wealth of experience and thoroughly enjoyed his first season as AIMS Adjudicator and is looking forward to another exciting and memorable year ahead when once again talent will shine across the musical societies around the country.

We are also delighted to announce our Programme Adjudicators for 2025-2026 Season.

We are thrilled to say Brian Gunning will remain the Gilbert Programme Adjudicator 2025-2026 and we are delighted to announce that Brandon Cogley will be the Sullivan Programme Adjudicator 2025-2026.

Both Brian and Brandon are looking forward to the programmes that await to be seen and reviewed!

And we extend a huge word of thanks to John Grayden who is stepping down as Programme Adjudicator after many years of dedication and time he has given to AIMS and to the many MANY programmes he has reviewed. We wish him well in his future endeavours.