Project Children founder Denis Mulcahy to attend ‘Project Children’ play at Lyric Theatre, Belfast

The founder of a trailblazing peace project which took over 23,000 children to the US during the worst years of the conflict is returning to Belfast next month to attend a gala night of theatre in his honour. Former NYPD police officer, Denis Mulcahy, who founded Project Children along with his brother Patrick in 1975, will attend the Brassneck Theatre Company production of 'Project Children' on April 27th, as part of its run at the Lyric Theatre.

Mr Mulcahy is looking forward to meeting some of the Project’s past participants during his visit and says, “I’m delighted to be coming over to Belfast to see Project Children - the play, after hearing about its success last year when it premiered in the Feile an Phobail. It will also be a brilliant opportunity to meet and chat to previous participants on Project Children who I haven’t seen since their time in America.”

When the Project Children initiative ended in 2015, Denis set up the Mulcahy Scholarship. Replicating the reverse forty years later, the scholarship aims to provide American high school students the opportunity to travel to Ireland and experience Irish culture.

Recently, it was announced that images, interviews and footage from Project Children’s work over the last 50 years have been gifted to Monaghan County Council by Denis Mulcahy, for the newly constructed Peace Campus in Monaghan town, set to open in 2025, as part of a series of exhibitions and events to mark the 50th anniversary of Project Children in 2025.

Belfast Playwright, Fionnuala Kennedy, has documented the extraordinary intervention of Project Children through interviews with those who participated in the project and the dedicated volunteers.

Fionnuala said: ‘I’m delighted to finally get the chance to work with the team at Brassneck. Whilst the play looks specifically at Project Children, it’s a celebration of all those programmes - Children in the Crossfire, the Ulster Project, to name a few. The stories are mad, hilarious, sad, joyous! Not only about the children who went out, but the extraordinary volunteers who gave their time to help children during the conflict."

The initial run of ‘Project Children’, written by Fionnuala Kennedy and directed by Tony Devlin, premiered in August 2023 as a part of Féile an Phobail 35, to eight nights of sell-out audiences.

Jimmy Fay, Executive Producer of the Lyric Theatre said: "The Lyric is very excited to host Brassneck as they present ‘Project Children’, written by Fionnuala Kennedy and directed by Tony Devlin after a sell-out run at last year’s Féile. Fionnuala has written a warm, engaging and vibrant piece based on the memories of those who took part in the programme. We are also honoured to welcome Denis Mulcahy to the theatre on the 27th. Brassneck always attract a large and enthusiastic audience, and their shows never fail to delight and entertain. I would encourage everyone to snap up a ticket to this production which promises to be very special indeed!”

‘Project Children’ will run at The Lyric Theatre, Belfast from April 24th- May 5th. Tickets can be purchased at https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/whats-on/project-children