About Us

At The Little Duke, we believe that drama training – and theatre skills – develop vital skills for life, such as observation, reflection, focus, and communication.

 

Founding

The Little Duke Theatre was founded in 1997 by Brenda Gogan, and each year several hundred students come to the school for classes in drama, dance and singing. 
 

With a dedicated and highly trained team in dance, drama, singing, film, and dramatherapy, The Little Duke Theatre and The Drogheda School of Performing Arts have been engaged in training young and adult actors in Drogheda for almost thirty years.  

Meet the Team

Brenda Gogan

MA – Dramatherapy

BA (Hons) Theatre Studies

Licentiate Diploma – Speech and Drama

Brenda Gogan, founder of The Little Duke Theatre, has worked as an actor, director and producer in theatre and as an actor in television, film and theatre in Dublin, Copenhagen and London, and has a deep appreciation of the needs of the performer.

Brenda is a drama therapist and also a facilitator in the areas of actor training, education and intellectual disability.

Keri Ann Rowan

Kerry Ann Sheridan is an award-winning Irish vocalist, luxury wedding and events singer, recording artist, and vocal coach with over 20 years of professional performance and teaching experience. She has performed for the President of Ireland, supported legendary artist Sister Sledge, recorded with internationally renowned producer David Morales, and performs regularly with The Blue Belles vintage trio . Known for her powerful vocals, stage presence, and versatility across live events and music projects, Kerry Ann brings industry-level experience, confidence, and passion to every student she coaches at the Little Duke Theatre.

Danielle Ng

Danielle began her training at the Billie Barry Stage School, Irish Ballet School and later went on to London Studio Centre in the UK in Theatre Dance. She has performed, choreographed and taught internationally over the last 20 years. Danielle has appeared in numerous film productions, tv series and tv commercials as a movement performer and actor. She joined the Little Duke as a teacher in 2009.

JJ Harrington

JJ is a writer, educator, and filmmaker. Born in Central America, she grew up in Scandinavia and now lives and works in Ireland.

As writer/director, JJ is a former recipient of funding awards from Screen Ireland (Fís Éireann), RTÉ (Radio Telefís Éireann), the European Fund for Peace and Reconciliation, and FilmBase, Dublin. Her short films have been broadcast nationally and screened competitively at international festivals.

She is heavily involved in community and youth theatre, and is the co-artistic director of The Little Duke Theatre, Drogheda, working frequently in creative partnership with groups including The Irish Wheelchair Association, Malta Services, John of Gods, AbleVision, The Red Door Project, and Fighting Words.

 
She has worked as an instructional designer, theatre critic and script editor, is an internationally short-listed writer of short fiction, and a Brandon Hall award-winning instructional designer. She has worked in development providing coverage for features and television. 
 
In higher education, JJ has worked as a head of department, lecturer, academic consultant, and external examiner. She has taught at academic levels ranging from diploma to masters level (NFQ levels 6-9) at institutions including Trinity College (Dublin), the National College of Art and Design (Dublin), the Dublin Institute of Technology, and Griffith College (Dublin). She was interim Head of the Department of Journalism and Digital Media at Independent Colleges, Dublin, and academic Head of Film at Pulse College & Windmill Lane Recording Studios (Dublin). 

Andrew Bennetts Byrne

Andrew Bennetts-Byrne is an actor, director and filmmaker from Drogheda. He grew up taking classes at the Little Duke Theatre from the ages of 5-18 before going on to study theatre and dance in college.

After graduating he trained in screen acting in Bow Street Academy under Gerry Grennell, an acting and voice coach to actors such as Heath Ledger, Meryl Streep, Andrew Garfield, Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth. Following this, he pursued a career in screen acting before transitioning to working behind the camera, focusing on writing, directing and coaching.

Andrew has been teaching drama and dance at the Little Duke Theatre since 2018, working on productions including The Wizard of Oz, Into the Woods and Sister Act.

Grainne Rafferty

Grainne Rafferty is a Drogheda-born actor and facilitator who has worked in both community and professional theatre for a number of years.

Most recent productions include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with the Little Duke Theatre where the costume design and drama facilitation came under her remit. Grainne has written and acted in her own show, Around The Head, which was commissioned by the Drogheda Arts Festival and produced by the Droichead Arts Center.

Ongoing projects include facilitating with a Bealtaine formed senior drama group in the Droichead arts Centre, as a facilitator with Abacas Film Club and in the Little Duke/Drogheda School of Performing Arts. She is the resident children’s drama workshop facilitator with Drogheda Arts Center, and facilitates the Drogheda Mythical Mural tours as a storyteller, including voice overs for the annual Lú Festival of Light in conjunction with Visual Spectrum.

Grainne has written and narrated 2 short films for Criunniu na N’Og titled Selkie and Aoife and the Children of Lear and for RTE. For local radio LMFM, she has written and narrated Amelia and Hy–Brazil.

Grainne has performed the part of Jesse in Glitch written by Martin McGuire directed by Darren Thornton for Calipo Theatre company amongst others and has collaborated with Upstate Theatre Project for over 10 years. Some of this work was with the company as a writer and director including Waterways, The Immortals and other productions such as Ship Street Revisited with director Paul Hayes, Come Forward to Meet You with director Louise Lowe other collaborations include The Bellroom under Louise Lowe and story trail with  Broken Talkers.