Dean Crowe Theate - A Potted History

It is hard to believe that this Theatre started life as a parish church for St. Peter's parish. The old church appears to have been built in two phases,

the first as early as 1795 when it would have been no more than a small chapel. It was then enlarged in 1809 and served as the parish church until the completion of SS Peter& Paul's in 1937.

The novelist John Broderick described the church "The inside of this old building was most unusual", and in many ways pre-dated today's idea of gathering a congregation close about an altar.
In St. Peter's this was achieved by means of galleries.
The altar, raised high with some eight or ten steps leading to it, was placed against the wall in the middle of the church instead of the end. The seats were arranged in three sections, in front and at both sides of the altar; and over these were the galleries. They were known as the organ gallery, the old men's gallery and the grand gallery. The young John McCormack sang in this church in the 1890s, under the direction of the Choirmaster Michael Kilkelly.

When the new church of SS Peter & Paul was built this building became a parochial hall for St. Peter's parish.

It was a favourite venue for dancing and other forms of entertainment.
In 1959 it was renovated and re-named The Dean Crowe Memorial Hall and soon became a venue for a multitude of local and national events, ranging from the annual production of Athlone Musical Society to The All-Ireland Drama Festival.

It also catered for less cultural events including the annual parish "Sale of Work" featuring a variety of stalls and and endless supply of raffles for prizes such as: "a ten shilling note", "a pair of chickens or ducks", "a calf" or "a load of turf".

It was the All-Ireland Drama Festival in 1959 that John B. Keane first came to prominence when the Listowel Drama Group won the Esso Trophy for their production of "Sive". Over the years many of our most talented actors, musician, comedians and singers have appeared on this stage.

In 1992 a decision was taken to refurbish and extend the old Hall to create a modern theatre.
Later the Bishop of Elphin agreed to extend a 99 year lease to the newly formed Dean Crowe Theatre Trust and thus the operation became possible.
A three-phase development plan was conceived by our architect, Mr Brian Brennan (who has been a member of the cast "Sive") and fundraising plans were put into place.

After a successful fundraising appeal it was agreed to combine 1 & 2, a local architect Mr Gerry Daly was engaged to become involved in the project. With the support of our T.D. Minister Mary O'Rourke, and Minister Sile De Valera our application for E.U. Funding was successful thus enabling the work to begin. Local builders T.Murray & Sons were engaged and the final product was even better than we could have wished for. Enthused by the success we quickly turned to Phase 3, the refurbishment of the stage and back-stage facilities and once again our application for E.U. funding was successful. The final phase commenced in 2001 and was completed in 2002.