The Glengarriff Theatre Group formed a youth branch at the beginning 2011, headed up by Maria O’Sullivan and assisted by Deborah Hogan and Terrie Erdpohl. The youth were traditionally included in the annual pantomimes in December but after that there were no further opportunities to develop their theatrical abilities. The youth wanted to experience the more challenging area of drama and, as a result, performed two very successful shows in February and June of that year (“Teen Angels” and “Take Three Girls”). In 2012 they performed a three act play called “Flowers in the Desert” and performed another play in June called “Bat out of Heaven”. They recently successfully performed an excellent version of “The Field” by John B. Keane. The group are responsible for their own set design, stage management, sound and lighting so not everyone has to act on stage. They are active from January to June and September to December and usually get together on Monday evenings in the Glengarriff Parochial Hall.

In early 2011, the Glengarriff Youth Theatre Group formed a partnership with King James I Academy in Bishop Auckland, England to work on joint projects affecting youth and conveying the issues through debate and drama. The drama group at the King James I Academy are known as the Bishop Auckland Theatre Hooligans (BATH) and have visited Glengarriff several times in the last few years. 6 individuals of the Glengarriff Youth Theatre Group went to Bishop Auckland in September 2011 for five days to start work on joint projects. The current project is based around Youth Democracy - young people having a voice in their community, whether they think their views are considered and heard or whether they feel they are not listened to. The King James I Academy also has a partnership with a school from Montego Bay in Jamaica, with eight young people included in this joint project. 70% of the funding for this project was provided by the “UN Youth In Action” programme with the difference made up by the Glengarriff Theatre Group and King James I Academy. The BATH group visited Glengarriff in February 2012 and 6 more individuals from the Glengarriff group travelled to Bishop Auckland in September to conclude the project.