About

The Stageschool

Showstoppers Stageschool was set up in Templeogue in September 2006 by Elaine Hearty. Elaine branched out to Portarlington in Nov 2006 and added more classes in Feb 2007. 

Classes run in Portarlington on Mondays over Lyle's Footwear, Main St and on Saturday mornings at Our Lady's School, Templeogue. Our objective is to give students the opportunity to nurture their talent in a safe and fun environment where they are both encouraged and challenged.

For students to be all round performers we believe it is important to focus on three areas, that is, Singing, Acting and Dance. We believe in encouraging talent and as a result, scholarships are given out each term. This entitles the students to free tuition for ten weeks.

Elaine Hearty

Elaine graduated with distinction from D.I.T Conservatory of Music and Drama, having studied Speech and Drama from 1996-1999. Since then her roles have included Chava/Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof (Gaiety), Ado Annie in "Oklahoma" (Gaiety/Cork Opera House/Civic Theatre Tallaght), Belle in "Beauty and the Beast" (St. Anthony's Theatre), The Merrow in "Quest 2- The Good People Try Harder (Pavillion, Dun Laoghaire), The Pianist in " Death of Cabaret" (Dublin Fringe Festival), Lucy in the Irish Premiere of the RSC's production of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (Cork Opera House), Sharon in "A Slice of Saturday Night" (Spirit), Alice in "Alice the Musical" (Marketplace Theatre Armagh/Pavillion Dun Laoghaire) Sharon in Shay Healy's new musical "Santa's Magical Mystery" (Irish Tour), Kirsty in Seagulls Dance for two Irish workshops and the world premiere in the Draoicht, Pam in "The Vagina Monologues" alongside Fenella Fielding(Dublin/Clonmel Tour) Maureen in "Rent" (Cork Opera House/Wexford Opera House). TV Credits include Furry in Fair City, City of Ember and most recently she played Maeve for an Eircom Phonewatch Ad. Her voice credits include Jo & Jack (RTE Cartoon Series), VHI Dentalcare, Triton Showers, American Cartoon Series "Dad the Impaler", AIB, Permanent TSB, Munster v's All Blacks, Fruice, Renault, Supervalu and much more.

Elaine is an accomplished singer/songwriter and won the 2fm Song contest in 1998 with her own composition. She has made several appearances on programmes such as The Late Late Show, 2TV, The Den, Echo Island, TX, Popscene, PM Live and various radio programmes. She recorded a single for Telethon with Irish artists such as Linda Martin, Paul Harrington, Frances Black and Gavin Friday and reached number one in the Irish charts. Elaine has been a soloist in the National Concert Hall in shows such as "A Celebration of Song", "Joe Conlan and Friends" "A Century of Song" and the AIMS Concert. Elaine played Elphaba from Wicked in "One Voice" - a variety show held in the Gaiety Theatre. Elaine was also a backing vocalist for the talented Josh Groban at the Point Depot. She is a member of an ABBA tribute band and gigs regularly as a pianist/singer.

Elaine has 13 years teaching experience. She taught drama in Our Lady's School Templeogue for four years, and also taught for many stageschools such as Starstruck, Claire Tighe Theatreworx, Visions Stageschool, Tenters Youth group, St. Vincent De Paul Youth Group and Music for fun Workshops. Most recently, she collaborated with a creative team for a film project with Foroige.