A Limerick-born writer has been awarded a major theatre prize for his debut play, Skin Deep.
Paul Meade won the most prestigious of the three Stuart Parker awards for emerging playwrights after the success of his play in Temple Bar's Project centre in Dublin last year.
Skin Deep is based on the relationships between four young people living in Dublin, with the plot pivoting on a stolen foot used in an art exhibition.
The play uses video projections to add to the stage setting and the drama itself.
Jennifer Johnston, the novelist and playwright, presented the €11,000 bursary to Meade in the Lyric Theatre in Belfast.
The Limerick native hopes that the funding will help with future projects.
He is planing a play which is based on the life of James Joyce. This will involve the Civic Theatre in Tallaght in conjunction with the Gúna Nua Theatre Company, of which Meade is artistic director.
Meade is no stranger to success. He shared the best production award at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2001 for the play Scenes from a Water Cooler, which he co-wrote and directed with David Parnell.
The actor/director is currently preparing for the opening of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing in Andrews Lane Theatre in Dublin on Tuesday with Gúna Nua.
Originally from Limerick, Meade trained at the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin.
He received an MA in modern drama from University College Dublin.