MICHAEL Colgan and the Gate Theatre have been instrumental in the putting together of the Laura Pells International Foundation, funded by the eponymous American heiress. The Laura Pells Foundation funds theatre in the US, but tax problems had made funding theatre abroad difficult. These difficulties have now been overcome, and the Gate has joined with the Roundabout in New York, the Almeida in London, and a still to be found new theatre in Paris in a novel cooperation agreement.

The benefits to the Gate are likely to be many. Laura Pells has already donated funds to the Beckett Festival in New York and the Pinter Festival. There will be the possibility of touring to associated theatres and also of American actors playing in Dublin; Frances McDormand, the Oscar nominated actress, is coming to Dublin in a couple of weeks to look at the possibility of performing at the Gate, and Richard Dreyfuss and Jason Robards are also said to be interested. The benefits to the American side? "It will help break down the insularity of US theatre," says Colgan.