The famous Dublin playhouse, which opened in 1904 with performances of W. B. YEATS’s On Bailes Strand (1904). The theatre, which was founded for the production of plays by and about the Irish, was on outgrowth of older literary and dramatic groups, the Irish Literary Theatre (1899) and the Irish National Theatre Society (1902), the latter of which founded by Yeats and Lady Gregory. Thanks to a subsidy from Mrs. A. E. F. Horniman, the Irish National Theatre Society was give use of the theatre; in 1910, with funds from public subscription, the company purchased the the theatre. The building burned in 1951 and was reopened in 1966. Among the many dramatists associated with the early days of the theatre were J. M. SYNGE, Sean O’CASEY, A.E. (q.v.), Padraic COLUM, and G. B. SHAW. See IRISH RENAISSANCE.