Salt for New Play Festival

THE New Play Festival (NPF) will return later this month and will feature workshop performances of three plays: Earl Lovelace’s Salt, Narad Mahabir’s The Ford and Rhesa Samuel’s Asylum,

The plays will run from October 25-28 at the Big Black Box, the Playwrights Workshop Trinbago (PWT) said. The festival, now int its third year, aims to foster the development of original storytelling through drama and playmaking, provide opportunities for new plays and indigenous storytelling to be performed for personal and collective development, the PWT said in a media release. The festival also provides an opportunity for theatre practitioners of varying generations to work together, and a forum to raise awareness of local theatre works, inspiring appreciation, respect and support for local theatre.

Partnering with the PWT on this initiative is a consortium of organisations which include the National Drama Association (NDATT), the TT Performing Arts Network (TTPAN), the Big Black Box and Trinidad Theatre Workshop (TTW).

The NDATT public relations officer Paula Lindo said, “NDATT has been supporting the New Play Festival since its inception in 2016. As part of our mandate to develop all aspects of drama, it is our honour and privilege to continue our support of this project, which provides another opportunity to develop the skills within our membership.”

The Performing Arts Network has also been supporting the festival since its inauguration and the PWT for its Monthly Readers Theatre Series.

Network founder Triston Wallace said, “There’s nothing more profound than seeing the arts community come together to create a new product that is uniquely Trinbagonian. Allowing PWT to tap into our expansive network to access the talent they need, while also facilitating the opportunity for new, emerging and established artists to be involved in the process of creating new work, gain practical experience, while expanding their own personal network, helps to build a more unified and collaborative creative community, which is at the core of what we do.”

Big Black Box co-director Wendell Manwarren said the festival is the kind of production that it want more of in its space.

"Playwriting is critical, and the New Play Festival actively encourages the development of the form and creates an opportunity for the young and the not so young who are interested in getting involved in that side of theatre.”

The TTW continues to support PWT by providing a venue for its monthly readings on the first Wednesday of every month. Scripts read at these sessions are then shortlisted to be workshopped and staged at the annual New Play Festival, the release said.

Playwrights Workshop artistic director Tony Hall said the involvement of so many partners in this year’s festival was "long overdue.”

The festival co-ordinator Safa Niamat-Ali lauded the recognition being given to importance of playmaking. “It is refreshing that so many organisations recognise the value of playmaking toward building a theatre industry which bears our national identity, to come together to support this project,” she said.

The New Play Festival runs from October 25-28 at the Big Black Box, 33 Murray Street, Woodbrook.

For schedule and more info: http://iamndatt.wordpress.com/projects/npf2018, e-mail playwrightsworkshoptt@gmail.com.