Dramatic readings for Carifesta

The National Drama Association (NDATT) and the Playwrights Workshop Trinbago (PWT) will present three dramatic readings as part of Carifesta XIV. The readings are the result of the PWT’s Play Development Workshop and will take place on August 24.

The plays featured are Ring Game by Arnetia Thomas, The Serpent’s Mouth by Randy Ablack and Songbird by Tricia Kellowan.

Actors involved include Willard Gopaul, Rhesa Samuel, Toni Lima, Narad Mahabir, Anton Brewster, Alicia Psyche Haynes, Samara Lallo and Gervais Aleong. The plays were dramaturged by veteran playwright and writer Harold Greaves.

Thomas took inspiration from the ring game Brown Girl in the Ring to tell the story of Susanna, a brown girl in the ring of a never-ending game.

“Trapped and controlled by her sister Lisa, and Lisa’s friend Alice, she tries to find love, comfort and freedom in a place where they don’t seem to exist. Will she find what she’s looking for? Will the game ever end? Or will she always be trapped in a ring game?”

Thomas is 22 and plays are her latest exploration of creative expression.

“This world has allowed me to express myself and tell stories in a whole new way. I started writing my first play in 2018 and have been working on it since then. My love for writing has grown in the past year and I continue to write and grow each day.” Ablack’s The Serpent’s Mouth is a radio play set in the village of Carenage. Three police officers investigate the disappearance of a young boy, and the search threatens to disrupt the accepted levels of corruption to which villagers have become immune.

The play speaks directly to the disconnect betweencommunal responsibility and social ills. Ablack is a founding member of the PWT, a poet and short-story writer. He has a degree in literature and communications from COSTAATT, and is doing an MFA at UWI St Augustine.

Songbird draws inspiration from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The dark fantasy/mystery explores themes of marginalisation, conformity, death, abandonment and connection.

Kellowan recently completed her studies at UWI, St Augustine, with a major in theatre arts. She’s always had a love of writing poetry and short stories. After taking a playwriting elective with Tony Hall in 2018, she learned to adapt her short poetry pieces into dialogue. She said. “As this is my first time writing a play, I am excited to see where this journey takes me.”

The Play Development Workshop is an advanced playwriting workshop which takes place over a two-month period, from June to July, aimed at developing the playwrights and the scripts.

The scripts were selected from the works read during PWT’s cold-reading sessions, which take place on the first Wednesday of each month in its Monthly Readers Theatre Series (MRTS).

The dramatic readings will take place from 3 pm on August 24 at the NDATT Studio 1, at 97 Southern Main Road, Curepe.

For more information e-mail nationaldramatnt@gmail.com or call (868) 351-6293.