Tony’s hall of fame

Michael Anthony Hall was an actor, presenter, director, scriptwriter, playwright, screenwriter, teacher, husband, father, brother, mentor and friend.

Better known as Tony Hall, he died of a heart attack on April 27, at 71.

Tony’s brother, comedian Dennis “Sprangalang” Hall, said Tony got his love for the arts from their parents. Their father, Michael Hall was a teacher at Naparima College, San Fernando, and their mother took them to shows there from a young age.

“We grow up with that sense of theatre from our parents. That’s all we know. People don’t understand that theatre so far down in we that it’s DNA thing we discussing, because that was all they expose we to.”

He said Tony was a good storyteller like their father and had a good memory like their mother. He added that Tony was “bright” and skipped both Standard 2 and Form 2, so they did not move in the same circles, although they were born only 14 months apart.

Sprangalang said they had similar interests, but he did not have Tony’s patience in dealing with people who were not professionals. So while Tony developed a theatre process in which people talked about and examined themselves, Dennis stuck with performing at Best Village.

“When he come back from Canada and see what I was doing, he said it was the same thing he was doing with foreigners, and then he started doing it with people here. So much so that he gave up his Canadian citizenship. I was mad as him, but I was worried about him, ‘cause sometimes he lived in his own world.”

He said his brother was a good man who would never harm a fly and people knew that. As testament to that, he recalled a time Tony was robbed in Curepe and a few days later someone knocked on his door and returned his wallet with everything in it.

“It would take real belly to do him something, because he ain’t doing nobody nothing. He just trying to contribute to art and culture.

“He made a point the other day that between me and he, we make 100 years of working in Trinidad culture, and we doing it quietly.”

Sprangalang said they never thought about doing anything other than theatre. He remembered when their father realised how much they loved theatre. He told them he and their mother would support them but they would die poor. At least they would die happy, though.

He added that Tony was there “right through” with him when he was sick last year, and would visit him every Thursday. So while he was sad about his brother’s death, he was not inconsolable.

“At this age I take the good with the bad. You can’t have people around longer than you could have them. All we can do now is soldier on and celebrate he life.”

‘We have lost a

master teacher’

Producer, director and actor Rhoma Spencer said Hall was in demand all over the world, including Norway, Costa Rica, and the US.

She said he was so valued that, as he got older, Trinity College, Connecticut, where he was a lecturer, agreed to let students come to him in TT, where he set up a satellite campus at UWI, St Augustine

“We here in TT have no idea what we have lost. We have lost a master. A master teacher, a master actor, playwright, director and filmmaker. He was not utilised the way that he was in other countries.”

Spencer said she knew Hall from seeing him on TV when she was a child, but met him for the first time in 1991 as her theatre lecturer at UWI. She worked with him on several projects.

“He’s my mentor, so anything I do, I consult with him. The artist that I am is through inspiration from Tony.”

Their first project together was Jean and Dinah in 1992, compiled through improvisation and research. The actors researched their characters, Hall would videotape interviews with them in character, he would use that to create a script, and the researchers would contribute to that script.

She described him as a great teacher and director who did not give instructions but instead talked with his cast.

“A rehearsal with Toy Hall meant there would be plenty talk. Plenty talk. And when he finish talk and you get on the boards, you know exactly what to do, based on his conversations and the images he gave you to work with.”

She also described Hall as a “culture vulture,” because he could talk knowledgeably on almost any topic. She added that even though he was a university lecturer, he was anti-university and “anti-PhD,” mostly because, she said, he told her UWI did not want to give him a full-time position because he did not have a doctorate.

Internationally he was in demand because his work and the way he imparted knowledge spoke for itself.

Spencer was especially distressed at Hall’s death because she was in TT in February and it was the first time she had come home (she now lives in Canada) without seeing or speaking to him.

“I’ve really lost a friend, a brother, a teacher, a mentor, a muse. “And listen, just as his brother was a comedian, Tony was a comedian too. He made me laugh a lot, he talked a lot of crap, he was very very humorous. Oh my God. A total mess. I’ll miss all of that.”

She said Hall retired from Trinity College on Friday after 25 years and died on the Monday after.

“To me, what that is saying is that Tony did what he came to do on this earth. His job was done, and well done. He often said he did not fear death, he feared the long process of dying. He wanted to be like a bulb, just to switch off. And that’s how he went.” Bruce Paddington, founder of Banyan Productions, paid tribute to Hall on the TT Film Festival website.

He described Hall as a renaissance man, who played a critical role in the development of Banyan, and its position in local television with the production of the educational TV series Who the CAP Fits.

“Tony’s community theatre approach encouraged audience involvement and improvisation; when married with social commentary and the humour and satire of early Banyan programmes, a new style was born.” In a release UWI mourned the passing if its adjunct lecturer in the Theatre Arts Unit, Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA).

DCFA head Louis Mc Williams said Hall’s passing was a loss to the national, regional, and international community and sent condolences to his widow Mary and two children.

”We have lost a brilliant writer, actor, educator, and a nationalist who created in us a greater appreciation for local theatre, music, dance and the arts. We at the UWI will miss him.”

In a release, San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello described Hall as a titan of arts and culture.

Long list of achievements

According to a Jouvay Institute biography on Tony, he wrote and directed for the street, stage and screen since the late 1960s. He also collaborated in the making of mas, including working with masman and designer Peter Minshall, since 1987.

He attended the University of Alberta and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Canada, and later an international artist residency at California State University.

He also taught at Trinity College, Connecticut; Indiana State University; the University of TT, Port of Spain; UWI, St Augustine; as well as the universities of Winchester and Bradford and the Carnival Learning Centre in the UK.

Hall devised the Jouvay Popular Theatre Process, a drama workshop implemented as a performance model for training actors ‘training’ and play-making as well as for personal and community development.

He started a playwrights workshop 2003, and founded the Lordstreet Theatre Company with Errol Fabien in 1990.

His plays included Jean and Dinah...Speak Their Minds Publicly (1994); Twilight Cafe (2001); The Brand New Lucky Diamond Horseshoe Club (2006), with lyrics and music by David Rudder; and Miss Miles the Woman of the World (2011).

Hall also co-wrote and co-directed what were described as “social action works” like the street and environmental plays that depict important moments in TT’s history. These include the 1881 Camboulay Riots (2000-12) and Red House (Fire! Fire!)’ (1999). In 2002 he founded the Jouvay Institute.

In 2002, Hall, Bruce Paddington, and Christopher Laird, as Banyan Productions, received the Vanguard Award from the National Drama Association for innovative ground-breaking television.

Hall received a Lifetime Achievement Award from NDATT in 2013.

In the same year, Banyan received the Pioneer Award at the TT Film Festival for contribution to film in the Caribbean.