New Play Festival hosts final weekend

The Annual New Play Festival 2021 (NPF) will host its final weekend from November 19-21. The festival, in its fifth year, features two plays, La Dja’Cie by Emmanuel Ansolia, and IERE by Joel Philip, and is taking place virtually due to the pandemic.

These plays were first read in the Playwrights Workshop Trinbago’s (PWT) Monthly Readers Theatre Series and were developed further in the National Drama Association (NDATT)’s NPF, said a media release.

The workshopped plays are the result of a six-month process of development as part of the festival, beginning in July with play-development workshops, followed by dramatic readings and play-building workshops. The two plays which remained in the process were staged and filmed in the Little Carib Theatre and Folkhouse.

Each screening of the play via Zoom is followed by a panel discussion with the cast and playwright, when audiences are encouraged to give their thoughts on the script. Alternatively, the plays can be viewed via pay-per-view over the same weekend, the release said.

Ansolia used folklore to explore social issues such as violence against women and parenting. The play is for mature audiences only.

The synopsis reads, “One late evening, Jenny and Boyo stray from the path while on their journey home from school. This decision leads to a dark revelation, a new legacy and a harrowing encounter with the unknown! In a clearing in the forest, all is revealed.”

Ansolia is a professional actor, artist facilitator, storyteller, budding director, and playwright. He is doing a BA in theatre arts at the Department of Creative and Festival Arts, UWI, St Augustine, and works as an artist facilitator with the department's theatre arts outreach unit, Arts-in-Action.

In IERE, Philip takes a look at familial relationships and the effects of infidelity on a family. He asks, “Would you like to go to a land of perpetual sunshine where folklore characters are like family to you? IERE is that place, but Miguel doesn't receive the welcome he hoped for when he meets its residents and is transported there.”

Philip is a San Fernando-based actor, singer and writer. With his love of the arts blossoming in primary school, he quickly made the stage his home and has taken full advantage of the many facets of his creative mind. As the youngest participant in the New Play Festival, the 20-year-old budding practitioner makes his first steps as a playwright with his play IERE. Philip is a second-year student at UWI St Augustine, and is an active member of the Playwrights Workshop Trinbago circle of actors.

La Dja’Cie can be seen on Saturday at 10 am and Sunday at 5 pm. Iere can be seen on Friday at 7 pm and Sunday at 8 pm.

Tickets for the play are $50 each.

For more info: 351-6293, e-mail ndattpro@gmail.com.