Syntyche Bishop returns to stage in Riddim Nation, sets sights on Broadway

After almost a year of not appearing on a physical stage, actress, vocalist and dancer Syntyche (Sin-tie-key) Bishop will take her place in the spotlight on Carnival Monday and Tuesday in the production, Riddim Nation. Bishop will play the role of Sexy Sue, the girlfriend of the lead character, Broko, played by Kearn Samuel, at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port of Spain before a live audience.

The last time she performed for a live audience was in March 2021 when she was Miss Lizze in the National Theatre Arts Company of TT’s Junction Village. So when she got a call from Prior Joseph, Riddim Nation’s stage manager, to be part of the production she was exhilarated.

“I take every opportunity I get to perform. I live for it!”

Very clandestine about the production, all she would reveal is that Broko has no rhythm and her character is tasked with helping him find it.

“He is given an ultimatum to find it or find someone else to lime with on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. Yes, they wrote me in to be brutal,” she said with a laugh.

“This is a must-see production with so much entertainment. There will be a bit of everything Carnival – soca, chutney, calypso, mas, theatre, moko jumbie, traditional characters,” the enthusiasm evident in her voice.

Bishop, whose first name is Greek for “highly favoured,” told WMN her mother got the name from the bible verse Philippians 4:2 which reads, “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.”

With her siblings having “regular” names – Chloe, Kimberley and Justin – Bishop believes her parents foresaw that she was going to be a headliner and gave her a name that was sure to be highly favoured among the performance gods.

“I pretty much do everything artistic. I consider myself to be multi-hyphenate and open to doing a little bit of everything,” the 30-year-old said.

A resident actress with the National Theatre Arts Company for the past seven years, she moved up the ranks after starting off as an apprentice in 2014.

“It’s a full-time job, so I come up to Port of Spain from Princes Town every day.”

But the long commute is a small price to pay for someone whose entire life has revolved on and around the stage.

Bishop’s performance credentials are impressive and include roles at the Actor’s Chapel in New York for Black History Month in 2019 and 2020.

“It was amazing,” she told WMN with a satisfied sigh. “I came back home just before the lockdown in March.”

Having graduated from the UWI, St Augustine with a BA in theatre arts, over the years she has worked with several production companies including JSC Entertainment, Raymond Choo Kong Productions, Necessary Arts, and LP Entertainment Theatre, and has been featured in productions such as Two Choices, Amen Corner, West Side Story, Sing the Chorus, Jesus Christ Superstar, and What Happens in Toco Stays in Toco. But she was bitten by the performance bug long before that.

“I started performing when I was around seven, singing in church. Music was my foundation. Eventually I moved on to become a member of Suite Chorale in Princes Town, performing locally and doing international tours.”

After that she took a job with the Carnival cruise line as a vocalist for six months.

“We sailed to North America and Caribbean. I had a ball! It’s strange how that happened,” she mused.

“I got a random call from a pannist who was looking for a vocalist to accompany him. We auditioned, they liked us and we got the job.”

At some point, she said, she may consider revisiting cruise ship opportunities as a medium to simultaneously do some of the thing she loves – travelling, performing and meeting people. But the immediate plan is to go abroad to further her studies and career.

“Musical theatre has a special place in my heart because it has everything I love to do. The goal is to perform on Broadway and also to make some feature films.”

Bishop had also represented TT with the National Theatre Company in 2017 and 2019 – in Barbados and on home soil respectively. And when the covid19 pandemic shuttered and all but crippled the performing arts industry in TT, she, like the rest of the world, had no choice but to shift her artistic focus in a virtual direction.

“I teach performance, voice and beginner’s theory and piano practical at the Bishop’s School of Performing Arts, our family-run school in Princes Town. We do online classes at present and we are preparing to send some of our students up for the virtual TT Musical Festival.”

Last year she hosted her inaugural Discover Me project, where she worked with teenagers helping them to discover themselves and explore who they are.

“I never got the opportunity to do that as a teen. I figured if I could give them a listening ear, use drama in education as a tool, it could help them in their development, especially given the uncertainty in which they’ve found themselves over the past two years. I’d like to find the time to do it again this year.”

Her interest in film also led her along a new path as director of the recently released docu- performance, Talawa, featuring the life of soca artiste Lil Bitts (Shivonne Churche-Isaac).

“It was a beautiful experience. I loved working with that dream team.”

She said although working on virtual shows with the theatre arts company took a bit of getting used to, she was able to discover and develop so many of her other talents.

“I took on roles such as creative director and music co-ordinator, for example. In Daisy, a short film on parang queen Daisy Voisin and our last virtual production in 2021, I was both an actress and production assistant. It was definitely stressful, but beautiful. I now know a bit more about what I can do and it was worth it in the end.”

And now, as the industry is gradually re-opening its doors, Bishop can barely contain her excitement about meeting up face-to-face with her fellow theatre folk at NAPA and to perform for a live audience, of course with all safety protocols observed.

“I’m just excited to see everything come together. Everyone has been working in their own little bubble, but seeing the pieces fit together and performing for a live audience is what I’m looking forward to the most.”

Riddim Nation is being produced by Czar’s Jules Sobion and directed by Penny Gomez. Showtime is at 7pm.