Rayshawn Pierre-Kerr, a cultural ambassador for Tobago's performing arts

As a girl, Rayshawn Pierre-Kerr used to sing to the stuffed animals on the couches in her grandmother’s living room.

She also commanded them to “pay attention” and “sing up,” mimicking the tutors under whom she performed at cultural events in her school and church.

One night, her ‘reprimands’ caught the attention of her grandmother, who, “between sleep and wake,” felt she was talking to people in the house.

“Granny swore there were other people in the space with me,” Pierre-Kerr, 30, recalled jokingly in a WMN interview.

“But she kept telling me I would be a performer because of the way I constantly engaged and tried to direct the things (most times inanimate) around me.”

That was more than two decades ago.

Since then, Pierre-Kerr has come into her own as a respected performer, playwright, stage manager and cultural technocrat.

“Between life with my grandmother, church and school, the pathway to performance was clearly paved and all I needed to do was accept that this is what I was called to be and do. My childhood had several clear indicators that I was destined to be an artist. All my skills led in that direction.”

As the artistic director of the Tobago Performing Arts Company (TPAC), Pierre-Kerr is tasked with designing, planning, coordinating and executing all of the artistic endeavours of its theatre and dance unit.

She assumed the role on August 1, 2021, some two years after the company was established by the former Ancil Dennis-led Tobago House of Assembly (THA) as the island’s flagship cultural ensemble.

The company, led by CEO Elvis Radgman, is mandated to provide opportunities to nurture talent within the cultural and performing arts in Tobago and create further avenues for performers to become leading cultural ambassadors.

Pierre-Kerr regarded her role, thus far, as a “life-changing venture."

“Of all my years working in the performing arts, TPAC is vastly different because of what it constantly asks for. I am grateful, though, that the team of talent in the company have become family – the family that will incite the change and further development that is needed in the Tobago cultural space.”

Describing her position as “incredibly challenging but equally rewarding,” Pierre-Kerr said she usually works 16-to-18-hour days in an effort to fine tune the company’s various projects.

She leads the performing company’s dynamic cast into its final production on Sunday of the Dr Lester Efebo Wilkinson 1970s classic, Bitter Cassava, which ran for three days at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort, Lowlands.

The play, Pierre-Kerr said, is a folk drama which tells the story of a man’s misfortune.

According to the plot, Samuel Blondell, one of its main characters, puts his common-law wife out of his house and declares his intention to marry a new “red-skinned” lady from town.

Justina, his common-law wife, curses Sam, his bride to be and their children, before taking her life in front of the entire village.

Pierre-Kerr said Bitter Cassava has something for everyone.

“Undoubtedly, Bitter Cassava is an outstanding theatrical piece which has had many years of success since its writing in the 1970’s. To date, the play remains a standard for folk plays in the Caribbean and patrons can expect the rich and exciting storytelling that is weaved into the play, to be married with the nuanced, Tobago aesthetic of song, dance and language.”

Born in Point Fortin, Trinidad, Pierre-Kerr lived with her grandmother, a Venezuelan immigrant, from the age of six.

“We moved around a lot. I have lived in more than 20 communities throughout this country.”

During her early years, she attended Dow Village Government Primary School and practically grew up on the stage. In fact, she started singing calypso around the age of seven and has also danced, played steelpan, acted, directed and written monologues, plays and stories.

At age ten, the family moved to Buccoo, Tobago.

“Although I had started visiting Tobago from age six, it was the first time I was able to call a place home. Tobago has been my home.”

Revered for its vibrant heritage and strict adherence to traditions, Pierre-Kerr readily embraced the island’s culture.

At the Pentecostal Light and Life Foundation High School, which she attended, then teachers Merle Baird and Jared Prima (now a TPAC director) encouraged her to participate in every competition – Amcham debates, youth forums, PTA national public speaking, scholarship competitions and spelling bee.

“You name it, I competed in it and won.”

Later, while doing A’Levels at Signal Hill Secondary, she gained greater exposure to national cultural events involving the performing arts.

“This further clarified my path.”

Eager to learn and excel in the arena, Pierre-Kerr entered the UWI, St Augustine campus with funding from the then Division of Culture, Tourism and Transportation (now Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation). She has been at the UWI both as a student and staff member for the past eight years.

She credits the Light and Life Foundation for “cultivating a spirit of resilience in me that I always had but which needed nurturing.”

Having grown up in what she called the “rich and vast world of Tobago culture,” Pierre-Kerr said she has an undying love for traditional arts, folk and oral lore and traditional Carnival.

She added every performance or stage production she has successfully designed and executed was drawn from the “world of traditional and cultural knowledge."

“And because so much of who I am and who we are, are encased in our traditions, it goes without expressing the significance of these traditions in my quest for using dance and drama as tools for social agency.”

For Pierre-Kerr, Tobago’s culture is a living, breathing phenomenon.

“It is ever alive, ever vibrant, ever present and ever accessible. Culture is performative, yes, but it also lives and breathes because of our people’s everyday interaction with it.”

While the island’s cultural luminaries have played a tremendous role in its transmission and preservation, Pierre-Kerr believes the young people have also kept the fire burning.

She said, “If you ever perform an enquiry into the cultural groups on the island, you will realise much of its wealth is the youth as a human resource. So, culture is blooming in Tobago and young people continue to play their part.”

Still, Pierre-Kerr believes there is much work to be done but she feels recognition must first be given to how culture is practised and preserved through youth performances in a range of fora.

The clamp-down on non-essential activities during covid19 pandemic over the past two years was detrimental to the performing arts sector in the country.

But Pierre-Kerr is thankful that the work of the company was not badly affected.

She said as part of its community, capacity and sector building mandate, the company was fortunate to have produced and executed several projects during the pandemic.

For example, the TPAC produced and executed the island’s Republic Day celebrations event, a musical documentary and concert which highlighted the musical talents of Tobago. The company also partnered with key stakeholders to produce the annual Tobago Day celebrations.

She said through its various partnerships, the TPAC also made a conscious decision to keep the sector alive by engaging all of the players.

“Through our stakeholder consultations and open forum, we have kept the conversations open about the way forward for the development of the Tobago creative sector and by extension, cultural tourism.”

One of the TPAC’s more recent projects, Pierre-Kerr noted, was the Tobago Carnival Tabanca Living Museum, one of the few initiatives hosted by the Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation for Carnival.

The company is also engaged in several training programmes for a musical showcase and talent development project titled, Dingolay; a feature film for the Tobago Heritage Festival and other activities relating to the island’s signature cultural showcase. The TPAC also intends to continue its cross-sectoral collaborations.

Pierre-Kerr wants the TPAC to become the premiere 21st century arts institution.

“To do this, it should invest and draw from its rich Tobago heritage, whilst innovating on performance in a way that is resonant, meaningful and transformational for all audiences.”

She believes the company is the perfect vehicle to enable the island to capitalise on the global shift toward the creative industries as a viable revenue-earner, post covid19.