Thara Howe wows in stage debut

Ten-year-old Thara Howe wowed audiences with her performance as young Calypso Rose in the calypso musical Queen of the Road: The Calypso Rose Musical by Rhoma Spencer. This was the standard four student’s first time on the stage, and she is determined it will not be her last.

Thara spent five weeks in rehearsal for the show which ran for three days at the Central Bank Auditorium. She sang several of Calypso Rose’s songs, performed dialogue as Carty Rose, and danced as part of the cast, both in scenes as young Rose and as a chorus dancer.

She said it took her two weeks to learn the dialogue lines and the music.

“I kept my focus and every day I’d do at least five pages, and every day I’d do something new. I wouldn’t stay on one page. When I finished the whole book, because I’d usually finish it in one day, I’d be like 'Okay, let me check it over, because I don’t feel like five pages is enough for me.' That’s what I do.”

She said of the three skills – acting, singing, and dancing – she liked acting the best.

“I preferred the acting during the play. I just loved it! I didn’t have a problem memorising my lines, that was the best part of it. I enjoyed it and once you concentrate on what you’re doing, you will get success.”

She also learned some of the choreography in the play through observation.

Thara said while this is her first play, she does art, dance and drama with Marcia Charles at the St Patrick’s Newtown Girls' RC School, where she’s preparing for SEA examinations in 2025. She said she’s nervous about doing the examination but she’ll get through it.

“At school I’m studying English grammar, mathematics, social studies and science. Those are my major subjects.

“I don’t know what I want to study in high school. When I get to high school I’ll see, and whatever option I love and I want to do, I’ll do it.”

Thara said her dream job is to be a dance instructor, teaching other people different dance forms

“I do want to be a dance instructor. I want to train people to dance, but I also have something else I could do if that doesn’t work out, which is real estate. I like to sell things, I’d like to sell apartments.”

Thara also loves exercising. Her mother, Latisha Samuel, said she gets on the stage with the instructor at the Fit Addicts Movement Fitness Boot camp, and also did the same during the fitness section of the 2024 Tribe launch.

“I love exercising, it makes me feel a way, I can’t describe it. In my free time I like to draw, it’s a sense of relief for me. I like to go outdoors, and I do rock climbing and stuff like that.”

Thara is preparing for the stage again in the Queen of the Road: The Calypso Rose Musical on May 30 and 31, and June 1. She said she’s looking forward to participating in similar projects.

“The part I enjoyed the most about being in the play was when I go to Tobago, because I learned the calypsos and it makes me feel a kind of way, I don’t know, I can’t explain it.”