Tears that Fall at readers theatre series tonight

Playwrights Workshop Trinbago’s (PWT) Monthly Readers Theatre Series (MRTS), featured the first Wednesday of every month, will be reading Tears that Fall written by Garnet Lawrence for the August instalment. The reading takes place at the National Drama Association’s (NDATT) Studios, 97 Southern Main Road, Curepe tonight at 7 pm.

A Christian playwright, director and actor, Garnet Lawrence has been writing and directing plays since he was 18. Born Trinidadian, bred Tobagonian, Lawrence has been writing and acting in his church plays since the age of 16. After graduating from the University of the West Indies, with a first-class honours BA in theatre arts and literatures in English, he returned to Tobago, where he has been writing for secondary schools. Several of his plays have won awards at the Secondary Schools Drama Festival.

At present, he is a teacher at the Signal Hill Secondary School, where he continues to actively challenge himself and his students to address various social issues through the school’s drama club, Shape Up Productions.

Set in a crime-ridden community in Trinidad, Tears that Fall is an adaptation of Greek playwright Sophocles’ play Antigone. This adaption, however, shifts the focus from the Antigone archetype to Melda, representative of the character of Creon. She is the mother of a wayward son who dies at the start of the play and she declares that no one from her family will be going to that son’s funeral. Her good son defies her and their actions spiral into a faceoff with her family, close friends and the whole community. This work forces the audience to question whether she was right and asks how mothers should treat with their disobedient children.

PWT is inviting actors, playwrights, directors, producers and the general public to the reading to provide the playwright with feedback to further develop his script. Admission is free. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pwt-monthly-readers-theatre-series-tickets-47703249704.