The 2013 renewal of Guyana’s National Drama Festival was launched in June by the Minister of Culture Youth and Sport. This is the third annual nation-wide competition in drama, and this year’s edition was officially opened in conjunction with the award of certificates for the course ‘Introduction to The Elements of Stagecraft for Drama Instructors’ conducted by the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama. It was no coincidence that the festival launch and the ‘graduation ceremony’ were part of the same event because of the important common philosophical ground that they share. It is further observed that both have an extremely appropriate link to the School of Drama in its first year. The public launching therefore emphasised the association among three very significant national institutions linked by symbiosis and guided by the same vision and philosophy.
The National Drama Festival (NDF), which started in 2011 and attracted corporate support from Digicel, has had definitive incremental growth. While the general patterns were the same in those two years, the response was much greater and considerably more encouraging in 2012. This was seen in all areas – public interest, audience support, competitive participation and the number of entries. In 2011 the entries could have been handled with one open 
category and another with schools and youth groups, but in 2012 the number of entries exceeded 40. It was necessary to have five categories: Open Full Length Plays; Open Short (or One-Act Plays); Junior Category; Secondary Schools and Novices – for debutante groups. This was made necessary by the overwhelming response, not only to the call for entries, but to the range of interests in dramatic production that the NDF generated.
However, it is noted that this increase in numbers was not the only reason for the developments that are taking place in the NDF. One very important factor is that this festival is more than a competition. While it seeks to reward the best productions and performances, it has other aims which are mainly developmental, and these are consistent with what was observed in 2012 and what has been factored in for 2013. More than 75% of the several productions entered were actually new plays created specifically for the competition or using newly developed scripts by new playwrights. These were drawn from a variety of sources – the Theatre Guild Festival of One-Act Plays, a comprehensive training programme run by Merundoi; plays written by the drama teachers of a few secondary schools; and scripts developed in community, church and youth groups who had messages or issues they wished to communicate to the public.
There are prizes for the best original new plays in each group category because the NDF wishes to encourage the development of new Guyanese drama so that the competition does not just disappear after its final curtain, but that something is left behind. But in addition to the more than 30 plays added to the corpus, the NDF must have been satisfied with the fact that so many of them came from non-conventional origins. These included groups from outside of Georgetown, rural secondary schools, and church groups who chose theatre as their means of communication, education, commentary and persuasion.
However the other side of this achievement is that it was clear that the regular groups, the more established companies and those productions that were created out of training programmes had the better, more competent productions. It was further observed that those very new and non-traditional groups produced new plays, but not good plays. The lack of proper training and expertise was obvious in the dubious quality of many of them. So while gains were made in new additions to Guyanese drama and an increased interest in theatre among the population, the need to increase training and development was obvious.
The actual competition of performances on stage is set for October, but the idea of launching it in June is consistent with its concept. The NDF begins with preparation. Groups, schools and prospective entrants are empowered to produce plays, be competitive in the Festival, and contribute something meaningful to national drama. The idea is that the nation’s theatre will be stronger at the end of each Festival.
Last year persons trained in the Merundoi programme and others were recruited as ‘mentors’ for schools and novice theatre groups. This year the NDF decided to start with a more specific and thorough briefing for these mentors so that they would be better equipped to advise and assist the groups. The ‘mentorship’ programme was developed at the School of Drama and the course in stagecraft for drama instructors mentioned above was delivered to selected practitioners and teachers. It was also one of the courses done by students in the School of Drama. The graduates, who number about 40, are to be recruited by the NDF and sent out to several areas across the country to work with groups interested in theatre and who may wish to enter the national festival.
Again, the involvement of the Drama School (NSTAD) and its students is consistent with a network that is developing across the Caribbean. Both a need for trained theatre personnel and a mechanism for filling this need are being fashioned. An extremely important part of this is the creation of opportunities for ‘graduates’ to earn and to gain employment. Theatre Arts is a subject in CXC and many schools prepare students for it. But to a large extent the teachers are untrained in drama and it is generally felt that English teachers can handle it. But in Guyana, for example, it is not even the English teachers who do it in a few schools. Additionally, CXC has now developed Performing Arts in CAPE and teachers now need the technical knowledge to teach these classes. CAPE includes Cinematic Arts, Music, Dance, Business as well as Drama and in this network persons need to be trained, and after training there are areas in which they may be employed.
Not only the ‘Mentorship’ course, but the NSTAD itself fits into such a network. Apart from this, a course called ‘Enterprise and Entrepreneurship’ was done at the NSTAD in which students were introduced to the business of earning money from artistic work. They were exposed to ways in which opportunities may be created for artists and performers to earn money. Hopefully this may feed into another network that is already a grand industry in the Caribbean – the cultural industries. Theatre is a part of this.
More and more film is emerging as a very viable medium, and this includes both the artistic and technical inputs that go into film production. The television is already a popular and effective avenue for entertainment and education. The NSTAD is about to implement courses to help prepare practitioners for these possibilities. As these grow as commercial and professional activities, so do the opportunities for the professional services of persons trained.
Therefore the recent launching of the 2013 National Drama Festival, the graduation of ‘Mentors’ from the course in Elements of Stagecraft for Drama Instructors and the running of this course by the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama were significant events. The fact that they all happened in one ceremony was the recognition of a common purpose that links them together. Moreover, whether or not this was a premeditated tactic, they all fall in as factors in a grand design.
