Long before she begun to attract wider attention for her work with schoolchildren participating in the Ministry of Education’s National Schools Drama Festival, Jean Kingston had been pursuing a love affair with the theatre.
It started “in the early nineties” while she was pursuing graduate studies at the University of Guyana as part of a cast in the Ken Danns Awe Society production.
In fact, Jean says, she may not have had the opportunity to work with schoolchildren in theatre but for the fact that the sight of blood made her change her mind about taking up a career in nursing.
She began working with children at the Sophia Special School, discovering in the process that theatre could also serve as a vehicle through which she could teach children to read.
Her decision to take her charges to the 2004 National Schools Drama Festival was facilitated by an accommodating Headmistress.
Apart from her own scripts, she has worked with plays like Paloma Mohammed’s Massacurra man.
Success has followed Jean. In 2004, 2006 and 2008, her charges shone at the National Drama Festival and once before, at the regional level they came in for considerable praise.
This year she challenged herself to try to repeat her success with students from Ascension Secondary School. Once again her efforts were met with success and she is anticipating this year’s visit to the regional festival in Barbados with her prize-winning cast.
Substantively, Jean, a Cyril Potter College of Education-trained teacher, teaches social studies.
The children of Ascension Secondary are, however, fortunate to have a teacher who is sufficiently committed to ensure that drama is part of the school curriculum.
Over time she has become equally committed to her vocation as a teacher as she is to theatre.
Currently acting as Head Mistress at Ascension Secondary she concedes that she has to ‘divide’ herself in order to meet the requirements of what has become a demanding schedule.
Used to working with children with limited academic prowess, Jean says that she believes that the theatre can serve as a vehicle for enhancing language skills and fostering a sense of self-esteem.
Those, she says are very often some of the critical tools that children need to enhance their academic levels.
