First Lady, Sandra Granger, on Saturday evening, attended ‘Emerge 6’, an evening of performances by children, held at the Theatre Guild Playhouse, Kingston.
‘Emerge 6’ is produced by Purple Arts Production, a children’s drama workshop aimed at providing a safe space for children ages six to sixteen to channel their creative energies over the July/August school vacation, a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said.
The First Lady said that she was pleased with the efforts made by Simone Dowding, the Founder/Director of Purple Arts Production, to nurture children’s creativity and noted that it has allowed them to cultivate the virtue of discipline.
“I am always very happy to come to [these] performances because I think it shows not only what our young children can achieve, it also shows what they can achieve through several things; teamwork, discipline and the release of their own creativity because many of the performances are based on what the students, the children, who took part in her various workshops have written.
I’ve seen them directing, acting, and doing all the things, the stage props and everything else that comes with putting together a drama, a theatre production,” she said.
Dowding expressed gratitude to the First Lady for her continued support, to the parents for allowing their children to participate, to the children for their enthusiasm and the sponsors.
The programme featured two plays, ”School Time” and “Man Whipped”, which tackled hidden cultural issues such as bullying in schools and workplaces and violence against men. The ensemble cast also dramatized the spoken word piece titled “Cry of a Child”.
