The Theatre Guild will present A Festival of Plays 2018 from November 24 to November 26; five short plays that have been tailored to suit the needs of the Guyanese audience.
The plays are The Ex (written and directed by Sheron Cadogan-Taylor), Before Her Parting (written by Mosa Telford and introducing director Colleen Humphrey), Unbreakable (written and directed by Randolph Critchlow), Duenne (written by Paloma Mohamed and directed by Rae Wiltshire) and Political Diversion (written and directed by Sydney Henry).
In The Ex its writer and director said in a press release, “Derek Semple believes he lost the love of his life because of the systemic and deliberate interference of his mother-in-law. He is bitter and determined to win Debra’s love again even though she is now married to someone else. Will he succeed? What will the current husband do? The play raises questions: Should parents interfere in their children’s relationships? Should we take advantage of our male folks when they are vulnerable?”
Mark Luke Edwards plays the role of Derek and Debra’s character is played by Melika Edmonds. The other cast members are Kevin Smith, Shivina Demendonca, Kester Whyte, Nathaya Whaul and Keon Heywood.
Before Her Parting “… explores the consequences of gender-based violence but looks at it from the perspective of the dead,” Mosa shared. The actors in this play are Kimberly Fernandes, Randolph Critchlow, Latifah DaSilver, John Richards, Keshea John, Keisha Sam, Nathaya Whaul and Jasmine Wong. The play was first staged at the National Drama Festival 2013 and won the Best Production Award for the Open Short Play Cate-gory. Later that year, Merundoi Incorporated staged a matinee performance of it at the National Cultural Centre geared for schoolchildren.
Mosa also revealed that she will be one of the actors in Duenne which depicts Caribbean folklore and has to do with children who were aborted. Duenne draws the richness of myth in the examination of birth or life.
Being a short play Duenne has only four characters and the other three actors are Mark Luke Edwards, Teshandra Inniss and Sonia Yarde.
Unbreakable is centred on depression and mental health in young people. It gives a glimpse into the life of the character Joy who is suffering from a severe case of depression and looks at her interactions with family and how she is affected by them being around. The play looks at some coping mechanisms. It was first done on October 10, at the National Cultural Centre for World Mental Health Day as a part of Massy’s fiftieth anniversary and corporate social responsibility to promote mental awareness for school children. The concept for it, Randolph explained, came from him and his wife Nuriyyuh Gerard. They deal with the issue through their One Act Founda-tion which focuses on the mental health of young people. The roles in Unbreakable will be played by: Le Tisha De Silver as Joy, Colleen Humphrey as Linda Jones, Abigail Brower as Kim and Nathaya Whaul as Hope.
Colleen is an award-winning actress who has been on stage since she was eight. As Linda Jones, she plays a hardworking mother who never went far educationally and whose daughter is trying her very best to succeed. But because she feels academically incompetent, she is worried she is not much help to her daughter and tries to figure out what she can do to help her achieve her goals.
Tickets cost $1,200 a night, while season tickets for all three nights cost only $3,200 and can be purchased at Theatre Guild. Curtain time is 7 o’clock each night.
