When she was three years old, the multitalented Tristana Roberts paraded in a butterfly costume while in nursery school for that year’s Children’s Mashramani road march. Since then, her love for Mashramani costumed bands and float parades has grown and she has participated as a reveller or as a queen.
“… I have literally been in costumes at Mashramani for some 30 years,” the now 36-year-old triple threat artist told Stabroek Weekend. “The only time I missed being in a costume in a band was due to an ankle injury. This year, I am pulling a queen’s costume in the Ministry of Education band and it will be educational for sure.”
She wants to see Mashramani bigger and better, more inclusive, more authentic, more Guyanese and not copying from Trinidad or Brazil carnivals or Barbados Crop Over. “I have nothing against them but we should be proud to showcase and promote our folklore, short stories, history and the like, so our young people could have an understanding and be proud of what we have so not only, we, ourselves learn about our own culture but visitors to our Mashramani must know about our rich cultural heritage,” she said.
Apart from singing, dancing and acting in plays and musicals on stage at the Theatre Guild, the National Cultural Centre, her church and other venues, Roberts is the theatre arts teacher at the New Campbellville Secondary School and the reigning Miss Plus Size Universe Guyana. She has been a model and a Zumba dance instructor since 2014. Her sessions are held at the Unity Gym in Fogarty’s building.
“Zumba is dance fitness so choreographing the routines is fun and challenging at the same time because I have to make sure it gives a good workout,” she said.
As a theatre arts teacher, Roberts said she realised the majority of her students knew nothing about Ole Higue, Moon Gazer or the Masacura-man, and “three quarters of them don’t know folk songs.”
In the same way there are categories for the children’s Mashramani competitions, Roberts said there should be similar categories for the adult float parade.
While government ministries portray development issues in their bands, she noted that private sector entities did not do that. “The private sector should focus on things more Guyanese than being foreign minded and copying from Trinidad Carnival, Crop Over and Caribana which are not Guyanese. Mashramani is Guyanese,” she argued.
During her first three years she was one of two students to carry the school’s banner in the children’s parade and in her last two years, she donned the queen’s winning costume for the school.
“So at Mashramani during my high school years, I took part in the children’s road march with my secondary school and then on the 23rd February, I took part as a reveller with the National School of Dance under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS). After secondary school I continued going on the road with the ministry. One year, I went with my high school, then with the ministry and the week after I went to Linden to take part in their parade of the bands,” she recalled.
For the country’s 39th republic anniversary, Roberts won for the MCYS, the queen’s costume competition. “That was the year I pulled a big three layered cake. I have carried the costumes of the queen for different ministries. At the secondary school level, every time I pulled a costume we got first. I never took part in any dance competition for Mashramani,” she added.
Asked where she gets all that energy from, Roberts said, “I just love Mash and I love to exercise to keep fit. To me Mashramani is that time when everybody just comes together and forgets all the negativity. It’s like a big celebration party.”
The 50th anniversary of the country’s independence, Roberts said, was memorable. “It was our Golden Jubilee. There was flag raising and I had to be there with the National School of Dance, then I had to be at the National Cultural Centre because we were doing shows featuring outstanding events from independence to the present time and I was in a few of those plays,” she related. “I was a character in the play, the Green Card Marriage and I was in another one called Journey to Freedom. That year, the Catholic Church, of which I am a member, staged the musical, Jesus Christ Superstar and I played the role of Mary Magdalene.”
From work she went to rehearsals for the musical at the Catholic Standard on Wellington Street and South Road, then to the National Cultural Centre to rehearse one of the plays followed by rehearsals at D’Urban Park for the flag-raising ceremony with the National School of Dance. “Most days, I got home around 10 pm and 11 pm. It was hectic, crazy, tiring but it was a lot of fun,” she enthused. “I enjoyed that period because I got to do everything I liked. I got to act. I got to dance and I got to sing. The activities were year-long, but those things I just spoke about happened during the month of May. I had rehearsals starting in April. Sometimes I would just pop in to my parents’ home for a shower and a change of clothing. It was easier for me to stop by my parents to take a nap for a half of an hour before going out again.”
She has never designed any costume but dabbled in designing when she was teaching at South Road Nursery School. The teacher in charge of the children’s Mashramani activities in the school would give Roberts an idea of what she wanted the children to wear. “I sketched what she wanted, but I have personally never designed or made any costumes.”
Who is Roberts?
Roberts attended Stella Maris nursery and primary schools and after common entrance she went to Marian Academy. She was in the first batch of students to enter and graduate from the school. After Marian Academy she enrolled at Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) where she majored in early childhood education. She taught at the nursery level initially.
After CPCE she did a few courses with the Institute of Distance and Continuing Educa-tion and the American University of Peace Studies. She then pursued a diploma followed by a bachelor’s degree in social work at the University of Guyana (UG).
When the Institute of Creative Arts opened, Roberts, who was a member of the National School of Dance at the time, obtained a certificate and a diploma in dance. She then obtained a diploma in theatre arts and drama from the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama.
She subsequently returned to UG and did a post-graduate diploma in education administration. “After UG I went to the National School of Arts and Drama and I got a diploma in creative writing majoring in play writing. I went back to do that because I am a theatre arts teacher and I wanted to gain a bit more knowledge in playwriting,” she explained.
Roberts is a member of the Theatre Guild of Guyana and is currently on the team planning for the Georgetown Film Festival to be held, hopefully, later this year. “I have written a script. I hope to audition for a role in one of the short films that one of my colleagues produced,” she said.
Going forward she wants to get into the production of plays as a playwright. With the upcoming film festival, she said, “One of the scripts has already been filmed. Eighteen of us are currently into this film writing. We need certain financing.”
In addition to acting in plays, Roberts has performed in two musicals including a Christmas musical for her church and she does voice overs sometimes with Merundoi, a radio series. “If
they need an extra voice they call me. I have done voice over ads for radio and television and my next thing I am going on to is being in a local short film for the Georgetown Film Festival,” she said.
“My love for the creative arts began with dance. After that all else fell into place. When I see something creative or cultural that I like, I tell myself I can do that. I think I am just self-motivated. I always say the stage feels like home.”
Acting
Where theatre is concerned, Roberts is disheartened that more people do not support theatrical performances. “It can be discouragingly upsetting when you have a production, you’re on stage, the curtains are pulled and there aren’t people in the audience. I know Guyanese enjoy comedies and the NCC is always packed whenever there are comedies. We stage shows that may be more serious and message-oriented but most times our audience comprises other artistes like myself, a few family members and probably a few other persons. Theatre does not get the level of support that is needed. We have a lot of young people who are interested in the theatre but they need support. It can be discouraging to young people who think they would be in the limelight once they join the theatre but that is not so. We, artistes, basically depend on each other for support,” she said.
A model, she was a participant in Guyana Model Search under designer Sonia Noel and has walked the runway in Guyana Fashion Week as a plus size model. “I still model and train younger models,” she said.
“I lead a busy life so you can imagine the depression I went through during the Covid-19 pandemic. A lot of artistes suffered. When public places were reopened we still could not gather as artistes. It was a rough period for all of us whether as theatrical performers or designers. Thankfully Theatre Guild workshops have restarted.”
Her platform for Miss Plus Size Universe Guyana was PHAT and PHIT. PHAT means Pretty Hot Amazingly Tantalising and PHIT means Proud Healthy Intelligently Talented.
“In my platform I emphasise that you can be a plus size person with a lot of weight but that does not mean that you have to be sluggish and lackadaisical. You can be a plus size person and also exercise. Even if you like your size you do not have to lose weight to be healthy,” she said.
Roberts also likes cycling and many a day you can see her pedalling down the streets of Georgetown on a bicycle.
