On March 23 last, Lloyd N De Arts Productions, in partnership with students of the Tutorial High School in Georgetown, staged a production titled “The Chosen” at the Theatre Guild Playhouse. This was a public dramatic performance of mostly dance theatre and was significant in the context of recent developments in a number of areas; namely, a modest degree of advancement in theatre driven by CXC drama and theatre arts, drama in secondary schools, attempts at promoting community theatre, and the outreach programme of the National School of theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD).
All are interrelated, and the NSTAD outreach was tied in with the extension activities of the National Drama Festival (NDF) before it was discontinued in 2017. A programme was developing to ignite theatre in outlying communities, and small groups who entered the NDF as well as secondary schools were involved in it.
Of course, it was all put on pause during the COVID-19 restrictions, but the school most prominent in these efforts since the 2022 restoration has been Tutorial High.
The institution that can be singled out, though, as the most consistent in preserving the tradition of public dramatic plays put on by secondary schools is the Georgetown International Academy (GIA) which staged “Madagascar: A Musical Adventure, Jr” at the National Cultural Centre early in March. The GIA, popularly known as the American School, has put on plays quite nearly on an annual basis. However, this private school has never been part of the NDF, NSTAD or CXC initiative. Following its own determination, it has staged several American musicals over the years.
Tutorial leads the charge where schools doing CXC are concerned, and has sustained an annual publicly performed theatrical production.
This is in partial fulfilment of the CSEC Theatre Arts Option in Production Management and Costuming. It involves management of a production including publicity and the sale of tickets. Tutorial has worked with Lloyd N De Arts Productions directed by Lloyd Thomas, who is also the school’s drama teacher. Students have worked with the company in accordance with the CXC syllabus requirements.
“The Chosen” was a company production managed by the CSEC students, who also made up the vast majority of the performing cast. This was mostly dance theatre, heavily driven by music. It was a Christian production with the subtitle ‘a Gathering of Disciples’, and further described itself as, “an evening examining the concept of religion versus the world”. Continuing its self-definition it asked the question, “Who am I without Christ?”
Quite in keeping with those themes the performance was a long series of dances punctuated by a succession of recitations of verses from the Bible or narrations from that text. The music was also dominated by gospel songs including a few negro spirituals. This, therefore, determined the theme and focus of the many dances. It was an exercise that was very much a church service, since the testimonies had no other dramatic structure or plot. Thematically, the selections seemed arbitrarily chosen with a mixture of quotes from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
That impression prevailed even though there were two acts. The first was called ‘Block One’ with the subtitle ‘Corpuscule’, representing and pertaining to the destruction of the earth. The second, ‘Block Two’ had the subtitle ‘In My Father’s House’ illuminating salvation or what it would be like in heaven. It was not exactly easy to interpret all the pieces devoted to each section, but to their credit, those in Block One were generally darker, while Block Two was obviously brighter and more cheerful.
The costuming did help in this demarcation, with a more colourful array in the second act.
The stage setting in the second block, though, left one wondering just a bit since there were a few people seated at a table upstage for most of it, but their purpose was not clear. What was clearer were the efforts made to present variety including the recitations which were sometimes done by a choral speaking group and sometimes solo.
It was a long and demanding programme, with an amazing sequence of dances, performed throughout the production by the same corps of dancers. There were delayed transitions because performers had to change costumes. Yet they were presented with remarkable energy and enthusiasm by an effective cast. They were entertaining but not always polished, not always neat and precise, with groups and individuals who every now and again, got in each other’s way. At times, it was outstanding, and in the end, a commendable evening of dancing.
Tutorial is at the forefront in these efforts at drama in school and community theatre performed in mainstream conventional venues.
There are other workers in the vineyard. West Demerara Secondary, whose teacher Taneka Calder is a member of the National Drama Company, has been staging CSEC practicals in a make-shift theatre on the school compound in the evenings and inviting the community to attend. This has generated some interest and an audience in the area. The school was also a regular prize winner in the NDF, and a useful part of the outreach.
The torch in this outreach has long been carried aloft in New Amsterdam and promises to burn brighter there. UG and NSTAD graduate Mehelai McAlmont had shaped a corner of Tutorial Academy into a useful theatre space to perform the exam practicals to a keen audience in evening community theatre. Similarly, Berbice High School had begun to do the same in its school hall led by Shinellie Kendall before COVID.
Also prior to 2020, the performance exams converted into evening theatre by NSTAD graduate Antacia Thomas had been attracting quite an audience in the school hall at Berbice Educational Institute. More of this is now promised at New Amsterdam Multilateral where Thomas has joined forces with Erletta John in the drama programme.
From this year also, Christianburg Secondary and Mackenzie High School will jointly stage their production to a public audience at Lichas Hall in Linden. The teacher at the helm there is Tomika Lewis, another graduate of NSTAD, who introduced the CXC programmes at both CAPE and CSEC. That production is billed for Saturday, April 13 at 1 pm.
Among the leaders in theatre innovation at schools is the private institution Marian Academy where the drama teacher is a UG graduate, Mr Kellman. The school is consistent in producing the most creative and disciplined performances for the CSEC Theatre Arts exams, but has never opened up to a wider audience. The potential there is overwhelming and there is the quality to impress a discerning audience if ever Marian Academy could be persuaded to go public. That would be another shining torch to ignite the schools’ community theatre drive, or even the now defunct tradition of annual plays performed by secondary schools.
In the meantime, outlying areas including the hinterland await the rekindling of the torch formerly carried by the NSTAD and NDF outreach programme. The return of the NDF would mean a restart of community theatre in those districts with the best of them also travelling to the city to perform. There would also be several other spinoff benefits.
