“In a world as badly made as ours, there is only one road – rebellion.” Luis Bunuel
History & Background:
It all starts with the pointless impulse to play. The moment that impulse arises everything else disappears, the burdens and anxieties of the background of history, ideas of aims and objectives, all dissolve. Playwrights Workshop [Trinbago] is an organization co-ordinated by playwrights for
the making of plays. The organization is dedicated to the memory and work of renowned Trinidad scholar, academic, theater historian, playwright and director ERROL HILL (1921-2003) and Tobago poet, playwright, essayist and journalist ERIC ROACH (1915-1974). The workshop was initiated by Tony Hall with support from Trinity in Trinidad Global Learning Site of Trinity College, Hartford, CT. Trinity-in-Trinidad Global Learning Site:
http://www.trincoll.edu/UrbanGlobal/StudyAway/programs/TrinityPrograms/Trinidad/Pages/default.aspx
The work of conducting play-making sessions and readings started in 2003 and continued in 2004, 2005 and 2007 from January to May each year. For 2009 the Playwrights Workshop [Trinbago] initiated its Readers Theatre Series the first Wednesday of every month which started on Wednesday 4th March, 8.00pm at Trinity House, 13 Harris Street, Curepe. In October and November of that same year Ten Minute play workshops were conducted. For 2010 the Reader's Theatre Series continued from January on the first Wednesday of every month at Trinidad Theatre Workshop, 23 Jerningham Avenue, Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago at 7.00pm. For the year 2010 we also conducted intensive sessions in acting for camera with Rhoma Spencer and writing for animation with Camille Selvon-Abraham. The Readers Theatre Series continued for 2012 and is still pressing on today. The first play-making sessions of 2003 to 2005 and 2007 focused mainly on the writing of short plays. The workshop will continue this focus and in time we will add full length stage plays, writing for radio, the screen and will continue in the area of the new media, eg: animation and video games with an emphasis on young participants. In 2010 we initiated Studio Theatre Productions of the best work from the play-making sessions and readings and we intend to continue this aspect of the work. In time we may get involved in the publishing and distribution of scripts to encourage more productions of Caribbean plays in English. The workshop is influenced by Jouvay Process, a distinct Caribbean approach to work and living discovered by Tony Hall through participatory research methodologies into popular culture. Jouvay Process is really the means through which the mystical and transcendental energy of the emancipation performance traditions travels from century to century. Tony has since launched the Jouvay Institute to encourage others to research and meditate on Jouvay Process, the unconscious consolidation in the 'NOW' of the mythopoeic forces in the emancipation performance traditions. Playwrights Workshop is a direct off-shoot of these musings. http://www.jouvayinstitute.lordstreet.net/
Over the years some aims and objectives seem to have surfaced as if from nowhere. Aims:
[i ] To foster the development of original storytelling through drama and playmaking.
[ii] To provide opportunities far and wide for new plays and indigenous storytelling to be performed in public readings, studio productions and full productions (indoor and outdoor) for personal and collective development. Objectives:
[i] To present Studio Theatre Productions and festivals of new plays from the Playwrights Workshop thereby promoting the possibility of young directors, playwrights, actors and technicians emerging from our communities.
[ii] To conduct workshops, seminars, festivals, etc. on the process of making and presenting plays and forms of indigenous storytelling for street, stage, screen; thereby involving the general public and specific groups in the creative process of play-making.
[iii] To make available to all a database of scripts and work process guidelines from the Playwrights Workshop and any other source of West Indian materials; thereby networking with organizations with similar objectives throughout the region and with Caribbean people wherever they are in the world.
[iv] Playwrights Workshop [Trinibago] intends to initiate a San Fernando Playwrights' Circle, an Arima Playwright's Circle and a Scarborough Playwright's Circle in the same way and for the same reasons that the Port of Spain Playwrights' Circle was started and sustained. These Playwright's Circles will comprise the skilled, and not so skilled, drama practitioners who exist in these jurisdictions and who will be responsible for providing the brunt of the training to the wider community; while this gathering will provide them with the support they need to continue their own work.
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THE READERS THEATRE SERIES from Trinidad and Tobago Newsday newspaper:
New series at Playwrights Workshop
Monday, March 2 2009
THE PLAYWRIGHTS Workshop (Trinidad and Tobago) will initiate its Readers Theatre Series every first Wednesday of every month starting this Wednesday from 8 pm at Trinity House, 13 Harris Street, Curepe. Playwrights Workshop (Trinidad and Tobago) started in 2003. Sessions and readings continued in 2004, 2005 and 2007 from January to May each year. The workshop was initiated by Tony Hall with support from Trinity in Trinidad Global Learning Site of Trinity College, Hartford, CT, Lordstreet Theatre Company’s Jouvay Institute and the National Drama Association of Trinidad and Tobago. These first sessions focused on the writing of short plays. The workshop will continue this focus and in time the organisers will add full length stage plays, writing for radio, the screen and new media. There are also plans to add studio productions of the best work from the sessions and readings and the publishing and distribution of scripts to encourage more productions of Caribbean plays. The first scripts to be read in the Readers Theatre Series will be two plays by Valton Matthews: “River Boys”, a folk musical, and “Voice of the People”, a play with music. All are invited. Born on July 15, 1959, Valton Matthews has been a participant in Best Village for 25 years. He first started in 1982 as a director. However, prior to this he had predominantly held the roles of actor and musician in works with the Caribbean Theatre Guild. Matthews started writing in 1989 with “When Moon Shines” which was produced by Quarry Drive Best Village group. He first started working with Mt D’or Cultural Performers in 2003 as playwright and director.
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The Michael K. Hall Community School Limited is the umbrella social business organisation and arts education enterprise that supports the activities of Lordstreet Theatre, Lordstreet Pictures, Vengeance Media, Playwrights Workshop and Jouvay Institute. The school started in 1994 as an innovative primary learning centre on the small island of Tobago. The school supports any effort that facilitates creative learning, creative living, anything that allows harmony, freedom and keen observation of the egoic self.
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Contact:
PORT OF SPAIN PLAYWRIGHTS' CIRCLE (Co-ordinating Committee)
Ronald John: 1-868-737-8326
Valton Matthews: 1-868-310-3027
Michael Stephens: 1-868-702-0548
Judith Theodore: 1-868-689-2612
Tony Hall: 1-868-681-7475
Raymond Choo Kong: 1-868-384-8663
Albert Laveau: 1-868-754-1645
Timmia Hearn Feldman: 1-868-742-1671
Theresa Awai: 1-868-350-0202
Verne Guerin: 1-868-496-4823
Randy Ablack: 1-868-720-3443
SCARBOROUGH PLAYWRIGHTS' CIRCLE (Co-ordinating Committee)
Jared Rewind Prima: 1-868-386-9038
Onika Henry: 1-868-381-3049
Tony Hall: 1-868-681-7475
https://www.facebook.com/groups/playwrightsworkshoptt/?fref=ts
http://www.myspace.com/playwrightsworkshoptt
Check also on the 'STREET PEOPLE':
http://www.facebook.com/lordstreettheatre
