The Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School Theatre Arts Department departed with a contingent of seven people to Trinidad on Saturday, 31st October, 2015 for the 9th Biennial Caribbean Secondary Schools’ Drama Festival (CSSDF).
As a prerequisite to showcasing their talent in Trinidad and Tobago, the department held a public viewing of its play, at the Orealia Kelly Primary School Auditorium, in front of a large crowd. Anguilla’s play, entitled ‘This is who I am’, was written by Judy Edwards and directed by Trevreen Queeley-Javois. It will be performed by Kevin Thompson, Kerissa Proctor, Artiya Bruno, Christoph Pradel and Akaliah Carty. The team’s stage manager is Devon Carter.
The play, ‘This is who I am’, explore the subject matter of gay rights as conflict arose in the Baxter household when the favourite son, Lewis, reveals that he is gay. As both parents struggled to deal with the Lewis’ revelation they seek help from a pastor and an obeah woman. The conflict forced candid discussions on the ongoing debate about gay rights and society’s response to the issue. The parents faced the difficult decision to either be tolerant and accept their son’s sexual orientation or to reject him altogether. The cast will perform the play both in Trinidad and Tobago.
The festival started as an experiment in 1992 when Icil Phillips, who was studying directing at the time at the Festival Centre for Creative Arts, UWI, St. Augustine, met Victor Edwards who was the President of the Trinidad and Tobago Secondary Schools’ Drama Association (TTSSDA). He was keen to carry the message and activities of Youth Theatre beyond his homeland and he invited her to bring her group – the Combermere Dramatic Society – to Trinidad to participate in their festival which was held late November 1992. The success of that venture encouraged the TTSSDA to invite the Girls High School from St. Vincent to perform the play “Return to Paradise” the following year. Since both experiments were with single schools they used the opportunity to gauge the viability of hosting a Caribbean drama festival from among the schools in the region. The first official Caribbean Secondary Schools Drama Festival was held in Trinidad and Tobago in 1994.
The festival which runs from 1st- 8th November 2015 in Trinidad and Tobago was previously held in Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, Jamaica and Guyana. Team Anguilla’s journey can be followed via the ‘ALHCS-Theatre Arts Dept’s Facebook page, as well as ‘The Caribbean Secondary Schools’ Drama Festival’s page on Facebook.
