Barbados is gearing up to host seven groups of young actors representing countries from across the region at the 8th Caribbean Secondary Schools??? Drama Festival (CSSDF) Sunday, December 8 to Sunday, December 15.
The youth from Anguilla, Bermuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica will join their Barbadian counterparts in staging nightly performances at the Steel Shed.They are expected to share their talents with Barbadian school children in a series of interactive encounters at schools which currently enter students for the CSEC Theatre Arts examination.
Barbados will present the drama Confession- a one-act suspense drama by local playwright, Peter Laurie. It is about Michael, a bright and idealistic social rebel??who has been convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.
The piece will be portrayed by students from five schools across the island namely Alexandra Combermere, Christ Church Foundation Springer Memorial and St. Leonard???s Boys???.
The Barbados Landship???s lore and cultural importance will also be showcased in a series of workshops that will be held for all youth participants.Theatre Arts teachers will also benefit from an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) sponsored workshop in Assessing Performance Skills. This will be conducted by Dr. Dani Lyndersay, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator, Theatre Arts at the Centre for Creative and Festival Arts at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus.
The Festival will also have the unique feature of allowing young Theatre students both locally and regionally to voice their views on Caribbean theatre at the Youth Forum on Friday, December 13, at the Steel Shed.
For more information on the CSSDF, persons may visit www.barbadosdrama.org or the Festival???s Facebook page www.facebook.com/caribbeansecondaryschoolsdramafestival
Box offices for the Festival are CS Pharmacy, Bridgetown and A & B Music Supplies, Sheraton, Christ Church.The Caribbean Secondary Schools Drama Festival is organised by the Barbados Association of Drama Educators which promotes the teaching of Drama and Theatre Arts in Barbados.
The Festival is supported by the Maria Holder Memorial Trust, The Arts and Sports Promotion Fund, the IDB Cultural Centre and the National Cultural Foundation.
joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb