I recently had a
conversation with one of the stage managers at NAPA named Gail. She does
directing as well and is known in the theatre realm. I asked her how am I, who
I think has some decent amount of experience under my belt, to break into the
mainstream acting realm if noone ever knows when there are rehearsals and many
like me have submitted their theatre cv to the likes of Raymond and Ragoobirsingh
and nobody calls? Blacklist risk alert: I find I too old to be beggin and hangin
around scenes hoping to be noticed and ‘to get ah bligh’.
And what avenues are
there for your same secondary school actors and actresses under the purview of
the SSDA to further their craft from the energies and framework instituted to
enhance their development? We’ve been seeing the same 10 players in the acting
realm (who get the jobs) over the past 20 years. Raymond, Richard, Penny,
Cecelia, Nikki, Glenn, Pinny, Clifford, Debra, Conrad… and recently Leslie Ann.
The injection of new blood is too few and far between. Where are all the actors
and actresses who are graduating from our universities annually? Teaching and……
It seems necessary to
jump over NDATT totally and make links with universities and theatre companies
regionally and in places like Broadway, off-Broadway and London’s West End…..just
to keep the thing bubbling. The NDATT net is so tight and shrouded……an oxymoron
to what it should be promoting.
Right now I have friends
(Danielle L. and Jeanelle A.) from my UWI class who are reading for their
Masters degrees in England. But after that, other than teaching, where to make de
money if your training and forte is performance?
There must be a
serious focus on careers on the whole in drama if it is now such an important
facet in the primary and secondary school curriculum. I think liaisons are
necessary with various bodies such as international colleges and performance
schools, theatre companies, television and movie companies and the like to look
into real careers for talented youth. Theme parks look for actors who sing and
singers who can act all the time and the salaries are really good. Unfortunately
once again, it seems that the way forward is outward and back in because we
have a local cultural system which is stuck in the 70s and can't seem to get a
grasp of various integral steps to make us anywhere close to being a global
player.
