Youth theatre training resumes

Children will once again be exposed to theatre training when Gem Madhoo-Nascimento’s two-year-old ‘Youth Theatre Workshop (YTW) resumes session next Wednesday at the Girl Guides’ Pavilion on Brickdam.

Students from the last Youth Theatre Workshop rehearsing
Students from the last Youth Theatre Workshop rehearsing

The workshop, which caters for children between the ages of 12 and 17, will be held every Wednesday at 3.30 pm to 5 pm and interested persons are encouraged to attend the registration process next Wednesday.

The YTW began in May 2007 and was initially funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for a four-month period and the skits developed during that period were taken to 15 schools in ten days between September and October 2007.

This was followed by the July 2008 sponsorship from the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) of a skit that dealt with HIV/AIDS to be performed at eight schools in four days.

A release from Madhoo-Nascimento said that a number of students from the YTW became peer-educators with NAPS and were involved in the youth village at the National Park where NAPS displayed a wide array of informative and educational literature and video during CARIFESTA. NAPS also sponsored the video production of the said skit, Shattered Hopes and Dreams, which was launched at the Convention Centre, Lilendaal last August.

The play was also presented at the National Cultural Centre for the inter-secondary school drama competition in 2008 and it won its category.

According to the release the 2009 sessions will continue work on the production of the sequel to the skit The Redemption and through rehearsals the artists would be trained in various aspects of drama.