In January 2011 The Theatre Guild of Guyana presented awards to the best performances that were staged at the Guild Playhouse during the year 2010.  This was the revival of an old tradition that had faded into disuse but has now been recalled to life.  It has so far continued in this new re-establishment, and the corresponding awards for the year 2011 were presented to the winners at the Playhouse last week.

As already said, this is a revival of old practices, and it is the most recent of many attempts to revive the custom of presenting annual awards to the best achievements in the performing arts.  The Theatre Guild Awards are somewhat restricted since they are based on dramatic performances that took place at the Guild.  Anyone and any group can win them, but only if the performance took place at the Playhouse in Kingston.  Productions at the National Cultural Centre, for example, are not included.  Significantly, therefore, 2011 also saw the revival of similar awards at the national level, when the Department of Culture staged the National Drama Festival on the Cultural Centre stage.  That too, was another revival, since it was the latest in many other attempts to do this.

Awards of this type, then, seem to be…..