Several of today’s young dramatists emerged from GEMS youth theatre training

Gem Madhoo-Nascimento poses with some of the graduates on her Youth Theatre Workshop (Stabroek News file photo)

We have been commenting on the state of training in the performing arts in Guyana. We have analysed contemporary dance and the considerable effect official, formal training at the national level has had on the development of dance, both public and private; the formation of companies and schools. More recently we revisited the fundamental role played by the Theatre Guild in training, which built the foundations for the development of contemporary Guyanese drama and the manner in which new and recent activities have revived this function.

Formal training in theatre is a current topic of much discussion and the focus of a number of recent projects. There has been a school of dance since the late 1970s; the University of Guyana has trained students majoring in English and

minoring in Drama; there is now a national school of music and the