In what was a particularly interesting development on the Guyanese stage, the Georgetown International Academy (GIA) performed Almost, Maine, a play by American actor/playwright John Cariani, directed by Subraj Singh at the Theatre Guild Playhouse last week.
There were several significant factors. These include the appearance of an American romantic comedy on stage in Guyana; the achievements of and the commendations due to the GIA, to Singh and his students who worked in the production; this public performance by a secondary school in the context of drama in Guyanese schools; the rarity of such productions – but the recent upsurge in community theatre by schools; and the important stimuli for this theatre, which include the CXC drama exams, the outreach of the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD) and the National Drama Festival (NDF).
Almost, Maine was a rare public performance of full-length drama by a secondary school in Guyana. These are very scarce. They used to be in fashion a long time ago but are now virtually extinct. Interestingly, only private schools have done them recently. Some years ago, School of the Nations had productions with a preference for classics, if not for musicals, such as The Mikado, but those have ceased. Today, only the GIA persists with its an annual production of American musicals.
