A new fam­i­ly play, Al­addin and the Tri­ni Ge­nie, pre­mieres this evening at the Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (Na­pa), Fred­er­ick Street, Port-of-Spain. Staged by DC Shell The­atre, in as­so­ci­a­tion with the Crazy Catholic and Learie Joseph, the pro­duc­tion fea­tures a 20-mem­ber cast and runs un­til April 3.

This is the first Ara­bi­an tale to be pre­sent­ed on the lo­cal the­atre stage and con­tin­ues the pi­o­neer­ing work of DC Shell The­atre which brought the first fairy tale, Cin­derel­la; first Bol­ly­wood play, Kuch Kuch Ho­ta Hai; first west­ern play, the Good, the Bad and the Ug­ly; first kung fu play, En­ter the Drag­on; and the first mu­si­cal com­e­dy, Grease.

Al­addin and the Tri­ni Ge­nie is writ­ten and di­rect­ed by the Crazy Catholic (Shel­don Nar­ine), with light­ing by Celia Wells, cos­tumes and set de­sign by Cindy Ro­driguez, Chris Singh and Ryan Bel­con and sound by Giselle Ser­rette and Dese Si­mon. Nar­ine, al­so the play's di­rec­tor, is a co­me­di­an, play­wright, ac­tor, dea­con with the Catholic Church, MBA stu­dent, mo­ti­va­tion­al speak­er, pri­vate sec­tor pro­fes­sion­al and chair­man of the Board of Tur­tle Vil­lage Trust, an en­vi­ron­men­tal NGO.

In 2011 he cel­e­brates his 27th year as a stand-up co­me­di­an and en­ter­tain­er and is cel­e­brat­ing with Al­addin and the Tri­ni Ge­nie. Na­pa is ex­pect­ed to erupt with laugh­ter when Learie Joseph un­veils his char­ac­ter of Ali Ba­ba and Crazy Catholic gets in­to his groove as the vil­lain Jar Far. Throw in­to the mix a Tri­ni Ge­nie, an evil Ge­nie of the Ring, a dan­ger­ous bel­ly dancer, a bum­bling sul­tan, a de­railed ter­ror­ist, a re­ject­ed prince, Al­addin and Princess Jas­mine, and an evening of great en­ter­tain­ment is com­plete. The play is ap­pro­pri­ate for all au­di­ences.

• For in­for­ma­tion call 750-0104, 687-8869 or 796-4272.