In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Secondary Schools' Drama Association launched its upcoming drama festival on Monday.
Speaking at the launch at the Rudranath Capildeo Learning Resource Centre (RCLRC) in Couva, the SSDA president, Anderson La Barrie, said the SSDA encourages students to take their drama interests a step further.
"Other festivals are about performance; the SSDA acts as a stepping stone into something greater that provides opportunities for our youths," said La Barrie. "Drama and theatre have progressed in T&T, and by now should be comparable to sporting events, in their popularity."
La Barrie said evidence of this could be seen in the adoption of theatre arts as a Caribbean Examinations Council subject in 2003.
"Your teachers have seen it through collaborations with UWI providing the first theatre arts classes, and now since 2003, theatre arts as an examinable subject across the Caribbean."
La Barrie explained the theme for this year's festival, All Ah We is One Family.
"SSDA, as our theme for this year states, becomes your family. We are all in the theatre family. We help each other," he said.
La Barrie said participating schools are encouraged to produce original plays that reflect the 2014 theme but can also elect to portray a theme of their choice.
In addition to producing a play 30-60 minutes in length, La Barrie said participating schools can also enter the new category of productions that are 15-20 minutes long.
He explained the judging system for the festival, "Schools will be judged from the preliminary round and move on to the semi-final round based on a fixed base mark (65) or the top 12 productions."
The SSDA drama festival will run from October 27 to November 22 and the winning school will represent T&T in the Caribbean Secondary Schools' Drama Association which will be hosted by the SSDA in November 2015.
SSDA Calendar
Directors' workshops–September 19
Deadline for scripts and summary–October 25
Secondary Schools' Drama Festival October 27–November 22.