When the first Act it Out Theatre Festival begins on July 31, audiences will not only have the opportunity to see quality local plays, they will also be part of a modern, more aggressive approach to fund-raising by a young NGO.Steven Edwards Productions won a Ministry of Planning Ideas to Innovation (i2i) award last year for its Transformation Through Theatre and Technology Programme, which exposes children from depressed areas to training and experiences they might not otherwise have had access to.
Television viewers are currently seeing PSAs–on the careful use of cell phones and digital music players–which were produced by the company and star young actors from the programme.
The theatre festival, which will be held for the five days at the National Academy for Performing Arts (Napa) in Port-of-Spain and feature five plays, including two targeting children, is an ambitious undertaking for an NGO with an administrative team of five."We are what you would consider a new and emerging NGO," said Edwards. "Even though we've won awards and so on already, we have to find very innovative ways to get people's attention."
His words are reflected in the team's marketing strategy.It will stage a flash mob on the Brian Lara Promenade on Friday, using excerpts from the play.On its Facebook page, the group keeps a countdown towards the festival and is offering early ticket customers a chance to win a Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.The company is also in the midst of planning a public rehearsal on June 29 at the St James Amphitheatre "so that people will see what the show is about," said Edwards.And in another new venture, Edwards is trying to foster financial partnerships with other NGOs. The offer: help sell tickets for the festival, keep a cut of the sales and get a booth on the Napa grounds during the festival run.
Fellow NGOs aren't biting on the bait as enthusiastically as Edwards would like. So far only one has committed. He's working to persuade others. He understands why they might hesitate.
"Let's say I have an event coming up in July and you have one in August," he explained, "the thinking is if I help you sell tickets for your show, even though I'm getting a cut, I would sell your ticket and get $75, but if I sell my event I might get $250 for it. So you'd find the big NGOs don't come on board just like that."
But ultimately, said Edwards, it's better for NGOs with limited budgets to network.All five plays at the Act it Out Festival will be local pieces, like For Better or For Worse, the first play the company ever staged, or localised adaptations, like Romero and Julie, which features T&T music and traditional Carnival characters."A lot of the traditional stuff, we shape into an original story," said Edwards.To experience the festival, he said, is to experience T&T culture.
�2 For more information, check the Act it Out Theatre Festival's Facebook page.