Mary Cuffy

In the heart of East Dry Riv­er, a re­mark­able artis­tic dy­nasty is emerg­ing. Meet the Warn­er sib­lings: Jhendiya, a ded­i­cat­ed young steel­pan mae­stro, and her younger broth­er, Rhasaan, a five-year-old prodi­gy whose stag­ger­ing achieve­ments in dra­ma, spo­ken word, and mu­sic are re­defin­ing what is pos­si­ble for a child his age.

The Warn­er house­hold is pro­duc­ing some­thing tru­ly ex­tra­or­di­nary. While eleven-year-old Jhendiya has spent years lay­ing a for­mi­da­ble foun­da­tion in the per­form­ing arts, it is her five-year-old broth­er who is cur­rent­ly leav­ing au­di­ences and judges ut­ter­ly spell­bound.

Rhasaan Er­mias Warn­er, born in Sep­tem­ber 2019, has a re­sume that ri­vals that of per­form­ers three times his age. His jour­ney be­gan at the ten­der age of four at The Cot­ton Tree Foun­da­tion Preschool, where he made his pub­lic de­but on the steel­pan. How­ev­er, his tran­si­tion to Es­cal­li­er St Jerome’s An­gli­can Pri­ma­ry School in 2024 served as a cat­a­lyst for his blos­som­ing the­atri­cal ca­reer.

Teach­ers at the school quick­ly no­ticed that Rhasaan was not just par­tic­i­pat­ing; he was ab­sorb­ing and re­tain­ing com­plex con­cepts far be­yond his years. This ad­vanced com­pre­hen­sion, paired with an in­tox­i­cat­ing nat­ur­al stage pres­ence, land­ed him lead­ing roles in school cel­e­bra­tions. He cap­ti­vat­ed crowds by por­tray­ing the tra­di­tion­al Car­ni­val char­ac­ter Pier­rot Grenade and de­liv­ered a stir­ring re-en­act­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s Olympic leg­end, Hase­ly Craw­ford.

But Rhasaan’s most stag­ger­ing feat to date oc­curred lat­er in 2024. Rep­re­sent­ing his school in the Eman­ci­pa­tion Sup­port Com­mit­tee Spo­ken Word Com­pe­ti­tion, Rhasaan stepped on­to the na­tion­al stage at just five years old. He made his­to­ry as the youngest con­tes­tant to ever en­ter the com­pe­ti­tion and stunned the judges by clinch­ing an out­stand­ing sec­ond-place fin­ish.

“The con­fi­dence this child pos­sess­es is un­re­al,” not­ed one event at­tendee. “To stand in front of a crowd of adults and de­liv­er spo­ken word with that lev­el of dic­tion and emo­tion­al res­o­nance is un­heard of for a five-year-old.”

Rhasaan shows no signs of slow­ing down. In 2025, he joined The Nec­es­sary Arts, im­me­di­ate­ly be­ing cast in the the­atri­cal pro­duc­tion Christ­mas Calami­ty and Con­fu­sion, per­form­ing in three scenes. Build­ing on that suc­cess, he re­turned to the stage in 2026 for Women and Chil­dren First, ex­pand­ing his role to four scenes and prov­ing his grow­ing ver­sa­til­i­ty as a se­ri­ous young ac­tor. When he is not on stage, Rhasaan trav­els across Trinidad, de­liv­er­ing his spo­ken-word pieces to di­verse au­di­ences.

Yet, be­hind every great prodi­gy is of­ten a guid­ing light. For Rhasaan, that light is his old­er sis­ter, Jhendiya Rosa Warn­er.

Born on Ju­ly 14, 2015, Jhendiya dis­cov­ered her pas­sion for the steel­pan at just three years old. She has now es­tab­lished her­self as a for­mi­da­ble mu­si­cian in her own right. Since Stan­dard One, Jhendiya has earned the pres­ti­gious ho­n­our of per­form­ing the Na­tion­al An­them at her pri­ma­ry school’s grad­u­a­tion cer­e­monies.

Her tal­ent has tak­en her far be­yond the school­yard. Jhendiya’s reper­toire spans Best Vil­lage, Spo­ken Word, Parang, and both Ju­nior and Se­nior Panora­ma com­pe­ti­tions. In 2024, her ca­reer reached new heights when she be­came an ac­tive mem­ber of the Trinidad All Stars Youth Steel Or­ches­tra. That same year, she trav­elled to To­ba­go to per­form with Pam­beri Steel Or­ches­tra in the high­ly com­pet­i­tive Medi­um Band Panora­ma Fi­nals.

Jhendiya’s dis­ci­pline has al­so earned her spots on some of the coun­try’s most pres­ti­gious stages. In 2025, she was fea­tured at the NSSO Jazz Fu­sion V con­cert and shared the stage with the Massy All Stars Steel Or­ches­tra dur­ing Clas­si­cal Jew­els XI­II and XIV, as well as Gen­er­a­tions of Steel. She has al­so per­formed with the Pineap­ple Foun­da­tion and is cur­rent­ly ex­pand­ing her mu­si­cal hori­zons by learn­ing the pi­ano and the drum kit.

To­geth­er, the Warn­er sib­lings rep­re­sent the vi­brant, en­dur­ing fu­ture of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s per­form­ing arts. Jhendiya pro­vides a mas­ter­class in ded­i­ca­tion and mu­si­cal growth, while Rhasaan bursts on­to the scene with an al­most oth­er­world­ly tal­ent for the dra­mat­ic arts.

With a steel­pan vir­tu­oso and a the­atri­cal prodi­gy un­der one roof, the Belle Vue Street res­i­dence is not just rais­ing chil­dren; it is nur­tur­ing the next gen­er­a­tion of cul­tur­al am­bas­sadors for Trinidad and To­ba­go. All eyes will un­doubt­ed­ly re­main on the Warn­er sib­lings as they con­tin­ue to break bar­ri­ers and in­spire the na­tion.

Mary Cuffy is an ed­u­ca­tor and lo­cal chil­dren's au­thor of the La­dy­bug se­ries. Cuffy be­lieves the best in­vest­ment we can make in chil­dren is in the ear­ly years.

Email mary.cuffy@ya­hoo.com . IG:marycuffy . FB: mary cuffy/Lo­la and the Danc­ing La­dy­bug