By Subraj Singh
The Guyana National School of Theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD) graduated its first batch of students in 2013.

Since then, the number of graduates has continuously risen over the years and the School has emerged as one of the strongest artistic institutions in the way that it offers practical and theoretical aspects of study that focus on the performing arts. NSTAD is a part of the network that is the Institute of Creative Arts (ICA) along with other schools such as the E.R. Burrowes School of Art, the National School of Music and the National Dance School.
It is interesting to note that even though some of the other schools are decades older than the still quite young Drama School, at the ICA’s 2015 Convocation Ceremony, NSTAD had the second highest number of graduates, behind the Burrowes School of Art, which highlights not only the growth in the number of students attending the school within the short span of three years since it came into existence but also, more importantly, but that there is a notable interest in the performing arts and that people are willing to dedicate the time and energy necessary for proper training. The NSTAD fills a gap and serves a purpose. The students who attended the evening classes for the entire year it takes to graduate are proof of this.
Like other institutions, NSTAD offers core modules of study along with electives that students can select from during their school year. Some of the core subjects in the first semester of study include Acting, both practical work and theory; History of Theatre, which

introduces and expounds on many of the early forms of theatre that students can use in their own work; English Language and English Literature, as it is important for drama students to know how to analyze a text; Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, which aims to prepare students to succeed as creative and artistic entrepreneurs; and Stage Management, which teaches students how to operate in various capacities (lights, sound, costume, make-up, etc.) in the world of theatre.
In the second semester, students can choose from a wide range of courses, including Playwriting, Directing, Film, Dance, Music, Design, etc. Currently, Margaret Lawrence serves as the Administrator of the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama, with Mr. Al Creighton as Director of Studies. Several other Guyanese who are prominent in the performing arts, such as Ron Robinson, Godfrey Naughton and Vivienne Daniels, function as lecturers at the school.
At the end of each semester, the students, as part of their course work assessment, have to put on a production usually simply referred to as “The Performance.” With two such grand performances in each school year, the students are able to apply all the skills they would have learnt into their production. The scripts are always written, directed and acted out by the students themselves.
However, in addition to that they also have to create their own costumes, props and set, and they also have to promote the event, which is always free of charge to the public. In this way, the students learn not only skills relevant to “creating” a play, but also the skills that are necessary to ensure the successful production of that play.
“The Performance” at the end of the semester has become something to look forward to within the theatre fraternity and one wishes that the general public would become more willing to attend and support what are usually lavish and exciting productions staged by the young dramatists of our country. At these productions, students have and adapted and staged well-known work such as Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and the Indian epic, Ramlila. At the same time, they also write their own plays, focusing on social issues in Guyana, as well as often reaching into our rich cultural makeup and using Amerindian creation myths, African rituals and Indian traditions to create their own unique forms of Guyanese/Caribbean theatre.
The National School of Theatre Arts and Drama also runs the National Drama Festival (NDF) which is undoubtedly one of the most important literary events in the country. Each year, scores of plays are written just for this event and this, therefore, makes it easy to see why the National Drama Festival is important since it functions as a catalyst for the creation of many, many plays on an annual basis. The Festival offers dramatists the opportunity to win prizes but, more importantly, it offers creatives in theatre the opportunity to stage their work without having to pay for use of the stage or rehearsal space, which is a great initiative since paying for a venue is one of the most costly aspects of drama production.
The NSTAD has also been a part of the World Poetry Day and World Storytelling Day events and often host workshops or conferences for the students by hosting prominent troupes or theatre personalities who may be visiting the country.
It is also important to talk about the alumni of the NSTAD who make up the National Drama Company of Guyana (NDC). Apart from hosting workshops in a variety of fields, the NDC has also represented Guyana at Carifesta last year in Haiti and has participated in numerous events as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations. Currently, most of the NDC are engaged in the plays for the Jubilee Theatre Festival, where, in integral roles, they serve a variety of functions: as directors, stage managers, playwrights and, most prominently, actors.
With such widespread reach and the ability to infuse its main resource – the talent possessed by its students (former and current) – in a variety of cultural events, the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama has emerged as an important force in Guyanese culture and is beginning to revive the theatrical movement that fluctuated so often in our country’s history. With its emphasis on the traditional (such as rituals and the dramas of social realism) while ensuring that it is still moving with the rest of the world by encouraging newer theatrical forms (such as postmodernism and avant-garde theatre), the NSTAD is clearly very determined to carve out a niche in the Guyanese cultural landscape for a newer breed of theatre practitioners who will be able to sustain themselves with what is new, while paying tribute to what is old.
The Ministry of Education has hinted at plans to create a campus for the creative arts and this emphasizes the concept of the various schools under the ICA not being separate, but functioning almost as a singular network that is meant to push the creative arts in Guyana to new horizons. The actors the Drama School produces might find work with the rise of new filmmakers in Guyana. The Playwriting class at the School is set to make the Drama category of the Guyana Prize for Literature Award the most interesting it has been in years. The National Drama Festival offers roles not only for dramatists but also for dancers, musicians, and designers. There are cultural networks all around us and the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama, with everything that it is trying to do and everything that it is aiming for, is more than representative of the ways in which a single cultural hub can contribute to and aid other aspects of the Guyanese cultural network.