EVER since she joined the Marigold Choir at Stella Maris Primary School at nine years old, she knew that the stage was where she wanted to be. And from then on, she never lost sight of

her dream to pursue theatre.
Nicola Alana Moonsammy, known as ‘Nicky,’ 38, now says that theatre is her everything. “This is my passion. No matter what other jobs I did, I always ended up back in theatre. In fact, I left other jobs for theatre. This is my everything. I now I get to do what I love,” she expressed in an interview with the Chronicle.

“It’s something from within. I’ve always liked the stage; acting, singing. I guess I was born with the talent, I don’t know,” she continued.
Born and raised at Stevedore Housing Scheme, in Georgetown, Nicola attended Stella Maris Primary and shared her high school days between St. Roses High, Alen’s High and St. Joseph High. This is because her caring parents always tried to get her into a better school.

She became mother to Sandra shortly after leaving school and after taking a break from her regular routine to care for her daughter, she went right back into theatre, eventually obtaining a diploma in theatre arts from the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama. Currently, she is an administrative assistant with the National Drama Festival (NDF).

Drama in School
Nicola was fortunate to have as her drama teacher well-known actor Henry Rodney whom she said greatly inspired and motivated her in school. What is more, when she left St. Joseph High and went across to St. Roses, Rodney did similarly and hence continued to be her drama teacher.
In her later days after her child was born, Nicola recalled that she was reintroduced to theatre by her friend, popular actress Sonia Yarde, who then introduced her to characters like Gem Madho and Leon Saul. “I did a play called ‘For Better for Worse’ which was my first major role. After this, there was no turning back; just play after play.”

Some plays that she can remember include “Old Story Time,” “Pizza Man,” “Mommy,”
“Fair Picker,” and “Snapped.” She also stage-managed numerous shows including the Miss Guyana Universe Pageant, the inter-Guyana Festival, and the NDF. She recently wrote “Counterfeit Love” which was inspired in part by personal experience, and she is now working on “Forbidden Secrets.”
Apart from winning Best Actress in 2013, she wrote a play called “Guilty Pleasures” in 2014, which was entered into the NDF and won Best Production and other numerous prizes.
Nicola further directed a play for President’s College which entered the International Secondary School Drama Festival in Trinidad, which won best lighting, best actor and best supporting actor.
Among her other memorable days in theatre is when she represented Guyana at Carifesta in Haiti with a full length play called “Sauda.”

Sacrifices
Nicola has traveled to other countries to perform in other people’s productions, but it is her dream to do her own plays internationally.
But Nicola feels that if people take local artistes seriously in Guyana, a lot more can be done in the field. While traveling, Nicola was amazed to see how well her colleagues overseas are paid.
“A lot of people don’t take us seriously. They look at us and say it’s a hobby and we shouldn’t be paid for it. But we sacrifice a lot of our time. Some days, rehearsals last for six hours; you go home after hours in the morning.

“People don’t want to pay you and it’s frustrating at times. But I sacrifice a lot because of my love for it. There is not much money in it. You always have to have a back-up plan. I did work for private companies and they pay you a small fee for an ad that will be shown for six months,” she said. At least, Nicola feels that they should be compensated adequately for their travels.
Offering some words of advice to her colleagues, she said: “I would like to implore writers to be very cautious with their work. Some writers often cite suicide as a solution, but be mindful of the vulnerable people sitting in the audience. Try to help people in your work. Writers can influence in both positive and negative ways.”