-leading theatre personality Simone Dowding shares her story

By Telesha Ramnarine
JOINING the Theatre Guild some 30 years ago was the best thing that ever happened to Simone Dowding. In fact, she has concluded that getting into drama was what she was born to do!

But things were not always smooth sailing for Simone, as there was a time in her life before she joined the Guild, when she had no clue just which way to go. Having to face “harsh” financial living conditions did not by any means make life easier for her.
To make matters worse, just after having her second child, she had to deal with the death of her mom, her greatest support back in the days, and this left her to fend for herself and children.
Shortly after, the wedding proposals started coming Simone’s way. But none of the five proposals came from the father of her children.
“I was a single parent for over 20 years. I wanted my children to always be safe. And my idea of being a wife was being devoted to my husband; I wanted to be able to look after my children,” Simone, now 52, told the Chronicle recently.
With these circumstances, Simone said there were times when she would just bundle up and cry, and then on other days, just stand tall and laugh. “It was difficult,” she recalled.
She got a job at Guyana Stores, but found that the money she was getting could not adequately maintain her and the children. “So I resorted to doing laundrying and house- cleaning on the side. As a single parent, I never put my children through begging on the streets and so on. I washed people’s clothes on Friday afternoons after Guyana Stores and then I went back and cleaned the next day. That’s how we got through for a very long time.”

Best Decision Ever
By joining the Theatre Guild, Simone said she was able to do what she was born to do – get into drama.
“The step that I took to join the Guild was the best decision in my life that I ever made. I am who I am because of Theatre Guild. Getting into the arts was really the thing for me, the thing that really brought me out of the hostile environment that I was living in, to a place where I learned how to be who I really wanted to be.”
In those days, Simone participated in many workshops, as members of the Guild had to be trained properly before they went on stage. “You had to learn the different disciplines of drama. I was costume mistress for the late Eulita Anthony; she taught me costume management. And I was costume mistress for Patty Gomes; when you are costume mistress for Patty Gomes, you had to know what is going on, you had to press costumes, make sure they were neat and clean; and then I learned stage management. So I had the opportunity to work with the great people of the Guild and to be taught by them.”
But Simone always knew she would make it someday and get into the entertainment industry. She recalled standing in front of the mirror saying, “I have to be on that radio!”
Having graduated from the Burrowes School of Art and other institutions, she ended up with a total of 13 certificates, and won Theatre Guild’s Best Actress in 2012 for the play “Old Story Times.”
Furthermore, Simone now has her own production company called “Purple Arts Production,” through which she works primarily with children, providing them with opportunities she never had as a child. The First Ladies of both the previous and current administrations have been rendering their support to the children.
Having worked on the popular Link Shows, Simone has also done House of Pressure, Miriamy, Eleventh Finger, and Jezebel, just to name a few.
“I’m not where I want to be as yet, but thank God I’m not where I used to be. I would like to write, direct and act in a full-length play. Just finding the time to sit and do it is keeping me from accomplishing this. I would also like to write and act my bio.”
Simone also finds pleasure in giving of herself to others. “I like to see others live. I love to give without expecting anything in return. I give because I know how it feels to live without certain things. If I can do something for you and you smile and you’re happy about it, that’s what makes me happy. I give my heart and don’t mind if I get very little in return. My happiness comes from seeing other people happy.”
Simone is also a marketing representative for Channel Nine and Assistant Producer for the First Look Show.