BASED on my recent award, I can now add ‘Commentary on Arts and Culture’ to my resume. This event was indeed a lift from the daily stress of being the head of a family and provider. As a writer with a pool of work, I needed to explore the theatre community by observing. Still, I erred by arriving late, as in the good Guyanese bad habit of “better late than never”. (The only difference this time was that the driver didn’t know where the Theatre Guild was, and took me to the Movie Town on the East Coast. His wife was in the car. I thought the lady was a passenger headed for Sophia, but with good humour at the situation, we finally got to the intended location).

My take was to fully understand the new talents, see where my generation was, and learn from our predecessors, who were also there. My doubts were lifted, and by the time things were over, I was assured that we did possess the talents to initiate the groundwork for a functional small-film launch, commercially, once the content was inspiring enough. To me, the Theatre Guild had done its work from the old-school platform. The cinemas are all gone, though they could have been saved; they were the roots-man’s alternative to the then classy ‘Guild’. The cinemas provided theatre in good vaudeville fashion.

To extract references that demonstrate the value of both the ‘Awards and the Guild’, the next challenge rests with the creativity, courage, and vision to explore the possibilities of a concept that can pull commercial attention to its space and time, with a theme that is enduring. Some concepts can envelop the right vibe, and take the Guild onto another inspiring sphere, providing there’s the income to spearhead any new vision.

My emotional moment came at the alpha of the proceedings, when the recipient of the Golden Voice Award,Shawn Bhola, executed his exceptional rendition of the Erwin Drake and Al Stillman song, ‘I Believe’. This was as emotional as was the intent of the song when it as composed, to be an anthem of inspiration between WWII and the then upcoming Korean War for Americans in the 1950s.

Despite his current presence, his voice remains a force awaiting our interception. It was an awakening to me on the work we (the creative community) have not done for ourselves. We have not fairly documented the profiles of the talents through the timeline generally within the sphere of the Theatre Guild and others whose contributing performances and talent trust, within our modern era, from the 1900s onwards.

I have never known Vic Insanally as a stage actor; I learnt that just then. The same was for the recent passing of Senior Counsel Stanley Moore, whose portrait was flashed on the side screen for our benefit. A pay-attention chill did come over me, when I learnt that evening that an old colleague who had migrated some time ago had passed on over a year or two ago. Recently, I had a Facebook friend request from George Braithwaite, which I ignored, since he was already on my page. I’m not a frequent Facebook character, so I have to assume that there are negatives on my page who’re trying to get other negatives on.

The mention of George Braithwaite’s passing took me back to that era when I worked with Dudley Charles, doing set designs; the early eighties, the heyday of the ‘Cultural Centre’. I enjoyed this event even more, because of the creative diversity awarded: Herbie Marshall; Mosa Telford; old- school Nizam Bacchus; my Roots and Culture buddy, Ras Camo; Neaz Subhan; Kenrick Cheeks, and a lot of new folk in time. I hope to know, should any of my unique way (from Graphic novels-comic books) of dealing with the Theatre arts reaches the stage.

I was again politely informed that the Mighty Chief did not sing ‘Drunk Man’. The institution of MATTS record bar is gone, but I’ll get it right soon enough. The epitome is the encounter with Sir Henry Muttoo, an old boy from the Scheme-East Ruimveldt whose talents stand in a world of its own.

I was happy to hear that he was planning to return for another stay, and that links were made towards communications. In closing, what has inspired me is the reality of the talents that exist, so, as the late Isaac Hayes song echoed in my mind, “We gotto do our thing” towards excellence and economic realisation.