By Michael Reckord, ContributorTHOSE AT the first annual general meeting of the Jamaica Association of Dramatic Artistes (JADA) held on Saturday agreed that the association had a good first year. The new president aims to have JADA be even more useful in the future.
In his acceptance speech, the president, playwright-producer Louis Marriott, spoke of the potential of Jamaican theatre to be "... a tremendous economic force." There was a need, however, for more unity among performing artistes and greater integration of the arts if this potential was to be realised, he said.
Mr Marriott said he saw, for example, the island developing as a 'film capital' with its artistes becoming film-makers and exporting films to the rest of the world. He spoke, too, of the need for continuity and sustainability and urged more theatre practitioners to get involved with JADA. Members, he added, need to know JADA's Constitution, which not only lists objectives but shows how they can be met.
JADA had turned out to be more important than he had initially envisaged, Mr Marriott said, pointing out that a number of communities had asked the association for help in community developmental drama. Although JADA has the human resources to give that help, he continued, it needed more material resources.
Among JADA's plans for the coming year, Mr Marriott continued, was the holding of a workshop introducing theatre to beginners. It would run for a year and climax in a production.
The president's outward looking vision was shared by others at the meeting. Informing the audience that his latest play, Bellas Gate Boy was to be staged at Harvard University next month, playwright-producer Trevor Rhone said that a huge market for plays existed on the United States' university circuit.
He warned against writing just to please Jamaican audiences. "If we write a certain way because we believe that is what the audience wants, we are limiting ourselves (to Jamaica)." Instead, he said, writers should produce material which will appeal to foreign audiences, too.
The guest speaker, too, agreed Jamaica should look outward. Fae Ellington, the recently appointed Chairman of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism's Entertainment Advisory Board, said that Jamaica's culture is a dominant one in the world. "We need to capitalise on it," she said.
Quoting from her Master's thesis on 'convergence' -- of technology, cultures, films, television, markets, et cetera in the world -- Ms Ellington said globalisation presented a myriad opportunities to theatre practitioners.
She cited the need for a state-of-the-art Performing Arts Centre. With Jamaica hosting World Cup cricket in 2007, she said, the centre would be a major attraction for the audiences. Like Mr Marriott, she called for greater unity among performing artistes and said JADA could become a bargaining unit for artistes.
She appealed to playwrights and producers to provide works for older actresses and asked that senior and former theatre practitioners be allowed into productions free.
Election of officers resulted in the following new JADA Executive Council:
Louis Marriott -- President; Alwin Bully - 1st Vice-President; Charles Hyatt -- 2nd Vice-President; Nicole Brown -- Secretary; Erica Brown -- Assistant Secretary; Valerie Chuck -- Treasurer; Glen Campbell -- Assistant Treasurer. Last year's president, Basil Dawkins, automatically became Immediate Past President.
Committee Members are: Jean Small, Fae Ellington, Michael Nicholson and Carl Davis.
JADA's mission is: 'To promote the improvement of all aspects of dramatic arts in Jamaica and to position Jamaican drama as a formidable product in the international
market'.
