This June, the Playwrights Workshop Trinbago (PWT) Readers Theatre Series 2017 will feature the full-length screenplay–Angels Live in Tunapuna–written by choreographer and filmmaker Sonja Dumas.
The story revolves around Frank and Boxo, who have been enemies for decades due to an old misunderstanding over a woman. When they die without resolving the issue and meet outside the Pearly Gates, they are forced to return to earth to perform a good deed to absolve their bad behaviour.
Framed in the chaos of Carnival and the rum shop humour of Trinidad and Tobago, their story is one of brotherly love —lost and found.
Dumas is a performer, choreographer, writer, filmmaker, teacher and arts development consultant. Her films include the documentary Julia and Joyce: Two Stories of Two Dance Pioneers, the African Movie Academy Award-nominated Tickle Me Rich and the experimental dance film Agua Water L’eau. She has been featured on the BBC World Service radio programme Outlook for her work in dance, and was described in 2016 as a Caribbean pioneer by the Huffington Post.
Dumas will also lead the discussion of this month’s theme, which will be Rewriting. PWT, one of whose aims is to foster the development of original storytelling through drama and playmaking, reads new stage plays and screenplays, by T&T playwrights and screenwriters, on the first Wednesday of every month.
This month’s workshop takes place on June 7 at the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, corner Jerningham Avenue and Norfolk Street, Belmont, at 7 pm. For further information call (868) 351-6293 or visit the Playwrights Workshop Trinbago Facebook page.