Derron Sandy is set to deliver a one-night epic performance poetry showcase at Borderlines: Business Decision . This event takes place on November 27th from 6:30pm at the Central Bank Auditorium in Port-of Spain.
The former National Poetry Slam champion, artistic director, playwright, and award winning performer will be backed by Jesse Johnson and a live band, seasoned slam poet Shimiah Lewis and the dynamic poetry twin Terryl Betaudier and Terriq Betaudier. In a media release to the T&T Performing Arts Network, Sandy noted that “the poetry itself interrogates some of the crucial decisions one must make in life, hence the reason business decisions. Each piece [will be] treated with theatrical elements to extend the notion of what some consider to be typical spoken word performances.”
Derron Sandy was born in 1987 in Maloney, Trinidad and Tobago. The former English A and B teacher left traditional teaching in 2013 to pursue a career in performance poetry. Sandy has been able to extend his services into innovative solutions for education, curriculum design and creative direction. Sandy has registered his enterprise as Derron Sandy – Performance Poet and effectively manages the business of the artform as much as he manages the creative side. “The poet is a brand and a business also,” he says, “and the most successful performer will treat both ends with equal intensity.”
It is through this vein that Sandy developed the concept Borderlines in 2018 with fellow performance poet Idrees Saleem. Prior to the pandemic the show was gaining steady traction, moving from one night in 2018 to three nights in 2019. The goal was to create a sustainable showcase that follows a sound business model for performance poetry. Since 2020, Sandy has managed the brand by himself and is seeking to regroup post pandemic. “Outside of the National Poetry Slam, there are not any mainstream, grand scale poetry events. Borderlines is modeled after Paul Keens-Douglas’ famous Talk Tent and I hope that it can garner the same success and longevity. I also hope that it can be a model for other poets to create their own events and grow the industry. The showcase is critical to the diversification of the performance industry in Trinidad and Tobago.”
Beyond this showcase Sandy is one of the most prominent faces regionally on the performance poetry scene. Sandy has been published including in the Indianapolis Review (2020), Tout Noun Academic Journal (2021) and was long listed for a Bocas Lit Fest writing award (2020). He is also the founder of arts based NGO called the Quays Foundation in 2009 and has been the Artistic Director of a leading spoken word organisation, The 2 Cents Movement since 2017. Sandy also designed a performance based education platform called Cool Creatives in 2021. “God has given me this gift to reach people and engage and empower them. He has also given me this gift to help me find my own way. So each performance is as important to me as it is to the audience. So my work must always be aligned with The Creator’s will. Spoken Word poetry has never been limited to entertainment. It is also enlightening and this showcase is the ultimate pinnacle of those two ideas coming together.”
Borderlines Business Decisions promises to be entertaining, sobering, exhilarating and spiritual; it is Sandy and his peers at their very best. Tickets are available at Xtra Foods outlets and Islandetickets.com. You can also call (868) 719-8769 or (868) 481- 8870 for tickets. Supporters outside of Trinidad and Tobago can email derronsandypoet@gmail.com for streaming details.
The Trinidad and Tobago Performing Arts Network 