The October instalment of the Playwrights Workshop Trinbago (PWT) Monthly Readers Theatre Series (MRTS), will feature the cold reading of Death For Crapaud by E. Ansolia. The reading will take place online, today – Wednesday October 4, at 7:00 PM (GMT -4) via Google Meet.
In Death for Crapaud, four children continuously antagonize a homeless man who lives in the park they usually pass through on their way home from school but this time they find themselves trapped and are brought to confront their past.
In an interview with the T&T Performing Arts Network, Ansolia- a professional actor, storyteller, playwright and Lead Artist Facilitator with the DCFA’s theatre arts outreach unit, Arts-in-Action (AiA), said the play explores the idea of the ‘good boys’ in society that are often lamented when they get killed, as a consequence of their involvement in criminal activity. He further explained that the title of the play comes from the old saying ‘Joke for schoolboy is death for crapaud’, which means, situations that children may engage with in fun or take for granted could have dire consequences for someone else.
Death for Crapaud is not the first of Ansolia’s plays to be read at the PWT Monthly Readers Theatre Series. His previous work ‘The Knowing’ and La Dja’Cie (formerly Lose to Learn) was read in 2021. The latter however was selected for workshopping and staging at the New Play Festival later that year.
From having his work read at PWT Monthly Readers Theatre Series, Ansolia acknowledged that he got a greater insight into the craft of playwriting, which continues to inform how he approaches future work. He said, “Although I did playwriting as a course at University, the lecturer at the time did not give us guidance on how to format a script. There is general rule of thumb for script formatting, especially if you want it to be read and understood by international first audiences [actors and directors] so [one of] the biggest takeaway was how to format a script.”
He also added that another takeaway from PWT is learning “…how not to direct, or tell the actor how to feel while you are writing. Write the action and make sure there is enough information in the script for an actor or director to pull from, to get what you mean.”
Ansolia confessed that he is looking forward to the feedback he gets from the reading of Death for Crapaud’. “I am interested in seeing what people get from it, and how similar or different it is from what I intended.” He expressed however that he is a bit anxious, albeit in a good way, that this play insights an uproar, because some characters hold controversial opinions.
PWT is inviting actors, playwrights, directors, producers and the general public to join them via Google Meet to listen to the cold reading and participate in the discussion to assist the playwright with the further development of the script. The event will be held today – Wednesday October 4 at 7:00 PM (GMT -4).
Join Google Meet:
https://meet.google.com/zfe-hbxh-iuc
Join one. Join all. Bring a friend.
PWT reads new stage, screen, and radio plays on the first Wednesday of every month. Plays read in 2023 for the Monthly Readers Theatre Series will qualify for workshopping, staging and award consideration at the New Play Festival 2024. For further information or to submit a script for reading in the MRTS, email playwrightsworkshoptt@gmail.com; call/text/WhatsApp (868) 351-6293; find us on Facebook and Instagram @playwrightsworkshoptt; or on NDATT’s website https://iamndatt.org.tt/playwrightsworkshoptt/.
The Trinidad and Tobago Performing Arts Network 