And then there was the pride of nationalism , of rising consciousness in the Caribbean , of having support , of being proud of who you were and what belonged to you . Of being able to soar in flights of language without fear . Your audience was your critic , if they understood , reacted , if they said it was good , then it was . I was writing for them first , the world after .
What was your involvement with the arts ?
Though born in Trinidad I grew up in Grenada . I was always interested in the arts and in Grenada was active in a group called BeeWee Ballet as a dancer and actor . This gave me my first groundings in theatre . On my return from studying in Montreal , Canada , I went to UWI Jamaica . While there I was very involved in University Drama , touring with the drama group to Belize , taking part in the Tallawah Festival , and eventually playing a leading role in the Jamaican Pantomime “ Hail Columbus ” opposite Ranny Williams . On my return to Trinidad I founded the Creola Theatre Group putting on shows at the Little Carib Theatre . Then in 1975 came the Tim Tim storytelling shows , where I highlighted the stories from my books and featured many well known performers , including Louise Bennett , Mary Carter-Smith , Alice McGill , Andrea Gollop and many others . In 1983 I saw the need to create a platform for talk artistes and started the Talk Tent with the Motto ‘ Where Talk Is Art ”. Both shows are still going strong with the Talk Tent now a popular post-carnival event at Queen ’ s Hall and the “ Tim Tim ” show now on in October at NAPA the National Association for the Performing Arts .
From the beginning I have always considered myself a regional artist , as I have always had tremendous support up and down the islands . As such I have performed in almost every island of the English Speaking Caribbean , from Guyana right up to the US Virgin Islands , Tortola , St . Martin , Cayman and the Bahamas . International performances took me to Miami , Toronto , New York . Washington , London to name a few . On the writing side I became a self-publisher publishing books , CD ’ s , Videos and DVD ’ s and was also President of the Writers Union . Today I am using my art form as a motivational speaker , presenter and facilitator in communication skills .
Back to Table of Contents