The Unveiling of Sayretta, which was performed over the weekend at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. Photo: NGOVOU GYANG

Imagine being away from your home in the Virgin Islands for many years, only to come back and learn that the man you’d always called “dad” is not your father.

The Unveiling of Sayretta, which was performed over the weekend at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. Photo: NGOVOU GYANG
That was the central conflict of The Unveiling of Sayretta, a play performed by members of the Elmore Stoutt High School Drama Society over the weekend at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. 

Written by ESHS drama teacher Janice George-Harris, the play was first performed in November in Trinidad and Tobago, where it won various awards at the Caribbean Secondary Schools Drama Festival.

Most of the storyline was set in a traditional Virgin Islands village, where neighbours showed up to each other’s homes unannounced, children still played with the maypole, and fishermen and farmers sold their produce in an open market.
“When we went to the drama festival, they asked that we write something original,” Ms. George-Harris told the Friday afternoon audience of mostly students. “I thought of BVI cultural practices, and one of the easiest things that I thought we could work with was the maypole.”

See the April 26, 2016 edition for full coverage.