Aba A Luke

With Car­ni­val mere­ly two months away, there is much ex­cite­ment in the in­dus­try. From large bands to medi­um and even chil­dren's Car­ni­val pro­duc­tions, the buzz is rife that Car­ni­val 2010 will be a spec­ta­cle of dy­nam­ic pro­por­tions. One band that is plan­ning a pre­sen­ta­tion of mass ap­peal is San Juan-based Peek­a­boo Pro­duc­tions. De­sign­er Shane James is ex­cit­ed, and with the theme Look To The Hills–A Cel­e­bra­tion of Life In Paramin, he seems to have his jour­ney mapped out, with clear fo­cus be­ing kept on the North­ern area that's known for parang, green sea­son­ings and J'Ou­vert morn­ing blue dev­ils. The band, in its first year, is seek­ing to pro­vide its young pa­trons with a joy­ful ex­pe­ri­ence of what mas is re­al­ly meant to be. Hav­ing been a part of car­ni­vals across the is­lands and here in T&T over the years, the lo­cal cos­tume de­sign­er un­der­stands the im­por­tance of cre­at­ing cos­tumes that are suit­ed to what is top­i­cal at the mo­ment.

For this rea­son, he says, Peek­a­boo has cho­sen to high­light the good as­pects of T&T, in the face of the crip­pling crime sit­u­a­tion that con­tin­ues to be a top­ic of dis­con­tent. "We are call­ing on young peo­ple to come jour­ney with us and ex­pe­ri­ence the joy of mas. In 2010, we will high­light one of the most beau­ti­ful places in T&T–a place that is rich in cul­ture and of­fers a good ex­pe­ri­ence to any­one who vis­its." Cos­tumes, which are avail­able to tod­dlers and youths up to age 14, range in cost from $650 to $950. Dance De Parang, The As­cent, Blue Dev­ils, Green Sea­son­ing and Cool Breeze are among the sec­tions, and ac­cord­ing to James, what will set Peek­a­boo apart from any oth­er pro­duc­tion is its fo­cus on less sec­tion­ing and more in­di­vid­u­al­i­ty. James said the band­leader, 23-year-old Natasha Mur­ray, had been in­stru­men­tal in en­sur­ing that Peek­a­boo Pro­duc­tions de­liv­ers for C2K10.

He said the or­gan­i­sa­tion's name was cho­sen to re­flect the play­ful­ness that was abun­dant among chil­dren of all ages. He says be­yond Car­ni­val, there will be a num­ber of events planned and ex­e­cut­ed with the youth of T&T in mind. Based at 12 Eve­lyn Trace, El So­cor­ro, in San Juan, Peek­a­boo Pro­duc­tions is call­ing on cor­po­rate Trinidad to as­sist in this en­deav­our. "This is an amaz­ing op­por­tu­ni­ty for com­pa­nies to give back to the young ones and help in mak­ing T&T's Car­ni­val–all ar­eas of it–a tru­ly suc­cess­ful ven­ture," says James. He says even if Peek­a­boo is not spon­sored, they will en­sure that all goes as planned. Call Peek­a­boo at 721-3166 or 314-0443. They're guar­an­tee­ing the fun and ex­cite­ment chil­dren yearn for.