Cherisse Moe

Rap­so group 3 Canal walked away with the li­on's share of awards, in­clud­ing the prize for Most Out­stand­ing Pro­duc­tion–The 3-Canal JAM-IT! Show–at Tues­day's Cacique Awards 2009. The 21st An­nu­al Awards Cer­e­mo­ny, pro­duced by the Na­tion­al Dra­ma As­so­ci­a­tion of T&T (NDATT) was held at Queen's Hall, St Ann's, and was at­tend­ed to by scores of lo­cal arts and en­ter­tain­ment en­thu­si­asts.

The pop­u­lar mu­sic out­fit al­so copped the awards for Most Out­stand­ing Sound De­sign, Most Out­stand­ing Di­rec­tor and Most Out­stand­ing Orig­i­nal Script, which front-line vo­cal­ist Wen­dell Man­war­ren ded­i­cat­ed to his late friend – ac­tress, come­di­enne and ra­dio per­son­al­i­ty Mairoon Ali. Ali, 55, died on De­cem­ber 20, of hy­per­ten­sive heart dis­ease. Man­war­ren re­mained in win­ner's row, cap­tur­ing the evening's spe­cial awards– Out­stand­ing Achieve­ment in Writ­ing (Orig­i­nal Script) and Out­stand­ing Mu­si­cal Di­rec­tor.

Mean­while, de­sign­er Mar­garet Shep­pard won the pres­ti­gious Life­time Achieve­ment Award. New­com­er Tra­maine Lamy beat out vet­er­an ac­tress­es Pene­lope Spencer and De­bra Bou­caud-Ma­son for Most Out­stand­ing Ac­tress, for her role as Belle in Dis­ney's Beau­ty and The Beast. Mar­lon de Bisque man­aged a sim­i­lar feat, cop­ping the award for Most Out­stand­ing Ac­tor over his more sea­soned coun­ter­parts Er­rol Fa­bi­en and Richard Ra­goo­bars­ingh. The Most Out­stand­ing Dra­mat­ic Pro­duc­tion, mean­while, went to the De­part­ment of Cre­ative and Fes­ti­val Arts for Frag­ments: Cel­e­brat­ing the Works of Derek Wal­cott, while RS Pro­duc­tions re­ceived the award for Most Out­stand­ing Comedic Pro­duc­tion.

Ti­tled Nur­ture The Fu­ture, the event al­so pro­vid­ed an op­por­tu­ni­ty for young as­pir­ing ac­tors to dis­play their tal­ents in the art form. The au­di­ence was treat­ed to per­for­mances by the Bish­op Anstey Choir, The Lil­liput The­atre, Trinidad The­atre Work­shop and Dale Hug­gins. NDATT pres­i­dent Louris Lee-Sing said the the­atre com­mu­ni­ty con­tin­ued to face "many chal­lenges," in­clud­ing the es­ca­lat­ing cost of venues and ad­ver­tis­ing and dwin­dling au­di­ence mem­bers due to ris­ing crime and "re­cent eco­nom­ic crises."

She said: "It is ob­vi­ous­ly in our na­ture to be op­ti­mistic, to keep go­ing and be­come in­no­v­a­tive when faced with ad­ver­si­ty, be­cause I see the pro­duc­ers, ac­tors and tech­ni­cal pro­fes­sion­als ex­plor­ing new op­por­tu­ni­ties in our fledg­ling film in­dus­try...In short, I see evo­lu­tion." Lee-Sing said it was the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty of the NDATT to adapt to the chang­ing par­a­digms and in­no­vate ways to ben­e­fit and ser­vice its mem­ber­ship.

Mar­lon de Bisque man­aged a sim­i­lar feat, cop­ping the award for Most Out­stand­ing Ac­tor over his more sea­soned coun­ter­parts Er­rol Fa­bi­en and Richard Ra­goo­bars­ingh. The Most Out­stand­ing Dra­mat­ic Pro­duc­tion, mean­while, went to the De­part­ment of Cre­ative and Fes­ti­val Arts for Frag­ments: Cel­e­brat­ing the Works of Derek Wal­cott, while RS Pro­duc­tions re­ceived the award for Most Out­stand­ing Comedic Pro­duc­tion.

Ti­tled Nur­ture The Fu­ture, the event al­so pro­vid­ed an op­por­tu­ni­ty for young as­pir­ing ac­tors to dis­play their tal­ents in the art form.

The au­di­ence was treat­ed to per­for­mances by the Bish­op Anstey Choir, The Lil­liput The­atre, Trinidad The­atre Work­shop and Dale Hug­gins. NDATT pres­i­dent Louris Lee-Sing said the the­atre com­mu­ni­ty con­tin­ued to face "many chal­lenges," in­clud­ing the es­ca­lat­ing cost of venues and ad­ver­tis­ing and dwin­dling au­di­ence mem­bers due to ris­ing crime and "re­cent eco­nom­ic crises."

She said: "It is ob­vi­ous­ly in our na­ture to be op­ti­mistic, to keep go­ing and be­come in­no­v­a­tive when faced with ad­ver­si­ty, be­cause I see the pro­duc­ers, ac­tors and tech­ni­cal pro­fes­sion­als ex­plor­ing new op­por­tu­ni­ties in our fledg­ling film in­dus­try...In short, I see evo­lu­tion." Lee-Sing said it was the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty of the NDATT to adapt to the chang­ing par­a­digms and in­no­vate ways to ben­e­fit and ser­vice its mem­ber­ship.