Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

Fundraising to continue to attend school abroad is an ongoing process, as seen by a number of concerts held recently by students from T&T in an effort to raise funds for their next semester of study. One such upcoming concert is PROLOGUE Part 2: True Love at St. Finbar’s Auditorium on January 15, being put on by singing actor Raguel Gabriel.

Guardian readers will remember Gabriel was accepted to the prestigious Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City in September 2015, and held the first Prologue concert then to raise the needed funds. Gabriel said he barely raised the funds in time to be able to start the semester and even so, missed the first eight days of school. “After the first Prologue I had two weeks to make it to New York. The longest process was getting the Student Visa as I needed proof of sufficient funds to gain the approval in the first place so there was a delay, but thankfully the school understood and made an exception for me. I was told that an exception of being eight days late was never before done in the history of admissions.”
Gabriel said he was able to catch up on what he missed by working extremely hard with the help of his teachers. His first semester classes included Scene Study, Neutral Mask, Character, Voice and Speech, Stella Adler Technique, Alignment and Sourcework, Shakespeare, American Accent Acquisition and Yoga and Theatre Practicum. “It feels like you are pressing the reset button on your body and life, as the extremely intense training works on your body, mind and spirit. A typical day starts at 8am and finishes at 6:30pm, with some classes going as long as 3 hours. Each class requires the same intense energy, focus and work as the other, even when it’s the last class of the day!” Gabriel is also extremely enthused to be working with industry greats such as Ron Burrus, Elizabeth Parrish and Pete Mcelligott. He said he’s very proud to be the only actor from the Caribbean at the school, with his classmates hailing from Australia, Germany, Sweden, London, Canada, Turkey and Ireland.
The proceeds of Prologue 1 were just enough to get Gabriel to the last week of school before he returned home. “Financially, it has taken everything I have to make this dream possible, but I have no regrets. I’m worried about my mom though, who is now widowed. She is my only support and I wish I was able to do this all on my own without seeing her struggle so willingly and selflessly. She tries her best but it’s not enough. Student life sees me learning how to make what little I have, last. I honestly can’t see right now how I’m going to make it happen beyond the next few months, but I have faith that I’ll make it through. It is even more tough being unable to work, with the demanding hours of the program. So until God is ready to bless me beyond “barely enough” it seems I’ll always have to do fundraising concerts to keep things afloat. True Love is a bit tougher than Prologue 1 as I have to use what little funds I have in the show, and pray that it multiplies and comes back to me.”
Gabriel said he was inspired to chose the theme of the concert by a song which said “Tell me you love me, if you don’t…then lie to me and call it True Love.” “I suddenly found myself thinking about true love and realizing that if it’s true it never dies and it knows no limit, not only from the aspect of relationships, but of one’s self as a human. Love remains ever the muse for so many things in art, particularly music and I found myself with a list of over 200 songs from which I chose the ones I thought expressed exactly the thoughts, mood and feelings I wanted to get across.”
The music is an eclectic mix from Classical and Broadway to Alternative and Adult Contemporary. Gabriel joined by a cast of award winning singers: Natalia Dopwell, Nigel Floyd, Marvin Smith, Aurora Tardieu, John Michael Thomas and Diahann White. Jerome Dinchong is on piano, with additional music by Tessa Wallace on viola and Elijah Brown on violin.
Gabriel thanked all those who have supported him thus far, and said “to anyone who is struggling to find their path, or what I call their place in this world: Do NOT give up, your dreams deserve a chance to become a reality. Nothing worth it comes easy and it is your passion and motivation that will get you through.”