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

As singing actor Raguel Gabriel begins his third and final year of study at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City, he’s looking toward the future after school. Gabriel said he wants to be known as “the singing actor from T&T who does theatre, film, musical theatre, the Hugh Jackman of T&T. My hope is to have one foot in the world and one foot in T&T, so I can come back and help to develop the arts further here. He said he is most excited to be cast in the four public productions during the year, based on his development and directed by experienced directors. He will also focus on professional development, such as resume focus, audition technique focus, portfolio development and determining his acting type. “So far my teachers are saying I could play dramatic roles like the smart coloured guy with a dark part in the background of a Shonda Rhimes TV show. On the other side, there’s the classical Shakespearean acting which I love and seem to be suited for. I’m grateful I decided to develop my acting as well as my singing, and I recommend all singers take at least one acting class to aid in character development.”

Gabriel will be holding a fundraising concert to enable him to raise the US$7,500 needed to finish his third year. Titled HUMAN, Gabriel said he wants to remind people to be better human beings to each other and to remain connected, inspired by experiences he has had in the past year. These include being cast in Shakespeare’s Othello and interactions with his classmates following the Trump victory in the US, patients at a rehab centre and a homeless pregnant woman during winter. He said the most poignant inspiration was the suicide of a former classmate, Joseph Anthony Perez, to whom the concert is dedicated. The concert will feature classic, jazz, musical and contemporary pieces as well as dramatic Shakespearean and modern monologues.
Gabriel said at the end of the year, there will be a showcase which students have to be invited to participate in based on their performance and agents will attend. He said he intends to be invited and then picked by an agent, which is critical to moving forward in the acting industry.
He said one of his greatest triumphs was being asked to use his Trini accent to portray the title character in Shakespeare’s Othello, and having everyone, including his teachers, ask where he was from afterwards, so that he was able to educate people about Trinidad.
He bemoaned the seeming lack of opportunities for dramatic actors in theatre in T&T, and the lack of support for theater that does not involve comedy. “I am longing for the day when I can open the papers and see a play by Shakespeare or Ibsen or Chekhov being advertised, like we have the Choo Kong plays and all these comedies and stuff that everyone so loves. I want to see those plays being advertised and fully attended. People go to the theatre to see life on stage, and life is more than one thing.”
HUMAN takes place on Saturday August 5 at 6 pm at Lecture Theatre D, UWI Teaching and Learning Complex, 27 St Augustine Circular Road. Tickets cost $200. For more information call 765-9456, 770-6223 or find HUMAN (A Fundraising Piece) on Facebook.