Little Carib Theatre
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The Little Carib Theatre (LCT) was established in Woodbrook, Port of Spain,
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
, in 1947 by Beryl McBurnie "to showcase the vibrant and rich culture of the Trinbagonian people". The first permanent folk-dance company and theatre in Trinidad, it has been described as "the mecca of West Indian folk dance". It remains the only dance theatre of its kind in the region.


History

The Little Carib Theatre was formally opened in November 1948. The foundation stone was laid by
Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplish ...
, who at the time was visiting Trinidad, and whom the founder Beryl McBurnie had met in New York.Judy Raymond
"Beryl McBurnie: the First Lady of Dance"
''
Caribbean Beat ''Caribbean Beat'', founded in 1992, is a bimonthly magazine, published in Port of Spain, Trinidad, covering the arts, culture and society of the Caribbean, with a focus on the region's English-speaking territories. It is distributed in-flight by C ...
'', Issue 20 (July/August 1996).
By the 1960s, the work of the Little Carib Dance Company had been recognised and celebrated overseas, having performed at such events as the Caribbean Festival of Arts in
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in 1952, the
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Tercentenary Celebrations in 1955 and the opening of the Federal Parliament of
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in April 1958. The Little Carib building had to be demolished in the 1960s, and it was rebuilt in three years. Many of the plays of
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
-winner Derek Walcott were first staged at the Little Carib Theatre, where he held weekly theatre workshops as founding director, from 1959 to 1971, of what became the Trinidad Theatre Workshop."History"
, Trinidad Theatre Workshop.


References

{{Reflist, 30em


Further reading

* Molly Ahye, ''Cradle of Caribbean Dance: Beryl McBurnie and the Little Carib Theatre'', Heritage Cultures, 1983.


External links


About
The Little Carib Theatre.
The Little Carib Theatre
on Facebook. Afro–Trinidadian and Tobagonian culture Arts organizations established in 1948 Theatre in Trinidad and Tobago Theatres completed in 1948 Trinidad and Tobago culture