Teach a man to fish ...Playwright hosts workshop to teach actors how to do for themselves

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

With her theatre workshops next weekend, Debra Ehrhardt will be teaching people how to write and produce solo plays, thereby creating work for themselves in the process.

"I am doing this to help actors who cannot get work. I am doing this to show them how to create work for themselves," Ehrhardt told The Sunday Gleaner, noting that the workshop was open to artists, directors and other people in the entertainment business.

"That is what I did in the United States 'cause I couldn't get any work with my Jamaican accent. So, I am trying to show actors that they don't have to depend on anyone for a job."

Based on her experience in the United States and elsewhere, Ehrhardt said oftentimes the same set of actors were always employed, and this made it hard for new actors to break into the business.

Therefore, by helping people to write, produce and identify good work, Ehrhardt said those in the industry would benefit. In addition, she said audiences will be entertained by good stories that those at the workshop will be taught to create.

good stories

Out of the workshop, Ehrhardt says she hopes some good stories will be written. If they are at a high level, she said she will try to help the writers to produce the works and even get the material overseas.

Ehrhardt is currently in Jamaica for another run of her one-woman autobiographical show Jamaica Farewell. The show speaks to her journey to the United States from Jamaica in the turbulent 1970s. It is a hilarious and touching story of how one young woman risked everything in order to fulfil her lifelong dream of starting over in America.

This is Ehrhardt's third one-woman show. Previously, she did Mango Mango which received two National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People awards. She also did Invisible Chairs that was produced by David Strasberg at West Hollywood's Marilyn Monroe Theatre. It was subsequently optioned as a situation comedy by Fox television.

She was also a 2007 NYC Fringe Festival award winner, and has had sold-out performances in Toronto, Atlanta, Santa Barbara, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Virginia, Santa Fe, Indianapolis, Washington DC, San Francisco, Mexico, Bermuda and throughout the Los Angeles area. Ehrhardt is a member of the Writer's Guild of America.

equipped

With her many years of experience in the field and knowledge from the workshops she has been to overseas, Ehrhardt says she is now equipped to conduct one.

"I think I have a lot to offer so I think that I can make it interesting and entertaining for them and they will learn a lot from it. I am trying to impart the knowledge that I have on that market," she told The Sunday Gleaner.

At the workshops, which will be held on November 20 and 21 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the School of Drama, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Ehrhardt says she is hoping to get at least 30 students. The registration fee of $8,000 may seem pricey, but Ehrhardt believes it is a fair cost.

"It's five times that price in the United States. It's not a money-making venture, it is just to cover expenses so its fairly reasonable," she said.

Ehrhardt says the level of success this workshops receives will determine whether or not she does another.