The road to 'Georgia'

• Sabrena McDonald balances acting and career on the journey to 'God's Way'

It's not always easy to balance artistic talent with business acumen, even more so to achieve competence in both areas.

Sabrena McDonald has successfully merged both skills in her quest to rise to the top of the entertainment business.

A Prime Minister's National Youth Awardee for Excellence in the Arts, McDonald graduated from The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts with The Barbara Gloudon Award for Excellence in Theatre Arts, The Brian Heap Award for Excellence in Academics and The Dean's Award for being the best student in the performing arts.

A Bachelor's in media and communications with first-class honours would come next, quickly followed by an MBA in marketing with distinction.

Interestingly, McDonald had no plans to pursue formal study or training in drama but was instead focused solely on a marketing career.

While awaiting acceptance to the University of Technology (UTech) for the business administration-marketing course along with confirmation from JF Mills for a scholarship, fate had other plans for the young thespian.

"I went to JCDC's national drama finals 1998 and won the Best Actress Award and a scholarship to Edna Manley College courtesy of IBM Jamaica. I had not even applied to that institution, and while I weighed my options, UTech confirmed my acceptance and JF Mills confirmed my scholarship. I prayed about it with the help of my then church family and the inner prompting led to the School of Drama at Edna Manley College," McDonald explained.

Community development

At Edna Manley, she never lost her interest in marketing, and exposure to a course called community drama provided training in using popular forms to stimulate community development. McDonald says, next to her acting courses, it was the most life-changing course on the curriculum.

"Community drama led me to write differently ... to be more creative. Soon I would partner with Damion Radcliffe and then Monique Caesar and Tesfa Edwards on developing content for gigs, workshops and popular theatre initiatives."

Those partnerships became the genesis of the Independent Actors Movement, which has continued to create and produce numerous projects.

In 2010, McDonald wrote and produced her one-woman show Slim Actress. McDonald said that the decision to 'do her own thing' as a writer and actress as well as being a founding director of the group was not just about getting exposure.

"It's about making my own mark and our own mark as a company, expressing our voice and contributing to theatre. If any artiste believes that they have something worthwhile to share and can package it well, they should."

As an actor, McDonald wants to continue to expand her range and looks forward to more work in theatre and film. Action heroes like Laura Croft fascinate McDonald and she hopes to explore them someday as they differ from the "softer" and "goodie two shoes" characters she often portrays.

She is also keen on doing a role which requires an accent completely unlike hers. Acting is, however, not the sole area she hopes to develop.

"My aspirations are more as an artiste than as an actor. I want to do all areas - writing, acting, directing, producing, and film."

Gospel drama

Come September 30, McDonald will be featured in the gospel drama God's Way which is scheduled for a limited run at Theatre Place, Haining Road.

As 'Georgia' she battles with divided loyalty to her parents which comes to bear both physically and emotionally. Describing her character as a stick of dynamite, appearing to be balanced when she really isn't, McDonald hopes that audiences will be absorbed with the portrayal.

"Like any other role - my goal is sincerity, vulnerability, consistency and professionalism. The true joy of being an actor is taking the audience along with you for the ride and making them believe your character is real. That's my expectation - get the audience to ride with me to the end."

To those who are contemplating a career in theatre arts she says:

"Think of theatre as a business, think of theatre as an art (there is an approach to doing things well ... learn it)."