"We have a theatre at last in Trinidad," says James Lee Wah, the doyen of San Fernando drama, "a well equipped theatre that makes anything possible in drama."

Lee Wah is talking about the new Naparima Bowl, resurrected at a cost of $10.8 million.

The Bowl, which now boasts an auditorium filled with state-of-the art equipment, was reopened on October 20 by the Prime Minister, 13 years after it was destroyed by fire. Its emblem is a phoenix rising from the ashes. But in fact, says manager Wendy Charles, rumors of its death were greatly exaggerated.

From the outside it is hard to gauge the true size of the Bowl, which nestles in a hollow once as known "the Tray." Although it stands only a few hundred yards from Independence Avenue, in the shadow of the San Fernando General Hospital, from the road you would not know it was there. But southerners know quite well where the Bowl stands, and in the 13 years since the fire they have never stopped coming.

The auditorium is approached along a covered walkway, past a paved courtyard in which stands a fountain donated to the Bowl in 1984 by sculptor Ralph Baney. To the left are the "Multipurpose Room," a kitchen, rehearsal rooms and dressing rooms, all part of the original structure, and showing their age. But Charles says that there are plans to refurbish the older parts of the Bowl, now that the auditorium is finished at last.

At the end of the walkway, double doors open into a spacious auditorium, with 500 blue covered seats and a pale grey carpet. A phalanx of spotlights is mounted on the wood-panelled ceiling. The auditorium is dominated by a stage 40 feet wide and perhaps equally deep. It narrows towards the back, where sunlight glows through a white backdrop. Walking around it, you step through tall sliding doors and onto another stage.

This one is in a stunning open-air amphitheatre, with rows of seats terraced into the natural slope of the hillside. The amphitheatre, which seats 2,500, also fell into disuse after the fire, when the stage was destroyed.

The history of the Bowl is recounted by Louis Homer in the official programme produced for last week's reopening. The site was handed over by Government in 1956, when the need for a concert hall in the South had become urgent. Until then, southern dancers, musicians and dramatists have used St. Paul's Anglican School, an old building on the San Fernando wharf, or school halls.

The Ministry of Education and Culture was given $138,000 to construct a community centre on the site at Paradise Pasture, previously used for cricket and football matches. The sod was turned in April 1959, but there were protests over the design of the building and work did not start until a year later.

The final design by Kevin Barcant was estimated at $370,000, but that had escalated to $450,000 by the time it was completed. "The previous Bowl was a nice little design," comments James Lee Wah. "It had nice acoustics and seating, but no lighting or air-conditioning." The Naparima Bowl was opened on August 27, 1962, and became the home of groups like the San Fernando Chorale, the Drama Guild, the Arawaks Dance Troupe, and the Southern Light Orchestra.

Fifteen years later, in February 1977, the auditorium was destroyed by fire. It was not until 1988 that the Government responded to southerners' requests and agreed to finance the reconstruction of the Bowl, which began in March that year. The estimated cost of the design by Works Ministry architect Gary Nabie was $9.6 million and the projected completion time 15 months.

Despite the delay, says Wendy Charles, southerners are "very very pleased" to see the auditorium open once more. "This is the Mecca of the arts in the South," she says. The Creative Arts Centre was opened two or three years ago, but it doesn't have all these facilities. We have in-house rehearsal rooms - everything is here."

The Minister of Culture appoints the board of directors of the Bowl, whose members are drawn from among southerners in business, local government and the arts. Chaired by Kenwyn Austin, it includes Abre Aboud, James Lee Wah, Councillor Marlene Ambrose, Faize Mohammed, Anthony Xavier, and Shirley Rajack.

Some theatre practitioners have expressed misgivings over the new Bowl, citing teething problems with sound and lighting. But James Lee Wah says that those problems are being worked out. There is a resident technician for sound, Vishnu Balroop, and for lighting, George Williams.

Dramatist and designer Willi Chen, director of this year's Sanfest, is also a little worried by the prospective cost of renting the auditorium. "The population of San Fernando is quite small," he says. "There's a theatergoing crowd in Port of Spain, and the theatre people there are marketing experts… I don't know if people will come from Port of Spain to see productions here."

On the other hand, says Chen, the Central Bank auditorium, north Trinidad's most prestigious venue, was not designed as a theatre, and has obvious faults. The Bowl's facilities, Chen says, are "very, very nice… Now that the Bowl is open," he adds, "South will seem near."

San Fernando playwright and director Shane Bickram says the Bowl's facilities are "great", although he too is concerned that "amateur groups might suffer because of the rental." He thinks that shows from Port of Spain "should do well," adding generously, "We need some competition, it will be good for us."

Godfrey Sealy, one of Trinidad's most successful playwrights, currently has a play running out of town, at the La Joya auditorium, St. Joseph. "I don't mind going South, " he says. "The potential is there. We have to bring new people into the theatre, we have to make it happen."

Sealy would try to encourage people to come from La Brea, Erin, Point Fortin, and the deep South. He doubts whether audiences could be persuaded to travel from Port of Spain. "A lot of South and Central people come to the theatre in Port of Spain," he says, "but town people are lazy. I don't like to travel beyond the Lighthouse myself.

But Sealy says that the theatre is becoming more aggressive. "The public will benefit if southern theatre becomes more businesslike. Theatre groups must do more market research to find out what people want, and give them more variety. Competition would definitely be good for South theatre groups."

Sealy also comments that in the past a lot of talented southerners have ended up working in Port of Spain.

James Lee Wah says the new Bowl will give "a tremendous impetus" to the drama movement in South Trinidad, and believes that the Bowl will see shows coming from Port of Spain. But he adds that theatre groups may have to promote their shows in a more professional manner, in order to attract the larger audiences needed to fill the auditorium and cover costs.

Wendy Charles does not foresee any problems. The Bowl is already fully booked to the end of the year, and weekends are booked until the end of June next year, she says. At present, at the end of a week of celebrations to mark its reopening, the Bowl is being used for some of the events of Sanfest '90. It will be followed by the Secondary Schools Drama Festival and a production by playwright/director Ralph Maraj. Most of the bookings have been made by southern drama groups. "Once they have good PR, they will get a full attendance," says Charles.

But the Bowl will also be available for "cultural shows, concerts, queen shows, conferences, dance, music festivals, and arts festivals." One thing the Bowl will not be available for, however, is Carnival parties: the Board does not want to risk any damage to the new facilities from high-spirited revellers.

Nor does Charles think that the calypso semi-finals will return to the amphitheatre from their new home at Skinner Park. "I think that has outgrown the Bowl," she says.

Although the Bowl has only just risen from the ashes, Charles stresses that it was never entirely consumed by the flames. Charles, herself a former dancer, has been at the Bowl for eight years as one of its staff of 12. She has seen many southerners celebrate their weddings there. "We have rehearsal rooms for drama, cookery classes, aerobics, church services, exhibitions. Everything has been going on here all the time. We have kept the name of the Bowl alive," she says.
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