McDonald

She might dabble in poetry, music and dance but drama will always be Sabrena McDonald's first love.

The 28-year-old Spanish Town resident got involved in drama while attending St Jago High School. She said she was inspired by her principal, Keith Noel, who brought a new wave of dramatic energy to the school.

Since then, McDonald has been involved in drama at various levels.

"I would say acting (is my first love) because there is a certain level of relief. Nothing can beat the experience of having the audience cry with you and laugh with you, but I love to write as well," McDonald told The Gleaner.

So deep is her love for acting that she teamed up with fellow graduates of the Edna Manley College School of Drama to form a performing arts and communications consultancy company called I AM (Independent Actors Movement).

"Lord jeez," she said dramatically, "I think my biggest achievement is starting my own company with my friends. Arts is primarily about interpreting ... with my company I can develop my own thing. I have more artistic freedom to write, perform and direct and other persons in the company get to express themselves as well."

She quickly pointed out, however, that "The Prime Minister's Youth Award is very important to me so maybe they are tied."

She listed her three-week tour in England for the play Link Up and being among the cast of Not About Eve as two of her biggest achievements in drama. In Not About Eve, she shared the stage with Dorothy Cunningham and Karen Harriott.

FULL SCHOLARSHIP

McDonald attended Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts via a full scholarship she won for being the top actor in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) National Drama finals. While there, she excelled and maintained an 'A' average and performed in several productions.

Upon graduating in 2001, McDonald had received top awards, including 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. She was also the valedictorian and the only graduate who earned a distinction that year.

McDonald has received 60 awards for drama, speech, academics and national achievement. While at St Jago she received 13 awards for speech, three gold medals for acting, three best actress' awards (1994, 1996 and 1998). In November 2003, she was awarded the prestigious Prime Minister's National Youth Award for excellence in the arts.

In 2004, she was nominated in the annual Actor Boy Awards in the category best actress in a lead role for her performance in Who God Bless. She played a lead role in the Jamaica Musical Theatre Company's 2004 summer production Purlie.

She also received many awards at the Tallawah Festival while attending the University of the West Indies where she received a first class honours bachelor's degree in media and communication.

In 2007, she won five national literary awards in the JCDC literary competition, topped the poetry category of the UK-based Women Into Literature Development and Enterprise literary competition, and was awarded the Jamaica National/CARIMAC award for outstanding academic achievement in social marketing.

'Youth Now'

In the area of social marketing, she was heavily involved in a campaign called 'Youth Now'. In addition, she co- wrote a film script about youth at risk called High Grade, which was later produced as a short film and aired on local television.

In 2000, McDonald represented Jamaica as a CARICOM youth delegate in the area of culture at Carifesta VII held in St Kitts and Nevis.

The awards and accolades are too much to mention. But McDonald is not fazed by them.

"I don't think about it actually," she said, while noting that she usually feels proud when her family shows off her trophies.

"When I do not think about it, it's a motivation to say that the things I really want to do, I can do it. When I was 23 years old and realised that my awards doubled my age, I realised that I could really start an international theatre company," McDonald said.

Currently pursuing a master's degree in marketing at the Mona School of Business, McDonald said she has little time for herself. Hence, "I only say yes to the things that I really want to do. If I am passionate about it then it will not become a burden. But sometimes, it's very hectic."

Eager to restart reading

She is currently employed as a copywriter and producer at Dunlop Corbin Communications, an advertising agency, and also freelances as a communications consultant.

McDonald said she is eager to restart stage reading some of her poems and a forthcoming script, Wanted.

"I really want to start performing my poems again. I write them but I don't get the time to rehearse them. I want to get back onstage and I wanna start staging the scripts again," McDonald said.

In the meantime, she is working on a stage reading of Tic Toc, which is a production of her mentor Owen 'Blakka' Ellis.