Ten students in Ms. Dahlia Knowles's 6th grade English Language Arts (ELA) classes at Alfredo Andrews Elementary School are the winners of the Sarah & Addie Scriptwriting Competition, hosted by the Department of Education’s Division of Virgin Islands Cultural Education (DVICE). Now, these budding playwrights get to have their script produced for local TV.
According to Dr. Valrica Bryson, DVICE director, the idea was to have students write a script embodying the spirit of Sarah and Addie, two fictional market women in 1930-40s St. Croix, that addresses relevant topics of today.
The students’ adaptation of "Sarah & Addie," a compilation of 19 short skits written by Anton Teytaud, is titled, “Sarah And Addie News Flash” and covers a series of current events presented in the dialect and comical wisdom of the old-time market women. The ‘News Flash’ addresses national, regional and local events, including the coronavirus, the recent earthquakes in Puerto Rico—“Poto Rico,” to hear Sarah and Addie say it, and even recent police-reported abduction attempts of minors on St. Croix.
The winning scriptwriting team is comprised of students from several of Ms. Knowles's ELA classes. Each student had the opportunity to share their creative ideas for each topic discussed in the Sarah and Addie News Flash, which took about a week to compose.
Filming of the “Sarah and Addie News Flash” begins in May with the WTJX production team.
“It’s an exciting time for our students and a great opportunity they now have to see their hard work come to life,” Bryson said. “I look forward to seeing the skit on the small screen."
JaNai Hospedales, a fourth-grade student in Ms. Albany’s and Ms. Brodhurst’s class at Pearl B. Larsen K-8 School, came in second place in the scriptwriting contest. Her skit will be performed live at the Fredrick D. Dorsche Center in May.
Below: Ms.Daliah Knowles, 6th grade ELA teacher; Ms. Latanya Thomas, para educator; and Dr. Valrica Bryson with winners of the DVICE Sarah & Addie Scriptwriting Competition: Ariana Andrews, Zokia Francis, Mya Pimemteral, Zalika Etienne, Jhan Carlos Perez, Amaell Vargas (not shown), Samaya Cruz, Mahari Green, Tessania Stevens, and Jeshel Williams (not shown).
