It was inspired by Mo'Nique, (a) comedienne, who has written a book called My colleague (at Dellwood Middle School), Kelly Burgess ? the daughter of (Bermuda's legendary trumpeter) Ghandi Burgess ? read it and asked me to have a look at it.

I read it. It's all about escapades that a voluptuous woman has with skinny, evil women; the (problems) that a voluptuous woman may have with skinny, evil women. It was so funny that I was inspired to write a live theatre series.

I did one before. It was called . We did five of those. It started out with performance poetry. Just like they did with the Def Comedy Jam poetry that was on Broadway. That sort of thing. That's how it happened. That was so successful, I decided to make this a live theatre series too. The P.H.A.T. Girls started with the first one, . It surrounds the lives of five women who own the P.H.A.T. Girls Caf?. Different sorts of people come into the P.H.A.T. Girls Caf?.

They come by to have their meals, to tell their life stories ? there were incidents where men may have been infidels to their wives or their girlfriends. We made it very funny and we made it very Bermudian so that Bermudians could come and have a slice of their own lives to look at. So it's a bit satirical.

In the last episode, somebody burned down one of the player's houses. Moe is the lead character, and someone burned down her house. Moe is a woman scorned. She was married to this man, Joe Epps, who she divorced because he was dating a skinny, evil woman.

This woman subsequently moved in and took hold of all of Moe's worldly possessions. Moe didn't like it but she and Joe stayed friends. And then Joe became very sick. He got cancer and his new woman didn't know what to do with him.

She was not the wife type. She was the pretty girl who loved to dress up and say she had a fella. Joe dies, but before he dies he asks his ex-wife Moe to come back and take care of him. Which she does. He leaves her everything. The live-in becomes very upset. And the house burns down. But we don't know who burned the house down.

: This episode, number three, is where everybody finds out who burned down the house. It follows on from the second which was done in April and called It dealt with the investigation of the fire that took place and what happened in the fire.

And it gave you some information as to who possibly could have done it. So there's a series of turns and twists. It's been interesting. (Since the second play) people will walk up to me in the street and talk to me about the fire and try and guess who did it.

Basically, I listened to what everybody said and came up with a decision.

I won't say it's the final. It's the end of the story. No. Episode by episode. No. I didn't know. In my entire lifetime? About 170, maybe.

All of those have been taken to stage, yes. I've (also) written children's pieces. I used to work for the Department of Youth & Sport as the producer/director/writer for their annual theatrical road show which they don't do any more. I did that for 17 years.

I've been doing it since I was 14. I went to school when I was 17 to study theatre. My major was theatre education and I minored in communications. I subsequently went to the Neighbourhood Playhouse School of the Theatre to study acting further. And this summer, I had the opportunity to go to the International Television and Film Workshops in Rockport, Maine, so that I could learn how to make movies.

(Part II of the series) ended with the P.H.A.T. Girls going on vacation and this play opens with the film, . My director of photography was Andr? (Sandy) Thomas and I had a magnificent editor ? we worked on it together ? Roshena Beek.

I'm a language arts teacher. I teach reading, writing, oral skills to ten and 11 year olds.

I started in 1987 with the performing arts school, Devonshire Academy now CedarBridge Academy. From there I went to St. George's Secondary and then I took a break. I was actually directing four shows in (repetition) for the Hamilton Princess Hotel through a company I had formed called the Jabulani Repertory Company. I did that for three years and then I came back into the system and started (my present) company, The Company.

Some of them I had. Some of them I hadn't. I'm one of those people that if it's something that you'd like to try, I'm not going to tell you no. I have a very user-friendly audition. I try to make them feel very comfortable when they come. I listen to them talk. I listen to their stories. And I write. Lots of times I write after I meet people, yes.

We've been blessed. The last two shows were sold out. But this year, for this particular (episode), instead of having six performances, we only have four. We were hoping to get some people to be patrons (so we could put the money towards certain programmes) ? we're trying to work with some other groups trying to refurbish the Somers Playhouse in St. George's.

We want to start a junior company here, at Dellwood. And we also just want to be able to foster some sort of professionalism and sustainable theatre in Bermuda so that it doesn't become a dying art.

Not in terms of doing original, theatrical productions. You always have companies that will do things that have already been written. But if there are any original pieces, sometimes they're on a very small scale. You only have a few that do large scale productions that are original.

Oh my goodness. What do you learn when you do theatre? You learn how to speak. You learn how to socialise and interact with people. You learn the different genres of literature. You learn business skills. You learn how a production is done. You learn what is necessary for production, for stage management.

Children can learn organisational skills. If they like art, they can learn how to create a poster, design a ticket, design an advertisement, do a video. They also learn how to write scripts. They learn how to make costumes. They learn how to paint a set.

All of these things are also things that can help them in their everyday life. People decorate their homes. Children can learn, if they have enough information, if they have the requirements for it, the period that it's written in, how to decorate a set. There are so many things our children can do.

I have an eclectic taste. I like to watch live, stand-up comics. I like to watch the traditional pieces ? I like Shakespeare. I like musical theatre. I love people like August Wilson. I love Andrew Lloyd Weber's pieces. I love to hear poetry readings. If I could sit and watch Maya Angelou deliver poetry for a period of time, I would love to do that. I love things like .

I didn't like at all. Couldn't stand it. The only thing I liked about that is that during intermission you could actually go onstage and kind of hang out on the set. I loved , . I think my most memorable piece was .

I think for me, one of the pieces I really enjoyed directing was . I belong to this overseas group called Black Expressions and I keep in contact with that world, they actually have a remake of that going on now. was a good piece.

I love black theatre. I don't think there's enough of it. I love English theatre. Some of it is very funny. I had the opportunity to direct a couple for Jabulani Rep when we were at the Princess Hotel. So I have an eclectic taste when it comes to theatre.

We had a full theatre course where you had selected readings. There were scripts that you had to read within the year. You had theatre history, props, set, costume, lighting, directing, stage management, business theatre. I actually play the part of Moe, who actually only appears in the film. The person who previously played Moe's character could not join us this time so I wrote it so that she did not necessarily have to be there. No. I explained to the group that I have now ? my board of directors and to my business manager ? that I really am only interested in writing and directing. I don't want to do anything else. And now that I've been bitten by this film bug, I think I would just like to get my camera, write and venture into whatever aspect of film I'd like to do.

But I know I want to stick with writing. I'm actually doing a course with the Children's Literature Institute in Connecticut right now, just looking at how you write books for middle school children.

On the stage, yes. Published in the terms of having some company produce my work, not yet. But that's coming. I have one son, Thai Anthony Pogson, who is 19. I'm a newly-wed. We'll be married two years November 2. My husband is Graham Nesbitt of the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU). He has a son, Yerodin . So right now I have two 19-year-old boys. He was in the last series, . He played a reverend. But not really, not any more. He does have a knack for writing poetry and he has a knack for graphic arts as well but he's not exploring (acting) at all. I think he sees how much work and time it takes. I would like to see us have sustainable theatre where people are working in the field. Where they don't have to go to work from nine to five and then go home, take care of what they have to take care of, and then come back into rehearsal.

That's very stressful. You're not going to get any original artist doing anything of merit when you're working like that. It really is too much. I would like to see us have sustainable theatre. I would also like to see someone ? it only takes one person ? make it on the world map of theatre.

Not as an actor, because actors are always looking for work themselves. Someone who can work as an agent or producer who can come and hone some of the skills of people here who want to do this for real. (Somebody who can) find the money, the budget to prepare them for this world and unleash them.

There are but the talent cannot grow if they're doing this as avocation and not a vocation. You have to work at this. You really do. The play runs (tonight and tomorrow) at 6.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. at the City Hall Theatre. Tickets are $30 and are available at Logic ? our title sponsors so we'd like to give thanks to them ? on Burnaby Street.

If there are people out there who want to be patrons, we'd love to accept your funds. As I said, we want to develop the Somers Playhouse as another theatre space. We are trying to get our theatre programme up and running. It's all part of an effort to have some sustainable theatre going on in Bermuda.