Published:Wednesday | April 19, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
The last two productions I saw took audiences back to the middle of the last century, one in a serious way and the other comically. The former, Errol John's Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, a production of the Edna Manley College's School of Drama, has...
Published:Tuesday | April 11, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Though he lived in the USA most of his adult life, Anthony Winkler (1942-2015) never lost his "thick Jamaican accent", according to his daughter, Becky, who added, "Americans often had difficulty understanding him."On Thursday, Winkler became a lot...
After 20 years in professional theatre, actress and director Suzanne Beadle has turned to playwriting and producing. Her first commercial play, 70 X 7 - The Real Truth, had a two-weekend run last month in The Blue Room, a tiny theatre which is part...
Published:Thursday | March 30, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
"The best thing I have ever done was to found the Jamaica Junior Theatre (JJT)," Douglas Bennett told me.The declaration came as, at 87 years old, he looked down the corridors of his 35 years as chairman of the Jamaica Musical Theatre Company (JMTC...
Published:Thursday | March 23, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
For different reasons, over the past fortnight, two sets of producers felt it was important to focus on Jamaican theatre. Pierre Lemaire acted in the interests of Jamaica's children, while Dahlia Harris and Nicole Brown in the interests of our women...
Published:Thursday | March 16, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
The weeklong Jamaica Women in Theatre Festival had an auspicious launch on Monday in The Blue Room of the Phoenix Theatre, Haining Road, New Kingston. There was a panel discussion on the business of theatre, various experts explaining how theatre...
(In last week's column, film commissioner Renee Robinson looked back at a successful 2016. In this week's conclusion, she looks ahead.)Last year was a very good one for Jamaica's film industry, according to JAMPRO film commissioner Renee Robinson....
Published:Wednesday | March 1, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
This is the first of a two-part article about Jamaica's film industry. Part two will appear next week."A lot happened last year," JAMPRO's film commissioner Renee Robinson told me recently, reviewing her first year in the job, which began on...
Published:Tuesday | February 28, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
"This awesome country ... is so full of talent!" declared singer Maria Myrie to her audience on Sunday.The comment, triggered by the high-quality of the acts preceding hers, elicited an outburst of affirmative comments from the audience. They clearly...
Published:Thursday | February 23, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
The 2017 annual Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) career workshop, held last week, should prove very useful for the students who attended, especially those graduating this year. After hearing a broad-based presentation...
Published:Thursday | February 16, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
One early tribute was penned by JMTC immediate past chairman, Douglas Bennett, and read bycurrent chairman, John Waite. It stated that Cooper was "one of the best tenors the JMTC ever had"; that he received many favourable critiques for his...
Published:Thursday | February 9, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Grace McGhie spoke not a word when she first went on stage. The year was 1971; the place, The Garden Theatre, 72 Hope Road, St Andrew; the production, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Paul Methuen.And all McGhie had to do was...
Published:Thursday | February 2, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Lovers of musicals should enjoy the two lively, colourful productions on stage this weekend. The Jamaica Junior Theatre's The Wiz is at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts (PSCCA), UWI, Mona, and the Little Theatre Movement's 2016-17...
Published:Thursday | January 19, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Participants in a recent workshop at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre, Hope Road, got invaluable advice on playwriting from a multiple award-winning master of the craft."I see writing as a journey," said playwright/producer Aston Cooke at the...
Published:Wednesday | January 11, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
A key aspect of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts' (EMCVPA) annual staff development conference in recent years has been about upgrading the college from its already exalted status as the premier arts-training institution in...
Published:Thursday | January 5, 2017 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Adding to his numerous theatrical roles of actor, singer, writer, director, producer, composer and designer, David Tulloch recently became a theatre manager.Last year, he took over management of The Theatre Place on Haining Road from Pablo Hoilett,...
Published:Wednesday | December 28, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
The programme blurb for RawIe Gibbons' play I Lawah, recently produced at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA), repeats the institution's mission "to enrich the aesthetic sensibilities and promote the cultural diversity...
Published:Thursday | December 22, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
If everything goes as planned by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), last month's workshop on stand-up comedy will begin bearing fruit in January when the JCDC parish auditions for its speech competition begin.Held at the Ranny...
Published:Thursday | December 15, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Courtroom dramas are quite commonplace. Guided tours of art galleries are conducted every day. However, over the weekend, Corporate Area audiences were treated to a courtroom drama and an art gallery tour which were quite extraordinary.The former,...
Published:Tuesday | December 13, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Some of the island's finest singers and instrumentalists provided the music, while an ebullient Joan Andrea Hutchinson, acting as both a performer and the emcee, provided the laughter to create a delightful Jamaica Theological Seminary (JTS) concert...
Published:Thursday | December 1, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
November 19, 2016, graduation day at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA), 1 Arthur Wint Drive, St Andrew, was extra special for School of Music student Shalisha Turpin. She became the college's first female to graduate...
Published:Monday | November 28, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
The work of 18th-Century classical musician Samuel Felsted, Jamaica's first documented composer and the first known composer of an oratorio in the Western Hemisphere, will be available online in January 2017. Facilitating access to the music by...
Published:Thursday | November 24, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
Fresh to the new post of College Orator of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA), Amina Blackwood Meeks recently launched a discussion series on the role and function of the arts in Jamaica, which she hopes will...
Published:Tuesday | November 22, 2016 | 12:00 AMMichael Reckord
The work of Samuel Felsted, the 18th-century classical musician who is both Jamaica’s first documented composer and the first known composer of an oratorio in the Western Hemisphere, will be available online as of January 2017. Facilitating...
