‘Colours of Death’ comes to town

Vincentians will, this Saturday, October 22, get an opportunity to see the Jems Theatre in action with their latest production entitled: “The Colours of Death,” set for the Peace Memorial Hall, beginning at 7 p.m.

However, before the evening show, at the same venue, the producers, in conjunction with the Girls’ High School, have introduced a special matinee from 2 p.m., specifically targetting secondary schools.{{more}}

Some of the schools which are already on board and are expected to be part of the workshop are the St Vincent Gram­mar School, the St Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua and Kings­town, the Thomas Saunders and Bishop’s College.

Vincentian director and playwright Jerrol Huggins-Jackson explained the idea behind this introduction along with a planned workshop.

“Because of the success of our collaboration with other institutions, we saw the need to do likewise in St Vincent and the Grenadines… We have teamed up with the GHS and other secondary schools to allow the students writing CXC in Theatre Arts …Other institutions around the world have benefited from our work and we are confident that the students of these schools will do likewise,” Huggins-Jackson said.

“We have scheduled a workshop with the students where they will be able to interact with the cast and obtain the necessary skills needed to be successful in the theatre world…. The workshop will cover the approach to writing a successful play, stage and acting techniques, along with marketing and promotional skills,” he expanded.

Huggins-Jackson further stated that he is a strong believer in giving back to his community and has contributed part of the proceeds from these productions to various non-governmental, community-based organizations, locally and internationally.

These include the SVG HIV Care, Club St Vincent of New York, SVG Dialysis Fund, Girls’ High School Alumni New York Chapter and a host of other Caribbean based organizations at home and in the diaspora.

For him, most notably, in 2006, he, along with the members of Jems Theatre, teamed up with the Rotary Club of St Vincent and the Grenadines to raise funds towards the construction of a children’s hospital here.

Huggins-Jackson’s work have gone far and wide, staging productions at the famous 777 Theater, as well as the prestigious Paul Robson Theater New York, the Brooklyn Music School Theater, the Isabel Bader Theater at the University of Toronto, the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts in Montreal, Cramton Auditorium at Howard University, Queen’s Hall, Trinidad and Tobago, Arawak House of Culture, Dominica and here at the Peace Memorial Hall.

Come this Saturday, The Colours of Death, which is another of his written and directed plays, has as assistant director Mc Neal Duncan and will feature actresses Sylvia Gould, Bernadette Bristol, Mitzi Chadler and Sherrika Shallow.

The show has previously been performed this year in New York, receiving rave reviews. The Colours of Death is set to move to Canada for performance soon as well.

Tickets for the play are available at SEARCHLIGHT.(RT)