Jamaican-born playwright and Broadway World Award winner David Heron is bringing his hit romantic comedy drama Love and Marriage and New York Metropolis again to the stage for its twenty fifth anniversary—proper as immigration as soon as once more takes heart stage in nationwide conversations.
The one-night-only revival can be introduced as a staged studying on Sunday, June 22 at 7 p.m. on the Jamaica Performing Arts Middle (JPAC) in Queens. It would function a featured cultural occasion throughout Caribbean American Heritage Month in New York Metropolis. Attendees will even be handled to a complimentary Caribbean delicacies reception beginning at 5:30 p.m.
“Over twenty-five years after its world premiere in Jamaica, Love and Marriage and New York Metropolis stays as topical as ever, dealing because it does with the immensely important and complex topic of immigration,” stated Heron, who will even direct and produce the efficiency. “In a practical and humane approach, it highlights the attract of the American dream to immigrants in every single place, and the extent to which individuals will go to realize it—with romantic, dramatic and comedic penalties.”
Initially premiering in Kingston, Jamaica in 1999, the play tells the story of two Jamaican {couples} in late Nineteen Nineties Manhattan who marry for inexperienced playing cards—solely to find that even transactional marriages aren’t immune to like and chaos.
Heron added, “After our nice success with final 12 months’s American premiere of Alwin Bully’s political drama McBee as our inaugural Caribbean American Heritage Month manufacturing, choosing Love and Marriage and New York Metropolis as our encore was a pure transfer to make, particularly with all the pieces taking place in our present setting relating to immigration. The play has by no means been extra related, it appears, than now.”
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Reflecting on the time the play first reached American audiences, David Heron stated: “The play’s American premiere occurred simply over a 12 months earlier than 9/11. America was a lot extra harmless then. The Twin Towers nonetheless stood. Travelling was comparatively stress-free. There was no ICE or Division Of Homeland Safety. There was the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service). A lot was so totally different from now. However the one factor that has not modified is that the best and easiest option to purchase US residency and citizenship is to marry an American citizen.”
He continued, “I’ve just lately spoken with immigration attorneys in addition to people searching for to remain right here completely, and this totally stays the consensus. And whereas as of now the US authorities can do many issues, the one factor it can not do is let you know who to fall in love with and who to marry. So till somebody comes up with a magic system to find out which marriages are completely ‘real’ and which of them are for inexperienced card functions—as a result of in lots of cases, some unions are a mixture of each—they will be unable to cease them.”
Since its debut, Love and Marriage and New York Metropolis has traveled extensively, with profitable runs in South Florida, the UK—together with a stint at London’s Peggy Ashcroft Theatre—and Off-Broadway on the Billie Vacation Theatre, directed by Woody King Jr. It was later chosen for the Nationwide Black Theatre Pageant in North Carolina and in addition staged in Canada.
The manufacturing has earned Heron a number of accolades, together with eight Actor Boy Award nominations in Jamaica and three AUDELCO nominations in New York. In 2006, he was honored by the New York Metropolis Council for Excellence in Theatre.
The upcoming staged studying will characteristic an ensemble forged of stage, movie, and TV actors. Casting bulletins are anticipated quickly.
As with final 12 months’s manufacturing of McBee, college students 16 and older and theater interns throughout the Tri-State space will have the ability to attend without cost by means of Heron’s Positive Factor Productions Free Scholar Ticket Initiative.
Tickets formally go on sale Sunday, April 20, with a restricted variety of early chook reductions obtainable. The Jamaica Performing Arts Middle is positioned at 153-10 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica, NY 11432. For extra info, contact Sure Thing Productions at 646-533-7021.
