Reserve now: tix@shakespeareinparadise.org

Ticket sales begin August 30th and tickets will be sold up to and including October 11th

All advance/discount ticket pricing will end at the close of business on September 25th and beginning Monday, September 27th, all tickets will then be priced at $25.00

Woman Take Two
1. Three student matinee performances, Sep.29th, 30th & Oct. 1st. Tickets are $10.00
2. Special discount preview performance for students and seniors for $15.00 on Thursday, September 30th at 8:00pm. IDs are required. Any discounted tickets for this performance not sold by the end of business on September 25th will be made available for purchase to the general public for $25.00, beginning Monday, September 27th
3. Opening Night tickets are $35.00

Download a .pdf version of this schedule

Shakespeare in Paradise 2010 (October 1-11) is well under way. Building on the success of last year, we’ve booked our productions, extended the festival by a weekend, cast our local shows and are beginning to rehearse. Everything is on schedule. The only thing we’re missing? Money.

Last year we took a huge gamble. We pulled together Shakespeare in Paradise on a dream and a prayer, with no money to get things going, but armed with an idea and some faith that it could work. And it did — thanks to the support of the public, who bought tickets and came out in good numbers, and because of the generosity of many partners who gave grants and exchanges in kind that helped cut our cash expenditures in more than half. Thanks to you all, Shakespeare in Paradise 2009 was able to break even.

But breaking even is only part of the picture. We’ve got a plan for this festival, and we envision a future that has Shakespeare in Paradise as a regular part of the social and artistic calendar. So it’s not enough just to cover our costs — we have to cover our costs and bank a little to make sure we can mount a festival in a year’s time.

Just so you know — the festival costs roughly $200,000 to produce, all told. To put that in perspective: our ticket prices last year topped at $25, and we offered several discounts to make it possible for people to attend multiple performances and to help students afford to come see our plays. But for us to cover all our costs from ticket sales alone we would have had to sell our tickets at $50 a head!

Now that leaves us in a difficult position. We could raise our ticket prices. We could eliminate all discounts. But neither of these is an option that appeals to us. We happen to believe that theatre isn’t a luxury in a democratic society. We buy into the Shakespearean idea that theatre holds a mirror up to nature, and that societies without theatre don’t often get to look properly at themselves or the world they inhabit. So we won’t be raising our ticket prices anytime soon, and we’ll let the discounts stand.

So what are our other options? Here’s where you come in. You can help us bring off this festival in one of any number of ways:

1. Become a sponsor! Last year, Shakespeare in Paradise reached audiences of 3,500 people. This year, we’ve added an extra weekend and a production or two, and we hope to increase our reach to 5,000. Your support will benefit us both!

2. Make a donation! If you do not have a business and would like to contribute to the growth of theatre in The Bahamas you are welcome to just make a donation to the festival!

3. Become a Partner! If you are low on funds but you have services or goods to offer, consider a barter or in-kind exchange. If it were not for our barter exchanges last year we would have never been able to pull off the festival—your help this year will be invaluable!

4. Book early! We’ll be releasing our schedule in the next two weeks, and we’ll be opening our phonelines for advance bookings. Get your tickets then! I know it sounds counterintuitive, but the more actual ticket sales we get, the more streamlined we can make our advertising budget. And it’ll help you as well as us — advance bookings are the best places to get discounts on multiple shows. What we seem to lose on advance sales can be saved in advertising dollars, so help us out and buy your tickets as soon as you can!

5. Buy our merchandise! Last year we printed up t-shirts for each of our productions, and we sold the t-shirts at the productions. This year we hope to have a range of t-shirts — not just the expensive limited-edition poster tees that we sold last year, but also a more affordable generic Shakespeare in Paradise 2010 tee as well. Come and help us sell out of both!

6. Help us move last year’s merchandise! We’ve got shirts left over from all of our productions except for The Tempest. You’ve still got a chance to wear a small piece of art by Jace McKinney (One White One Black), Reuno Pratt (Caribbean Voices), Lindsay Braynen (Zora), Jon Murray (Love in Two Acts), or Trevaughn Neely (Music of The Bahamas). We’ve also got CDs and VHS copies of Music of The Bahamas for sale as well (special order DVDs – burned specifically for you can also be purchased). Move fast, though — we’ve got limited supplies!

7. Sponsor a schoolchild or two! For $15 per person, you can help us subsidize our school discounts of $10 a student. Help us make theatre an integral part of the Bahamian schoolchild’s experience!

8. Advertise in our programme! We’re printing a minimum of 5,000 of these for distribution throughout the festival. Like last year, our programmes are attractive and collectible, so contact us for pricing!

9. Support our sponsors! We’ll add their logos to our website as they come on board, so please give them your business!

10. Spread the word! The more you talk about Shakespeare in Paradise, the more word of mouth we get, the less we’ll need to invest in advertising and marketing coverage. Let’s make this festival a viral thing!

Contact us for more information: admin@shakespeareinparadise.org

Shakespeare in Paradise is pleased to announce the final production for this year’s festival!

The World is my Home – The Life of Paul Robeson, written and performed by Actor/Writer/Comedian Stogie Amir Kenyatta is a critically acclaimed One Man Broadway style show that will have three performances at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas.

Jamaican born and Brooklyn bred Stogie Kenyatta was classically trained at the Afro American Studio in Harlem, the Henry St. Settlement and Al Fann Theatrical Ensemble.  He was a finalist in the New York State Theatre competition with Artistic Director, John Houseman. An avid athlete, Stogie excelled in basketball, football, swimming and martial arts.

He went west to college, where he studied screenwriting and political science at the University of California and later privately with Ivan Markota at the Van Mar Academy for Television and Film acting.

In the coming years he amassed over 25 television credits from sitcoms, film to soap operas.  Stogie has tremendous range as an actor; a character actor with leading man looks, he has authentic Jamaican and African dialects.

In 1994 Stogie took to the stage as a stand-up comedian and in a few years, he was performing at comedy clubs around the US.  His comedy is clean, and has been described as witty, sarcastic and charming with a Caribbean flair. He has co–headlined a USO comedy tour in Tokyo, Japan and Okinawa.  He has appeared on the Gulf of Mexico, the south of France, and London, England as well as several Caribbean Islands.

Stogie has written seven screenplays, some of which were optioned, as well as writing and performing the acclaimed one man show:

The World Is My Home – The Life of Paul Robeson

This play has been performed at over 150 universities, The Museum of NYC, and the University of the West Indies for the US Embassy in Barbados. It was the first show to appear at the National Civil Rights Museum and he was hired by the Board of Education of the U.S. Virgin Islands to do a series of shows in St. Thomas and St. Croix. This show has become the number one show on the American college scene.

Kenyatta states that this is the most challenging performance of his career and the piece of work of which he is most proud.

It is his personal quest to educate this generation and the world about Paul Robeson, a talented, intellectually gifted, actor, athlete, singer, human rights activist and world citizen.

The play is a tribute to the legacy of this tortured genius who was so ahead of his time he lived several lives; filled with triumph and tragedy as he fought for the liberation of Africa and social justice for all. More information can be found on the show’s website.

The World Is My Home – The Life of Paul Robeson completes the list of productions in this fully packed and exciting 2010 festival. The other works being featured this year are A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Woman Take Two, God’s Trombones, Dat Bahamian Ting, One Flesh, Horn of Plenty – featuring Indio and Derek Burrows – Storyteller and Musician.

We have also incorporated a Play Reading Series that will take place at the Chapter One Bookstore on the campus of the College of The Bahamas, and from October 4th through October 8th, our internationally acclaimed storyteller, Derek Burrows, will be performing at some of our local Primary Schools.

We will be releasing a full schedule of events very soon with information on advance ticket sales along with discount and season ticket information.

Shakespeare in Paradise will take place at various venues throughout New Providence October 1-11, 2010.

We are pleased to announce the cast for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, our signature Shakespeare production in this year’s festival.

The production is being directed by Patti-Anne Ali, the co-director of last year’s production of The Tempest. The cast is almost complete with two roles remaining to be filled:

Theseus – Leonardo Burrows
Hippolyta – Monique Toppin
Egeus – Julie Ritchie-Bingham
Demetrius – Valentino Lloyd
Hermia – Dana Ferguson/Juliet Johnson
Helena – Nicole Fair Bhatti
Peter Quince – Jane Poveromo
Snug/Lion – Roger Gibson
Nick Bottom – Gordon Mills
Francis Flute/Thisbe – Travis Cartwright Carroll
Snout/Wall – Kennedy Storr
Robin Starveling/Moonshine – Leslie Ellis-Tynes
Titania – Jovanna Hepburn/Bonny Byfield
Puck – Dion Johnson
Fairy – Mary Knowles
Pigeonpea – Leslie Ellis-Tynes
Cobweb – Shakira Knowles
Moneybat – Rolessa Farquharson
Pepperseed – Juliet Johnson

Still To Be Cast:
Lysander
Oberon

The director has begun email communications with her cast and will begin rehearsals at the end of August.

Auditions are over and the cast announcement for A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be coming soon. The director has left The Bahamas and is now making the final decisions on her cast. There are two more roles on which she has to deliberate before publishing her full cast list.

As for Woman Take Two, the principal casting has been done and with a few minor roles to be filled the following is a listing of the characters and the actors who have been cast in those roles for this production:

Harold Davies – Anthony “Skeebo” Roberts
Erma Davies – Tameka Forbes
Matilda Bascombe – Enith Darling
Sonia Davies – Annee Wildgoose
Beverly Humes – Moya Thompson
Merlene Evans – Doris Jackson
Jennifer Evans – to be cast
Lionel Joseph – Terran Brown
Young Lady – to be cast
Five Children – to be cast

Rehearsals for this production are scheduled to begin this week. David Jonathan Burrows is directing and will be assisted by Deon Simms. Woman Take Two was written by Telcine Turner Rolle.

Shakespeare in Paradise 2010 officially opened for production with the first auditions for Telcine Turner’s Woman Take Two taking place at the Hub last night.

Though turnout was relatively low, the readings were enthusiastic, and the setting — the backdrop of the current exhibition — “I am Bahamian. I eat Conch Salad” by Amarachi Okafor — was inspiring in itself.

We’re gearing up for auditions for A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Saturday.

People interested in appearing on stage should make every effort to turn out. The director, Patti-Anne Ali, is in town for this weekend only!

See you then!

Ever wondered what it takes to mount a successful production?

More than getting up on stage before an audience, that’s for sure!

Theatre stands or falls on the coming together of many hands, most of them behind the scenes, most of them unrecognized, unnamed, without whom the actors would be lost.

So if you ever wanted to get involved in theatre, here’s your chance!

Major Jobs:

Venue coordinator

These people will be assigned to a specific venue and will be a point person for that venue. This is an important task and will require considerable commitment. The major venue, this year as last year, is the Dundas, where we will be holding between 12 and 14 performances. 6 of these will be school matinees. We will be looking for more than one venue coordinator for the Dundas. Other venues include the Hub (4 performances), Epworth Hall (4 performances), Nirvana (2 performances), the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (at least 2 performances), and Chapter One Bookstore (Play Reading Series — contact Toni Francis at tfrancis@cob.edu.bs). This is a festival-long commitment.

Production coordinator

These people will be assigned to specific productions and will be point people for each of them. In some cases this will require that this person also liaise with our visiting performers and discover what they need for their productions. These people will probably need access to their own vehicles and be able to do some running around as necessary. This is a festival-long commitment.

Visitor Liaison

These people will be assigned to our visiting performers to be their main contact. These people will be responsible for arranging transportation and giving relevant information to those performers, and will liaise with the venue coordinators and production coordinators to make sure that everything goes smoothly. This is a festival-long commitment.

Other Jobs:

Front of House

Take tickets, show people to seats, hand out programmes, sell t-shirts and other merchandise. This is a night-by-night commitment and enables the individuals who take it on to have access to the show(s).

Backstage Assistant

Help with costume changes, set changes, make-up, stage management, etc — anything that goes on behind the scenes. This is a nightly commitment, but generally requires some practice, so individuals working backstage should make plans to commit to several evenings.

Helping hands

People who are on call and available to pitch in in various unpredictable capacities, whether it be to find an unusual prop, or help fix a costume, or pick up Kentucky each night for the performers!

Email us at admin@shakespeareinparadise.org or sign up on our volunteer page!

Shakespeare in Paradise will be holding auditions for A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and WOMAN TAKE TWO next week.

WOMAN TAKE TWO auditions will be held on Thursday July 15 at 6:30 PM at the Hub (Bay Street just east of Victoria Avenue).

Director DAVID JONATHAN BURROWS will be in attendance.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM auditions will be held on Saturday July 17 at 10:00 AM at the Hub (Bay Street just east of Victoria Avenue).

Director PATTI-ANNE ALI will fly in from New York to conduct the auditions.

People without experience are welcome! We’ll upload audition pieces over the next day or two for you to download and prepare. Don’t let lack of experience deter you — everybody has to start somewhere!

People with experience are asked to come equipped with a resume and a headshot (if they have one). People with training or experience should come prepared with two pieces, one classical, one contemporary.

Check this site for more information on audition pieces, etc.

Shakespeare in Paradise is looking for submissions of play scripts for our new Play Reading Series, to be launched this October.

What: This year, we’re looking for original (unproduced) scripts by Bahamians and Bahamian residents, to be read during the Festival in informal parlour readings. Parlour readings are part of an old tradition in drama, where readers get together, take on parts in a play, and perform a complete reading of the theatrical work.

Who: We’re also looking for individuals who are interested in joining us to read the scripts. If you audition and aren’t right for a part, or if you can’t attend the auditions, or if you just don’t feel ready to go on stage in front of a full audience but plan to someday, or if you simply enjoy drama, we’re interested in you, and we welcome you to participate in the play readings.

Why: We’re looking to expand the pool of local Bahamian works! Plays will be heard by representatives from local production groups, and by members of Shakespeare in Paradise. Who knows? Your play may be picked up for production in future festivals!!

How to submit or volunteer: Email Toni Francis at tfrancis (at) cob.edu.bs with the subject line SIP Play Readings. In the email, please include your name, email, and contact number; include the play as an attachment (Word format).

Questions?: Contact Toni Francis, School of English Studies, The College of the Bahamas.