Abaconians and their island guests are in for a rare treat this May when the Cultural Society and Alton Lowe present their annual Spring Theatricals at Green Turtle Cay. Noel Coward's high comedy Private Lives and the premier performance of Sandra Riley's one act play Miss Ruby are scheduled for 4th and 5th May at the Lowe Gallery on Black Sound.
In Private Lives, Coward presents the 1920's world of 'silk dressing gown' sophistication. Divorced for six years, Amanda and Elyot find themselves booked into adjoining honeymoon suites with their new spouses, Victor and Sibyl. Underneath the Wildean silliness of the premise and the witty dialogue, Coward explores the spirited relationship of the principal characters. Coward wrote the play for his childhood friend, Gertrude Lawrence, and played Elyot to her Amanda on Broadway in 1931. The play was revived mid-century by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starring as the steamy couple.
The Abaco Cultural Society is delighted with the return of Ellen Haynes to Green Turtle Cay. Since she played Trudy in Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, she has earned her BFA in Acting form the University of Southern California. Recently, Haynes performed leading roles in Jane Austen's Emma and Sheridan's Learned Ladies. Last summer, Haynes appeared at Scotland's Edinburgh Festival as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker.
Since graduating with a BA in Theatre from Florida State University, Travis Neff has built a fine reputation. The past two seasons he has designed productions at the New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where The House of Seven Gables earned him a Curtain Up Award and a Carbonell nomination. He is not only the Lighting Director for the Miami Light Project's Light Box space and the Momentum Dance Company, but also serves as Lighting Designer/Technical Producer for the Garden Theatre at Green Turtle Cay. As an actor, Neff has delighted audiences playing the student in the Shakespearean Mast Class scenes, the storyteller in The Forgotten Carols, Adam in The Diaries of Adam and Eve and Leonard in Postcards.
Now Neff teams with Haynes to perform in Noel Coward's most popular play. Critics have touted Act I of Private Lives as the second most famous balcony scene in dramatic literature. However, Private Lives is more reminiscent of The Taming of the Shrew than Romeo and Juliet in that the play is written in the World Wide Wrestling style of comedy of manners.
One drama reviewer said that in Act I of Private Lives, Coward had come to the end of his script, but not the end of the evening. This is also true of the May production at Green Turtle Cay. The premier performance of Miss Ruby will follow Private Lives. Two years ago Alton Lowe asked Sandra Riley to write an acting piece featuring Louisa Black as an island woman recreating her childhood on Green Turtle Cay in the 1880's, a time when the island thrived as part of a trade network that included the island of Cuba, Key West and New York City. Ruby's story is also set in Key West, where she attends college. She lives with her uncle William Curry, "Rich Bill" as he is affectionately called. The proximity of Key West to the island of Cuba ultimately brings the United States into the Spanish-American War. Within this historical context, Miss Ruby is a love story. At eighteen, Ruby meets the man she would love for all her days. Louisa Black, a Florida Keys resident and frequent visitor to Green Turtle Cay, has long had a keen interest in and appreciation of the Green Turtle Cay/Key West historical ties. Black returns to the Gallery Stage where last May she portrayed the winsome but wise Eve in The Diaries of Adam and Eve and the needy Margaret in Postcards.
Peggy Hall has selected, arranged and performed on the piano period music for both dramas. Hall has been musical director for Riley's productions including Search for Signs and The Forgotten Carols.
Sandra Riley is honoured to add Miss Ruby to her writing credits which include Homeward Bound, The Lucayans (with Alton Lowe) and Stone Poems/Wotai. Currently, Riley and Neff are working on an Interpreters Theatre presentation of a recently published novel for children of all ages, The Greenbear Chronicles. Riley has directed over 80 plays and is thrilled to once again work with Ellen Haynes, Travis Neff and Louisa Black on Private Lives and Miss Ruby.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students. Contact Veronica Saunders in Marsh Harbour at (242) 367-3643 and The Albert Lowe Museum on Green Turtle Cay at (242) 365-4094. Performances begin at 7.30 Friday and Saturday evenings 4th and 5th May, with a matinee performance at 2 pm on Saturday 5th May at the Lowe Gallery, Green Turtle Cay.
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