For two consecutive years Douglas Prout has walked away with not only the award for Best Director but the Best Production too, at the ITI Jamaica Centre Actor Boy Awards, and in this feature, Prout tells the story of White Witch, his latest award-winning effort … more here.

Among the talented cast is none other than entertainment diva Amelia ‘Milk’ Sewell, who (along with Nadia Khan) will tackle the role of the sultry ‘Gillian Forbes’. Gillian’s seduction of the very married Danny Bryan (played by Peter Lloyd and Jerry Benzwick) propels the lifelong debate of whether a woman can rape a man, and forces her to defend her actions in a court room so dramatic that audiences can’t help but deliver their own verdicts!

AGAINST HIS WILL, which is directed by Douglas Prout, sees Peter Lloyd breaking his haitus from live theatre, to reprise the role of Bryan, and he is joined by Nadean Rawlins who will tackle the role of prosecuting attorney Rachel Robinson. Jean Paul Menou plays defense attorney Lincoln Jacobs, while veteran actress Marguerite Newland handles the role of Judge Buchanan. Young dynamo, Sakina Deer, plays the role of Lloyd’s wife, Heather Bryan.

AGAINST HIS WILL plays at the Theatre Place on Haining Road from Wednesday to Saturday at 8 p.m., and on Sundays at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

“In previous years, Douglas Prout had taken many a scrap of paper to the Actor Boy Awards Ceremony – but had never had a chance to reach into his pocket and reel off his mandatory ‘thank yous’. Prout told The Sunday Gleaner that he had about 20 nominations in numerous categories, among them set design, Best Actor in a Lead Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He has never won … So when he collected the Best Director award at the 20th Actor Boy Awards held at the Courtleigh Auditorium, New Kingston, in March, Prout’s ‘thank you’ pocket was empty. “I did not want to set myself up. I deliberately did not prepare a speech. I went there with an open mind,” … more here

Saturday, February 6, 2010 at the Fairfield Theatre in Montego Bay.

Contribution: J$2,000
Dress: Elegantly casual

Cocktails: 7 p.m.
Curtains: 8 p.m.

Proceeds in aid of an ambulance for the mentally ill.

For more information, please call 838-2110 or 392-6566.

White Witch is directed by Douglas Prout, and was originally written by Jane Crichton, with additional material added by David Tulloch and Cameron Anderson. Described as a musical that’s riddled with rich historical components, White Witch reportedly promises to be enlightening, uplifting and educational, a play which embraces the future of theatre in western Jamaica. The White Witch of Rose Hall is a long-told story of fear and myth, and the White Witch play offers a new perspective to the little-known side of the notorious Annie Palmer. This musical will be filled with ancestral imagery, energetic dances and stirring performances of guile and passion.

White Witch’s cast of over 20 includes students drawn from several schools across St. James, and most of them will be performing in front of a live audience for the very first time. The cast also includes Philip Clarke, David Tulloch, Marlon Brown, Keiran King, Karla Josephs, Coleen Lewis and the Fairfield Youth Troupe.

Theatre fans in Western Jamaica, listen out for more on this play soon. The White Witch play is being sponsored by Rose Hall Developments Limited. Proceeds from the show will go towards projects being undertaken by the Montego Bay-based charitable organization – the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill .

It stars Christopher ‘Johnny’ Daley, Jerry Benzwick, Terri Salmon, Sakina and Ruth Ho Shing.

“For Better Or Worse” plays Tuesdays to Fridays at 8:30 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

For tickets, bookings and more information, please call 906-0003 or 805-4847.

Happily, with the kind cooperation of LIME, the producers confirmed that the telephone line to the ticket office, 906-0003 is now working, and an emergency cellular number 805-4847 has also been added.

The producer, actors and crew apologized profusely to the patrons who have been disappointed, particularly to those overseas visitors on holidays who had left the country without the opportunity of seeing this already acclaimed new work by Basil Dawkins.

Dawkins said that he was sad he was not able to meet the expectations of his faithful patrons, and also lamented the financial devastation. He was however, overjoyed at the response of the brave patrons who attended on opening night. “You see patrons are not going to leave Stony Hill and Red Hills and Manor Parks and drive down to a theatre in Cross Roads without being sure they can get tickets, that is why a telephone number is on all the advertisements, they called, but we could not respond, they were frustrated, we did all we could and we are truly sorry to have had to close the show. Operating a Box Office without a telephone is like trying to drive a vehicle without steering wheel, when the passengers think there is a functioning steering wheel and only the driver knows there is none” said Dawkins, trying to disguise his pain.

“It will be difficult to recover but we won’t give up”. The play is a wonderful, everyone from actors, directors, suppliers, designers have gone out of their way to make sure that those who do see “Which Way Is Out?” will be satisfied beyond their expectations.

Which Way Is Out? reopens with two performances on Thursday, January, 1 at 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM and is scheduled to run Tuesdays to Fridays at 8:30 PM and Saturdays and Sundays 5:30 and 8:30 PM. The play is directed by Douglas Prout and stars Ruth Ho Shing, Sakina, Maylynne Walton, Donald “Ice Man” Anderson, Jerry Benzwick and Jean-Paul Menou.