Ambassador Marks told the over 400 attendees that the occasion was timely. “This 74th anniversary Gala and Awards Banquet is an inspiring moment in time. It is a tangible display of dedication and commitment.This year’s theme of ‘Ignite Unity’ is very important. It underpins the notion that there is strength in numbers, which is embodied in the mottos of several West Indian nations, including Jamaica’s ‘Out of many one people’,” she said. The Jamaican ambassador used the opportunity to “invite all Jamaicans and friends of Jamaica … to come home to the 10th Jamaica Biennial Diaspora Conference, which also emphasises the potency of unity, under the theme ‘United for Jamaica’s Transformation: Fostering Peace, Productivity, and Youth Empowerment’. “I am inviting you to come, see, and participate in the significant strides we are making as a country, from the expansion of our airports, highways, access to more skill training for our youths, to the dramatic improvement in our macro-economic framework. “We are being hailed as a turnaround story by the leading global financial institutions in what we have achieved in cutting our national debt from 149 per cent of debt to GDP to now 74 per cent, more than half, so we can now start investing in our infrastructure, schools, health services, security, housing, etc. ‘big tings a gwaan’! ESTABLISH MUSEUM She emphasised that “the conference is the place to meet with the Government of Jamaica and have an input in the future of the country and to make use of opportunities that are now available to do business or to return for retirement. I look forward to seeing many of you in Jamaica in June,” Ambassador Marks said. She thanked the president of the club, Beverly Redd, and the WISC executive, for upholding the vision and continuing in the footsteps of the founding fathers by fostering a “home away from home” for West Indians in the diaspora. Redd announced the establishment of a museum to be located at the WISC omplex, which will be opened in October and will display various items of history in the building of the West Indian community in Hartford. “Our history is an amazing story because we have been igniting unity within Hartford for 74 years of our existence consistently. The West Indies Social Club was born between the 1940s and ‘50s, in an era which was indicative of social injustice and inequalities. In the US, the West Indian migrants were granted the opportunity to work in the agricultural sector of the United States under the British West Indies Temporary Alien Labour programme, as farm workers in Connecticut’s tobacco industry. She pointed out that, as a result of the trials and tribulations that they encountered under the programme, the founding fathers came together in what was a very oppressive society by putting aside their differences and building stronger connections for survival. Hence the formation of the WISC. “They came together, they bridged the gaps and built collective strength that transcended the boundaries, and, to do this, they had to focus,” Redd declared. THE MONTHLY GLEANER | MAY 9 - JUNE 8, 2024 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 6 NOTICE PURSUANT TO SECTION 82 OF THE REGISTRATION OF TITLES ACT (RTA) WHEREAS the applicant(s) in the above stated application has/have declared that the following duplicate Certificate of Titles has been lost, I HEREBY GIVE NOTIVE that I intend to cancel the said Certificate of Title and issue a new one in duplicate fourteen days after the last publication of this advertisement. Volume: 1054 Folio: 93 Place: Part of Greenvale Parish: Manchester Registered proprietor(s): Inez Mortibell Smith The following transactions lodged with this application will be registered pursuant to Section 81 of the RTA: Application to be Registered on Transmission 2530051 L. Dunbar Deputy Registrar of Titles LOST TITLE APPLICATION No: 2530052 OFFICE OF TITLES Former president of the New Jersey-based Help Jamaica Medical Mission Dr Rudolph Willis receives an award from the president of the West Indian Social Club of Hartford Beverley Redd, for outstanding service to healthcare. At right is Marcia Anderson-Esson. PHOTO BY DERRICK SCOTT NEW YORK: LUKE FORBES, star of Amazon Prime’s popular comedy series Harlem, and Denise Hunt, best known for her scene stealing role in the hit film, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, will head the cast of the American Première presentation of Alwin Bully’s Caribbean drama. McBee. on Sunday, June 23 at The Jamaica Performing Arts Centre (JPAC) in Jamaica, Queens. The performance will begin at 7 p.m., and will be preceded by a Caribbean Cuisine reception from 5:30 p.m. The play will be presented as a onenight-only staged reading production in tribute to its late playwright, Dominica-born Alwin Bully, and as part of the celebration of New York’s annual Caribbean American Heritage Month festivities, held across the city each June. Broadway World Award-winner David Heron serves as producer and director of the project. Set on an unnamed Caribbean island in the recent past, McBee follows the story of respected husband and wife, politicians Allan and Alice McBee. On his way home on general election night following his party’s victory at the polls, McBee encounters three mysterious Rastafarians who share with him a stunning prophecy, that he is destined to become prime minister of the island nation. When he delivers the news to his ambitious spouse, she immediately begins to envision a future for them well beyond McBee’s wildest dreams, and begins to craft the bloody plan to make it all a reality. But in a world where nothing is quite what it seems, the choices that the McBees make may come at a price far too high to pay for themselves and their country. Forbes and Hunt ,who take on the pivotal roles of Allan and Alice McBee, bring to the project extensive lists of credits that span the worlds of stage, film, television and Broadway. Forbes, who has Jamaican roots, can now be seen in the role of Michael in the comedy series, Harlem. His other screen appearances include television series Crown Heights, Chicago P. D. and S.W.A.T. and the Emmy Award-winning, This Is Us. He also appeared opposite Channing Tatum in the hit feature, Dog. He made his Broadway début in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, which featured Academy Award-winner Al Pacino in the leading role. He has appeared in The Winter’s Tale at The Public’s Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, the world première production of Marley-The Musical at Baltimore Centre Stage and The Whipping Man at the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey. The Jamaica-born Hunt is an actress, model and television host who memorably appeared opposite Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett and Taye Diggs in How Stella Got Her Groove Back. She was also the original host of Television Jamaica’s groundbreaking music competition programme Rising Stars, and hosted the network’s longestrunning entertainment series, ERThe Entertainment Report for several years before migrating to the United States. Her stage credits include popular Jamaican theatrical productions such as the world première of Heron’s awardwinning courtroom drama Against His Will and Jambiz International’s Dirty Diana. She has also toured regionally in the USA in the Broadway comedy Cheaters and throughout the United Kingdom in Heron’s comedy drama, Love and Marriage and New York City. FULL CIRCLE MOMENT Producer-director Heron expressed his delight to again be working with both actors with whom he said he has had a long professional relationship. “Luke and I met as actors in the world première production of Kwame Kwei Armah’s Marley- The Musical at Baltimore Centerstage several years ago,” he said, “And we have been interested in collaborating on something else for a while now. So I relish this opportunity to welcome him to McBee and to see him add yet another terrific performance to his resume. Denise and I go back over 20 years since she appeared in my play Against His Will, and we toured together afterwards in Cheaters in the USA and in the UK touring production of Love and Marriage and New York City. She had stepped away from acting for a while, but I’ve been trying to get her to come back. This titanic role is yet another step in that direction and will be a reminder to audiences of why we have all missed her so much.” In a remarkable full circle moment, upon contacting Hunt regarding the role of Alice McBee, Heron learned that she had in fact played Shakespeare’s Lady Macbethn - to excellent reviews - as a teenager in a high school production of Macbeth for Jamaica’s National Schools Drama Festival in St Andrdrew. “I shook my head when I heard that, because I approached her for McBee without knowing that she had played the Lady M role in Shakespeare’s original play at her alma mater, Queen’s School in Jamaica. This to me is a case of something that’s simply meant to be.” Additional casting for McBee will be announced shortly. Tickets for the American Première Staged Reading production were available as of Friday, May 3 at mcbeetheplay.eventbrite. com. The Jamaica Performing Arts Centre is located at 153-10 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica NY, 11432. Luke Forbes, Denise Hunt head cast of McBee US première From left; David Heron as ‘Tony Welsh’, Tony Award nominee John Andrew Morrison as ‘Claude Massop’ and Luke Forbes as ‘Tek Life’ in the world première production of Marley The Musical. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS Denise Hunt CLUB Continued from, 5
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