"Once On This Island"

This musical is a fable of the love of a peasant girl on a tropical island, her love for a wealthy boy, and how their lives are affected by the gods of love, earth, water, and death. Weather is a prominent image. The main feature of the set was a backdrop with opaque clouds and translucent sky, which was beautifully lit by Kenton Yeager for a great variety of looks -- ranging from stormy and threatening to peaceful and romantic.

In the second half of the show, this drop was replaced by a fiber-optic star drop, which had a moon suspended in front of it for some scenes. This moon was very simple and very effective -- a light box with a very narrow rim to hide the lights. The rim was covered in black velour so it would disappear against the drop.

Cafidia Stuart, Mellonaise Jackson, Don Seward, Ashley St. Jean, Regina McNally, Joseph Long, Youri Jean Pierre, Cynthia Saunders, Kevin Johnson, Danella Vega, Anthony Jerome Larkin and Eric Bendross

Teddy Harrell, Jr. (Buntu) was recently seen in the role of Amonosoro in AIDA at Actor’s Playhouse. He founded the African American Performing Arts Community Theatre in 1999 having produced, directed or performed in the company’s’ productions, The Island, Riff Raff, Once on this Island and Having Our Say. Mr. Harrell has performed in numerous productions in the South Florida region including Mame, Blues in the Night, A Raisin in the Sun, Pretty Fire, Storyville, Ain’t Misbehavin, Hair N Da Kitchen, Pearlie Victorious, Parade and Red, Hot and Cole. An alumnus of Miami-Dade College and the University of Miami, Mr. Harrell has toured with the world-renowned Drifters in Europe and was featured in the independent films The Big Switch and Two Sides of Life.  He is a loving father to Olivia and Trey.