AKIBA ABAKA ARTS Presents New Stage Play, Bar Girl of Jamaica
Staged Reading of a New Play by Robert Johnson, Jr. Directed by Akiba Abaka
[KINGSTON, Jamaica] – AKIBA ABAKA ARTS presents a staged reading of Bar Girl of Jamaica, a new play by Robert Johnson, Jr., on Sunday, June 19 at 3pm EST/4pm EDT/9pm BST at the Philip Sherlock Centre for Creative Arts at the University of the West Indies, Mona (UWI, Mona).
The presentation of Bar Girl builds on the groundbreaking Ten Weeks in Jamaica: Theater Conversations from Jamaica to the World produced by AKIBA ABAKA ARTS in 2020.
Cast
Bar Girl of Jamaica, which will be directed by Akiba Abaka, brings to the stage conversations about love, faith and politics happening in roadside bars across Jamaica. Audiences are invited to hear and respond to this new story, which will be performed by Quera South, Michael Forrest, Lilieth Nelson, and Desmond Dennis. The reading is followed by a post-show discussion featuring Dr. Sonjah Stanley Niaah (UWI, Mona) and Denise Wedderburn (Treasure Beach Women’s Group), and moderated by Akiba Abaka.
The public presentation is the culmination of a developmental workshop and international artist residency that comprises of the first stop in the Akiba Abaka Arts’ “Multiple Ports System”™, an integrative play development process.
“This time spent at UWI, Mona and the public reading, will allow the creative team to work through the play with local Jamaican actors, scholars, artists and residents in order to aid the authenticity of its literary development and inform a responsible world premiere production in Boston, Massachusetts,” Abaka says.
Audiences around the globe can watch a livestream of the staged reading and participate in the chat via the AKIBA ABAKA ARTS YouTube channel.
