“Miss Lou In Color” In celebration for Caribbean Heritage Month
SOUTH FLORIDA – Déjà Vu Theatre Productions, Inc. is producing a tribute to a Caribbean icon—the Honorable Dr. Louise Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou), a woman who inspired many Caribbean poets to follow in her footsteps.
Miss Lou did not waver when she was told, “You can’t speak like that.” She adopted her ancestors’ language and turned it into a means of cultural expression through poetry. This dialect, known as Jamaican Patois, is controversial but is recognized and imitated all over the world.
Deja Vu Theatre has adapted some of Miss Lou’s wonderful and creative poetry pieces along with original pieces and will be producing a dramatic performance on Saturday, June, 11, 2016 at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center, 2650 Sistrunk Blvd., Fort Lauderdale.
“Join us as we explore her artistry” says Sharon Cummings Founder/President of Deja Vu Theatre Productions Inc..
Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley (or Miss Lou), OM, OJ, MBE, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on September 7, 1919. She was a Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer, and educator. Writing and performing her poems in what was known as Jamaican Patois or Creole, she was instrumental in having this “dialect” of the people given literary recognition in its own right.
As a comedian, Miss Lou used both irony and laughter as a tool for reform
Located at the heart of the Jamaican poetic tradition, Miss Lou influenced many other poets, including Mutabaruka, Ms. Ivy Armstrong, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Trinidad’s Paul Keens-Douglas and numerous others.
On a British Council scholarship, Louise Bennett attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she studied in the late 1940s. After graduating, she worked with repertory companies in Coventry, Huddersfield and Amersham, as well as in intimate revues all over England.
She traveled throughout the world promoting the culture of Jamaica through lectures and performances. Although her popularity was international, she enjoyed celebrity status in her native Jamaica, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Her poetry has been published several times, most notably the volumes Jamaica Labrish (1966), Anancy and Miss Lou (1979).
Her most influential recording is probably her 1954 rendition of the Jamaican traditional song “Day Dah Light”, which was recorded by Harry Belafonte as “Day O”, also known as the “Banana Boat Song.” In 1986, she appeared as Portia in the comedy film Club Paradise, starring Robin Williams, Jimmy Cliff and Peter O’Toole.
Louise Bennett married Eric Winston Coverley on May 30 1954 and has one adopted son, Fabian Coverley. She died on July 26 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, where she had resided for the last decade of her life.
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