NEW YORK – Jamaican acting legend Oliver Samuels and Broadway World award winning producer, director and actor David Heron, have scored a major success with the staged reading production of Easton Lee’s classic Easter drama The Rope and The Cross. The play returned to the New York stage on Easter Sunday April 5 at The Jamaica Performing Arts Center (JPAC) in Jamaica Queens, New York.
The play, featuring Samuels and produced and directed by Heron, was the duo’s first ever collaboration. It was presented as a one night only Easter celebration family event in observance of the Holy Season.
At the climax of the production, the enthusiastic capacity audience, spanning the worlds of fashion, entertainment, media and the diplomatic corps, rose to their feet. They offered Samuels, Heron and the large ensemble cast of actors a rousing standing ovation that lasted for several minutes.
History of “The Rope and The Cross”
First staged on Good Friday 1979, *The Rope and The Cross* premiered in Siloah, St Elizabeth. This was the hometown of playwright Easton Lee. Many regard it as one of Jamaica’s finest and most important plays.
Written at the height of Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley’s rule, the drama is set in rural Jamaica. It is also set in ancient Jerusalem.
Here, Lee shows the events before Christ’s crucifixion through a clear Jamaican lens. In the play, Lee draws a strong link between Jesus and Judas. Both seek to end the oppression of imperial Rome. He also links this to Jamaica’s struggle to rise above the lasting effects of colonial rule.
In Manley’s view, these remnants continued to weigh the nation down nearly two decades after gaining independence from Britain in 1962.
All-Star Cast
Samuels, heading the cast and interacting with the audience as the Shepherd Narrator, was joined on stage by Shevrado Oliver (Jesus), Jerry Benzwick (Judas), Dianne Dixon (The Mother of Judas), Fleurette Harris (Mary- The Mother of Jesus), Hector Lincoln (High Priest Caiphas), Rudolph Shaw (The Blind One), Gabrielle C Archer (Herod), Laura Salem Harding (Pilate), Michelle London (Sarah), Jelani Reid (John The Disciple) and CBS TV star Zay Harding as High Priest Annas.
Reading Stage Manager for the production was actor and musician Bill ‘Triple 5’ Vila.
In explaining the play’s enduring appeal following its latest triumph, Heron states that “ Nearly fifty years after it was first performed in Jamaica, The Rope and The Cross remains as timeless as it is timely, because it not only recreates a hugely significant moment in biblical history but it simultaneously recalls an extraordinary time in Jamaican history also. It is a time capsule of an era in Jamaica during which a strong national leader stood up to far more powerful nations to assert our right to self governance and our rights as black people after over 300 years of foreign rule. That battle continues today all over the world. When you listen to some of the lines said by Jesus and Judas in the play, it could have been Michael Manley himself speaking. Or Martin Luther King Jr. Or Malcolm X. Freedom- whether in Jerusalem, Jamaica, the USA or anywhere else- comes at a very dear cost. And that is really the lesson that The Rope and The Cross continues to teach us biblically, historically and politically.”
The production also marks the first time Heron and Samuels have worked together. Samuels is known as “The Caribbean’s King of Comedy.” Heron says he hopes to work with him again soon.
“Working with Oliver has been absolutely one of the highlights of my career to date,” he says. “He led this cast by example and his passion, dedication and commitment to playing a role that is so different from what his fans are used to, served as an inspiration for the entire company. I plan for this to be the first of many collaborations we will do going forward.”
As he did with last year’s Silver Anniversary production of his own play Love and Marriage and New York City, Heron staged The Rope and The Cross against large, panoramic backdrop images projected unto the back wall of the JPAC stage, this time of deep rural Jamaica and old Jerusalem, transporting the audience across time and space to two vastly different eras in the epic tale.
In Attendance
Among the celebrities in attendance were Officer in Charge, Jamaican Consulate in New York, Ariel Bowen, Audelco Award winning Broadway actor Jerome Preston Bates, award winning fashion and costume designer Raxann Chin, Actor Boy Award winning playwright and actor Karl O’Brian Williams, television and film actor Mitzi Pratt, hairstylist and book author Marian Haye and Off Broadway playwright Christin Cato.
Sponsors
Sponsors of the event included the Jamaica Tourist Board. They also included Mesidor PLLC. Other sponsors were Results Promo and Marketing, IMC Media, and The Door Restaurant. They provided a free Easter reception before the production.
Charitable Donation
All royalties paid to the family of playwright Easton Lee will be donated. The donation will support rebuilding St Barnabas Anglican Church in Siloah, St Elizabeth. The play was first performed there. The church was severely damaged by Hurricane Melissa in late 2025.
