NEW YORK – Would You Marry For A Green Card?
This is an interesting question in David Heron’s romantic comedy, Love and Marriage and New York City. The play, which is from Jamaica, returns to the New York stage this June. It celebrates its 25th Anniversary.
Broadway World Award winner Heron will produce and direct the one night only Silver Anniversary Performance, to be presented as a staged reading production at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center (JPAC) on Sunday June 22 at 7pm. It will be an exclusive cultural event in celebration of New York City’s annual Caribbean American Heritage Month festivities, held across the city each June.
A complimentary Caribbean Cuisine Reception from 5:30pm will precede the performance.
Heron won the coveted 2023 Broadway World Award for Best Supporting Performer for his role as Caliban in the acclaimed Colonial Theatre of Rhode Island Shakespeare in the Park production of The Tempest.
Reviving Love and Marriage and New York City
Explaining his decision to revive the popular production, Heron says “Over twenty five years after its world premiere in Jamaica, Love and Marriage and New York City remains as topical as ever, dealing as it does with the immensely critical and complicated subject of immigration.
In a realistic and humane way, it highlights the allure of the American dream to immigrants everywhere, and the extent to which people will go to achieve it- with romantic, dramatic and comedic consequences.
After our great success with last year’s American premiere of Alwin Bully’s political drama McBee as our inaugural Caribbean American Heritage Month production, selecting Love and Marriage and New York City as our encore was a natural move to make, especially with everything happening in our current environment regarding immigration.
The play has never been more relevant, it seems, than now.”
Set in Manhattan in the late 1990s, Love and Marriage and New York City tells the story of two Jamaican couples. They marry just for green cards. However, they soon find out that love can change everything. Once Cupid’s arrow strikes, no marriage is just about business.
Heron thinks that the play in 2025 will bring back strong feelings of nostalgia. It will also raise concerns about the country’s changing immigration policies.
“The play’s American premiere took place just over a year before 9/11. America was so much more innocent then. The Twin Towers still stood. Travelling was relatively stress free. There was no ICE or Department Of Homeland Security. There was the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service). So much was so different from now. But the one thing that has not changed is that the easiest and simplest way to acquire US residency and citizenship is to marry an American citizen.
I’ve recently spoken with immigration attorneys as well as individuals seeking to stay here permanently, and this absolutely remains the consensus. And while as of now the US government can do many things, the one thing it cannot do is tell you who to fall in love with and who to marry.
So until someone comes up with a magic formula to determine which marriages are totally ‘genuine’ and which ones are for green card purposes- because in many instances, some unions are a combination of both- they will not be able to stop them.”
World Premiere
“Love and Marriage and New York City” is Heron’s biggest international success so far. It had its world premiere at The Little Little Theatre in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1999. The late Norman Rae directed the show. It starred Karen Harriott, Douglas Prout, Bertina Macaulay, and Heron as four “green card” lovers.
Many special guests attended the show during its first run. These included Emmy Award winner Sheryl Lee Ralph and Paul Campbell, star of “Shottas” and “Dancehall Queen.”
The production had its American premiere with a South Florida tour in 2000. It then toured Europe, performing in the United Kingdom in 2002 and 2003. The show eventually played at the famous Peggy Ashcroft Theatre in London.
It was produced at The Paul Robeson Theatre in New York before arriving Off Broadway at Brooklyn’s Billie Holiday Theatre in 2005, directed by legendary theatre icon Woody King Jr.
King’s production would go on to become an Official Selection of the 2007 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem, North Carolina- the largest black theatre festival in the world. Kingston 6 Productions of Toronto then produced the Canadian premiere at The Harbourfront Centre, downtown Toronto, in 2008.
Among other accolades, Love and Marriage and New York City earned eight International Theatre Institute (Jamaica) Actor Boy Award nominations-the equivalent of Broadway’s Tony Award – as well as three AUDELCO Award nominations for Excellence in Off Broadway Black Theatre in New York. It also earned Heron the City Council of New York’s Proclamation and Award for Excellence in 2006.
Casting for Love and Marriage and New York City
Heron says that, like last year’s McBee premiere, a talented cast is being put together for the show. This cast includes actors from stage, film, and television. The goal is to create a memorable experience for the audience in Jamaica Queens. The casting details will be announced soon.
Tickets for the Silver Anniversary Performance of Love and Marriage and New York City go on sale on Sunday April 20. A limited number of tickets will be made available at early purchase discount prices.
Heron has confirmed that college and high school students aged 16 and older can attend the production for free. This also includes theatre interns from the New York Tri-State area. The free tickets come from donations. These donations are made by event supporters. They are part of the Sure Thing Productions Free Student Ticket Initiative.
The Jamaica Performing Arts Center is located at 153-10 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica New York, 11432.
