“Not About Eve,” the award winning family drama by Jamaican actor and playwright Karl O’ Brian Williams, will make its Long Island debut at the New Vibe Lounge in Rockville Center on Memorial Weekend, Sunday, May 26 at 7 pm.
The play will be presented as a staged concert reading as part of the New Vibe Lounge’s monthly playreading series and will be directed by award winning playwright and producer David Heron.
The all female cast of the three-character drama features Gabrielle C. Archer (Black Women and The Ballot – National Black Theatre), Fleurette Harris (The Rope and The Cross — New Vibe Lounge) and Marsha — Ann Hay (Love Is – L. Charles Gray Theatre).
“Not About Eve” follows on the heels of Heron’s own Against His Will and Easton Lee’s Easter passion play The Rope and The Cross, both of which have played to full houses since The Vibe began its playreading concert series earlier this year.
Set in modern day middle class Jamaica, the play tells the story of three generations of women in the Shields family – ‘Mama’ Agatha Rochester (Harris), her daughter Katherine (Hay) and her granddaughter Kimberly (Archer), who all reside under one roof and are yet living strangely disconnected lives. Each of the women harbors past secrets, unspoken resentments and deep suspicions of the other.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, the anniversary of the death of Katherine’s husband serves as a catalyst for a series of dramatic confrontations in the household, that will force all three women to face harsh truths about their lives — and ultimately test the bonds that bind them together.
The play had its world premiere in Kingston, Jamaica in 2006 and went on to win the 2007 International Theatre Institute (Jamaica) Actor Boy Award for Best New Jamaican Play.
It had its Off Broadway Premiere at the Roy Arias Studio Theatre in 2012 and was an Official Mainstage selection of the 2013 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston Salem North Carolina — the largest black theatre festival in the world.
According to Heron, founder and organizer of the playreading series at The Vibe, “Karl’s play is what I consider to be genuine, modern day Caribbean classic — a moving tale of a Jamaican family at odds and peeling away years of anger and frustration to see if a reconciliation lies beneath. The fact that it also contains incredible, three dimensional leading roles for not one, not two, but three actresses of color, truly places it in a category all its own. We are confident that our audiences at Vibe will fully support and appreciate this remarkable work with the same enthusiasm that they have shown to all our offerings to date.”
The New Vibe Lounge is located at 60 North Park Ave. in Rockville Centre, Long Island, 11570.
A talkback with the cast and director as well as a complimentary Caribbean Cuisine buffet courtesy of Golden Krust Caribbean Restaurant, will follow the performance.
Tickets for the show are currently available at: notab
More information is available at suret
