The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN Georgia Storr Taylor is back with theatre/dance production ‘A Bahamian Tale’ - running from April 28-30 at the Regency Theatre.

It promises to be full of Bahamian folklore and humour, along with lots of dancing and even a rake ‘n scrape performance.

Ms Taylor, owner and artistic director of Georgia’s School of Dance and Theatre, believes the production will evoke feelings of nostalgia among older audiences, and educate younger audiences of what living in a Bahamian community was like in the past.

It has a cast of more than 80, including adults, and children from ages three years and up, and show times are on Friday, April 28, and Saturday, April 29, at 8pm, and Sunday, April 30, at 5pm.

Ms Taylor, the writer, director, and choreographer, decided on an all-Bahamian production this year as the country’s celebrates its 50th Independence anniversary.

The school - which is also celebrating its 20th anniversary - continues to attract large turnouts. Last year’s 60-member cast performed an adaptation of The Lion King. Taylor also used multi-media projection screen backdrops, sound, and a live choir to enhance the audience’s experience.

This year’s show, according to Taylor, is about a Bahamian community where people work, live, and worship together.

“It is based on when I was a child growing up in the late 60’s and early 70s,” she said. Ms Taylor, who enjoyed the radio soap opera The Fergusons of Farm Road, has written one of its characters, Ms Lie, in the production.

There are number of characters people can relate to, including the mother of the community who made sure everyone was straight; and the level-headed elderly gentleman in the community who fixes everything; the neighbour who is always sick, and a straw vendor who thinks items are being moved around in her booth.

There is a story telling on the porch where the children are told of the Bahamian legend Joseph Spence and how he became a talented popular guitar player after assisting an injured chickcharney, a legendary Bahamian creature.

Ms Taylor said the production includes scenes of vendors at the straw market. And the Sunday morning worship and families getting ready for church.

“We will have lots of dancing - tap, liturgical, pop, ballet, and jazz, and a rake and scrape band in the production,” she stated.

Taylor wants her audience to walk away knowing that how truly blessed we are to be Bahamians.

“We ought to be proud to be Bahamians and remember what it is like as a community, and the production will remind them how we strive and accomplished things by being a community.”

“We were community back then, and I want them to remember how we were a loving, Christian community - we need to get back to that,” she said.

Ms Taylor said theatre and performing arts are extremely important and contributes to the holistic development of young people.