David Heron's Love and Marriage and New York City Scores Major Success at Silver Anniversary Presentation in Jamaica Queens.
New York, New York - David Heron’s Off Broadway romantic comedy Loveand Marriage and New York City returned to the New York stage in triumph last Sunday June 22 with its Silver Anniversary Presentation at The Jamaica Performing Arts Center (JPAC) in Jamaica Queens, New York.
Love and Marriage and New York City cast and crew. From left - former cast member Janel C Scarborough, David Heron, Bill 'Triple 5' Vila, Shevrado Oliver, Denise Hunt, Gabrielle C Archer and James Duke Walker. (PHOTO CREDIT- TRICIA BLACKMAN)The play, also produced and directed by Heron, was presented as a one night only staged reading production in celebration of New York City’s annual Caribbean American Heritage Month festivities, held across the city each June.
A large and appreciative audience, including several stars of stage, film and television, took their seats at JPAC for the first performance of Heron’s play in New York since its Off Broadway run at The Billie Holiday Theatre in 2007, and erupted with a spontaneous five minute standing ovation at the end of the presentation.
Set in 1999, Love and Marriage and New York City tells the story of two Jamaican born couples residing in Manhattan who decide to get married strictly for green card purposes- only to discover that once love enters the equation, no marriage is ever purely about business. Following its world premiere production in Kingston Jamaica in 1999, the play would go on to make its American debut in South Florida in 2000 before subsequent tours to the United Kingdom in 2002 and 2003, culminating in its eventual Off Broadway run in 2006.
The four member cast of the play’s 25th anniversary presentation was comprised of How Stella Got Her Groove Back actress Denise Hunt, Oniros Award winning actor James Duke Walker (Roadside Assistance), Gabrielle C Archer (Off Broadway’s The Room), and making his American stage acting debut, Jamaican born Shevrado Oliver, winner of a 2024 Accolade Global Recognition Award as Best Actor for the forthcoming film Behind Closed Doors.
Broadway World Award winner Heron staged the production against large, panoramic backdrop images of the glittering Manhattan skyline projected unto the rear of the JPAC stage, effectively dominating the theatre and, in his own words, “Literally making New York City the fifth character in the play.”
Among the celebrities in attendance were Obie award winning actress and star of Broadway’s Tony winning Purlie Victorious, Heather Alicia Simms (Tyler Perry’s She The People), actress and director Patrice Johnson Chevannes (Broadway’s The Crucible), Jason Nadal (CBS TV’s FBI), as well as former Love and Marriage and New York City cast members Janel C Scarborough and Hector Lincoln.
Representing event sponsors Mesidor PLLC, founder and Attorney at Law Marjorie Mesidor told the audience that “Part of the reason we answered David’s request so quickly is that any opportunity that we get to support, uplift and pour into our culture and into our people doing beautiful things, we want to make sure that we do that…Particularly now, when all of us as fellow Caribbean immigrants see that our contributions are being erased, and we are being told that we don’t matter- even though so many of the things we enjoy everyday are built on our backs and our contribution.”
In his pre show remarks, Heron commented on the irony that a play he wrote twenty six years ago about Jamaicans trying to get green cards proved to be the vehicle by which he got his own green card- and that the themes in his script seem even more relevant today than when the play was written.
He also took the opportunity to announce that the television series pilot From Yard, on which both he and Shevrado Oliver worked some two years ago and which had its red carpet premiere in Kingston Jamaica in 2023, has now found a home on popular streaming platform Tubi. It is expected to make its broadcast premiere in July.
The production was preceded by a Caribbean Cuisine Reception in collaboration with Golden Krust.
In addition to Mesidor PLLC, sponsors of the Silver Anniversary performance of Love and Marriage and New York City were The Jamaica Tourist Board, Results Promo and Marketing and IMC Media.
