Months of intense rehearsals will soon culminate in Cayman Drama Society’s summer production of “In The Heights”, the Tony-award-winning musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Co-directors Judith Nicholls and Cynthia Powell, who are fitting in their dramatic commitments around their busy day jobs in the health industry, say that the subject matter will resonate strongly with a Cayman audience.
Nicholls, who used to sing and play music growing up in Barbados, moved to Cayman eight years ago and was introduced to the Cayman Drama Society through its acting and directing classes. She has since been involved with several plays, including directing Derek Walcott’s “Beef, No Chicken” and “J’Ouvert” by Yasmin Joseph and working as assistant director on last year’s hit “Private Lives”.
“Part of my passion came from wanting to see more stories on stage that I wanted to see and that I related to,” she said, “so I realised that if I wanted to see them, I should just do them myself.”
Like Nicholls, Powell didn’t have acting experience before joining Cayman Drama Society but was introduced to it by her son who wanted to get involved.
“I started being asked, ‘Hey, do you want to work backstage since you’re here already?’ and then from backstage, I ended up being stage manager for two of Judith’s shows that she produced.”
Acting classes and on-stage parts followed, and then Nicholls approached her to co-direct “In The Heights”.
Powell said, “It was a little intimidating because I’ve never directed before, so I felt really inadequate. But she’s very good at guiding me and it’s through her that I have the privilege of helping direct “In The Heights.”
Nicholls said that she saw elements in Powell which would make her a good director and the scale of the production meant that “there’s a lot of moving parts, so it really helps having somebody sharing the workload and the creative vision”.
Latino community
Powell’s Hispanic heritage was an important factor too, she said. “Because “In The Heights” is about a Latino community, and since Cynthia is also Latino, I thought it was really important to work with someone who is part of the community and can relate to the culture that we’re trying to portray.”
“We really wanted to do something to kind of represent the Latino community because there are quite a few people in Cayman who have either Latino roots or come from a Latin American country,” Powell said. “And it’s something very different from what is usually presented in Cayman: It’s a musical with hip hop and rapping and salsa and merengue and some English and some Spanish, and Lin-Manuel Miranda has a very signature style which fuses all the styles together.”
With 22 onstage cast members and a big production crew handling everything from set design and lighting to costumes and sound, “In The Heights” is shaping up to be a production on a large scale and one, said Nicholls, that has a mix of experienced actors and some treading the boards for the very first time.
“It’s been good to discover the talent that is on island,” said Nicholls, “because this cast is extremely talented. We have some really good singers, actors, rappers, everything – it’s been great to see”.
Both hope that the production’s subject matter will draw people in to watch it who might not be regular theatregoers.
Close-knit community
Explains Cynthia, ‘It’s a very vibrant, high-energy musical that tells the story of a close-knit community in Washington Heights, following people as they navigate their dreams, identity, love and their idea of home. I feel like our local community can relate to some of these stories.”
Nicholls agrees. “The idea of grappling with change and what that brings to communities, in terms of overdevelopment and gentrification, I think everybody can relate to, especially in Cayman, where there’s been so many changes in the landscape,” she said.
It’s a very different kind of experience to a traditional musical, Powell said. “It’s quite modern. There’s hip hop and Latin rhythms, but also there’s a lot of heart and humour in it. There’s a little something for everybody, not just your typical theatre person.”
Anyone who comes away inspired to get more involved will be welcomed with open arms, the co-directors said.
“I just want to add that it’s really fun,” said Powell. “I started without a clue about theatre life, and I came in slowly, just chaperoning and then backstage and all through all those steps. I just found that I fell in love with theater.
“I feel like maybe there’s people in the community who don’t know what it’s about, and if they were given a chance to try it out, they might love it and fall in love with it too.”
“In The Heights” opens at The Prospect Playhouse and runs for 12 shows, playing at 7.30pm on 28, 29, 30 May and 4, 5, 6 and 11, 12, 13 June and at 3pm on Sundays 31 May and 7 and 14 June. Tickets available at www.cds.ky
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