ENTERTAINMENT
‘LEONORA’
Caribbean Life, M BQ ay 31–June 6, 2019 37
David Stallings’ new drama “Leonora,”
will be performed as a staged
reading at The Williams CME Institutional
Church in Harlem on Monday,
June 3 at 7 pm.
The reading is presented by New
York Classical Theatre in association
with Voza Rivers / New Heritage
Theatre Group and David Heron’s
Sure Thing Productions, as part of
New York Classical’s ‘Diversifying the
Classics’ series.
The New York Classical Theatre
is celebrating its twentieth year of
providing free productions of classic
works in indoor and outdoor locations
throughout New York City,
while Voza Rivers is the Broadway
producer of the Tony and Grammy
nominated musical Sarafina!
Leonora is inspired by Henrik
Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” and is based
on a concept by Antonio Miniño, who
also directs the reading.
The play is set in pre-independent
Jamaica in late 1951, where Leonora
Hartell — a Jamaican woman
of color married to a white British
banker — watches her world unravel
when former acquaintances re-enter
her life, threatening to expose secrets
from her past.
The majority of Leonora’s seven
member cast is Caribbean born or
of Caribbean descent and includes
actors whose resumes span the
worlds of Broadway, Off Broadway,
film and television. According to
Artistic Director of New York Classical,
Stephen Burdman, “We are
extremely pleased and very excited to
Actor David Heron will portray Dr. Mike Newell in “Leonora.”
Continued on Page 38
Oprah Winfrey. Evan Agostini / Invision
/ Associated Press, File
By Vinette K. Pryce
Oprah Winfrey seemed to bask in
a glow of pride last week standing
onstage at the Apollo Theater in Harlem
with a cast of thespians that dramatized
the 30-year-old sensationalized Central
Park Jogger case she helped finance.
There, inside the landmark showplace
to show solidarity with the Netflix
film project that will air May 31,
Winfrey joined Blair Underwood, Niecy
Nash, John Leguizamo, director Ava
Continued on Page 38
“Becoming a Hair Stylist” by Kate
Bolick
c.2019, Simon & Schuster
$18.00 / $25.00 Canada
144 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Sometimes, you feel like you could
just dye.
Or curl, or cut, or braid. Some days,
you want a change in style, a different ‘do,
maybe something like you’ve seen in a
magazine. Or you want to be the person
who makes that happen, so read “Becoming
a Hair Stylist” by Kate Bolick and see
if you have what it takes.
You have to think that people have
fussed with their hair for as long as people
have had hair. Egyptian lovelies, for
instance, used juniper berries to hide
Continued on Page 38
FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT, GO TO CARIBBEANLIFENEWS.COM/ENTERTAINMENT
Harlemites ‘SEE’
vindication
Becoming a
hair stylist
avid Caribbean actors featured in cast
/ENTERTAINMENT