Your favorite star, larger than life
Jamaican Actress Dianne Dixon Stars As A Grieving
Mother in 9/11 Drama ‘Echoes Of a Lost Son’
Caribbean Life, Sept. 11-17, 2020 25
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Your favorite Hollywood
star seems ten feet tall.
After all, he’s bigger than
life. Everybody knows him;
he’s handsome and funny
and, well, you’re pretty sure
that if you ever met him,
you‘d probably be tonguetied.
After all, the man’s
famous! So would you be
surprised, as in “The Rock:
Through the Lens: His Life,
His Movies, His World,” photographs
by Hiram Garcia,
to learn that your favorite
star is a regular guy after
all?H
iram Garcia was just
a freshman in high school
back in 1991 but he was
tall, often towering over the
dudes his sister dated. And
then she invited him to the
University of Miami to meet
her “new boyfriend” and she
introduced Garcia to someone
who was bigger than he
was. He met a man he calls
“DJ,” and a lifelong friendship
was formed.
For nearly three decades,
Dwayne Johnson, Garcia,
and Garcia’s sister have
“come together in many
creative ways,” including
through their production
company, which is responsible
for some of Johnson’s
biggest films and smallscreen
programs. But, as
this book shows, Johnson
isn’t just the star of Jungle
Cruise or The Titan Games.
He’s also a pro wrestler, a
father, and a guy who truly
appreciates his fans – and
that includes kids, a group
that Garcia says Johnson
particularly enjoys.
Both staged and candid
pictures in this book show
all those aspects of Johnson’s
life, and more. Here,
for example, you’ll see Johnson’s
love of family, his wife
and daughters, his ex-girlfriend,
as well as in-laws
and extended family.
There are many photos
of “The Rock” in training,
working out, and eating
right. Readers will see
what kind of work it takes
to maintain a double-career
and still have time for a
personal life and “horsing
around” with friends and
colleagues. You’ll see Johnson’s
fun side, and his fan
side. And you’ll see how
Garcia came to understand
that taking snapshots of his
buddy, “DJ,” could ultimately
take a hobby to the next
level…
Looking for something
you can read quick? Here,
it won’t take you long to
get through “The Rock:
Through the Lens: His Life,
His Movies, His World”
because there really isn’t
much to read at all.
No, most of what photographer
Hiram Garcia
includes as narrative consists
of captions to go along
with the dozens of pictures
of the man he calls “the ultimate
entertainer…” Some
of these captions are only a
few words long, others have
more explanation to them,
but the truth is that readers
likely won’t dwell on this
aspect of the book.
Instead, the real reason to
want this well-done coffee–
table book is for the photos
inside. They invite readers
to linger, showing Johnson
at his most pensive, enjoying
his fans, and at work.
The pictures appear to have
been carefully chosen, and
they won’t disappoint anyone
ages 16 to adult. So
get “The Rock: Through the
Lens: His Life, His Movies,
His World,” especially if you
love the guy. Because this is
a fan’s book, after all…
“The Rock: Through
the Lens: His Life, His
Movies, His World,” photographs
by Hiram Garcia
c.2020, St. Martin’s
Press
$35.00 / $47.50 Canada
247 pages
“The Rock: Through the Lens,” photos by Hiram Garcia.
St. Martin’s Press
Award winning Jamaican
born actress Dianne
Dixon is returning to
the screen as a 9/11
mother in mourning in Echoes
of A Lost Son, the filmed version
of a new stage drama written
by playwright Chima Chikazunga.
The one act play was
the winner of the Norman Hall
Memorial Playwrights Festival
for 2019 and is now available for
viewing on You Tube.
In Echoes of a Lost Son,
Dixon portrays Ruth, a New
York mother traumatized by the
loss of her son James during
the September 11 attacks on
the World Trade Centre in 2001.
When a strange woman named
Jenny arrives at her house years
after the tragedy with new
information about the missing
James, the lives of both Ruth
and James’ grieving widow Keya
are suddenly and dramatically
altered forever.
The production, which is
directed by Michael Peters, also
features actors Natalie Blessing
as Keya, Sophia Gutchinov as
Jenny and Claudio Venancio as
a police officer at the World
Trade site.
For Dixon, who has appeared
on stage in award winning productions
such as Flambeaux and
Jamaica- The Musical, and on
screen in the Emmy winning tv
series We Are New York, the role
of Ruth was both a stretch and
an emotional challenge.
“This is a woman whose son
was the very center of her world,”
she says, “And who lost him in
the most traumatic way- missing
and presumed dead with no
body to bury, no real closure.
And then a decade later she
gets this visit from this woman
and her entire world is turned
upside down yet again. I’ve never
really played anything like that
before so it was a deeply moving,
emotional experience. 9/11
never really goes away for any of
us living in New York. It’s a scab
on a wound that never really
heals, and when you pick at it,
it’s as though you re-live that
pain all over again. That’s what
this was for me.”
The production was shot over
a two day period against a tight
filming schedule which intensified
the experience even further.
“We had long and emotional
scenes to play and we had to
be done by a certain time each
day so that made the stakes
even higher. But the play does
have a sense of urgency about it
and I think the need to get the
shoot done quickly production
wise, benefitted us as well. You
really had to just jump in and
experience the scenes as you
would in real life because there
wasn’t any time to do a lot of
retakes or detailed table work
… That made it an even more
raw and organic experience in
my opinion.”
Among other accolades,
Dixon has been honored with
two Audelco Award acting nominations
for Excellence in Black
Theater as well as the Caribbean
Life Impact Award and The New
York City Council Citation and
Award for her contributions to
the Performing Arts.
The Norman Hall Playwrights
Festival is produced
by public access television station
North Shore TV (formerly
known as PA TV) in Long
Island, and is named in honor
of stage and television director
Norman Hall. Hall is best
known for his work on daytime
television series including The
Doctors and One Life to Live, for
which he won a daytime Emmy
Award for directing. He joined
the board of PA TV in 1994
and in 1996 he established the
playwright’s festival, under the
name The Playwrights Project,
as a means of discovering new
playwrights and plays. The festival’s
winning plays were then
produced and televised by PA
TV. Upon his passing in 2016,
PA TV paid tribute to Hall by
re-christening the event The
Norman Hall Memorial Playwright’s
Festival.
Since its inception in 1996,
nearly 30 of the festival’s winning
plays have been produced
and televised. Echoes of A Lost
Son premiered on North Shore
TV in December 2019.