The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) prides itself on delivering top-tier education in the arts and arts management through its distinguished and talented faculty. Each academic year, the School of Music faculty has the opportunity to showcase their skills and collaborate with the wider music industry at their annual faculty concert.

Folk Routes, the inaugural faculty concert for the 2024 academic year, takes audiences on a journey through folk music traditions from around the world. It is an ideal family activity to enjoy on Sunday, November 3, with showtime set for 5:00 p.m.

These concerts not only highlight faculty members’ specialised skills but also reinforce their dedication to performance. Dean Roger Williams notes that faculty concerts are a hallmark of music schools worldwide and a long-standing tradition at Edna. The performances will honour traditional folk music from various countries while infusing jazz, classical, and reggae elements. 

Faculty lead Kieran Murray promises an eclectic and inclusive show, featuring special collaborations with the Jamaica Folk Singers, songbird Nikeishia Barnes of Digicel Rising Stars fame, and current School of Music students. 

Meanwhile, at the School of Drama, former Dean and adjunct faculty member Eugene Williams presents the second play of the semester, For Coloured Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, the acclaimed choreopoem by Ntozake Shange. This American classic is the School’s third production of the piece, previously directed by Lloyd Reckord and Trevor Nairne, and the final play of the semester. 

The student cast includes Mikhayla Brown as Red, Apple Wright and Rosebigate Newton as Orange, Frankian Ricketts as Yellow, Victoria Mallo and Atasha Brown as Green, Morrissa Woolery and Kiana Jackson as Blue, Abijah Warren as Brown, and Kezia Webb as Purple. Together, they navigate the text’s deep psychological and emotional themes, with guidance from the College’s counsellor to support them through potential challenges.

Recognising the production’s exploration of powerful themes, Williams invited choreographer Neila Ebanks to co-direct and shape the piece from a woman’s perspective. “The title itself suggests it’s a choreographer’s work, and Neila’s profound insight into the political landscape of the play, along with her expertise in choreography and physical theatre, has been invaluable,” he explained. 

Understanding the groundbreaking work she deems “a poetic exploration of truths” centred on blackness and femininity, she incorporated jazz and blues soundscapes to bring its coming-of-age themes to life. 

In our staging, we embrace the tension points while locating the work in the worlds of our students, themselves navigating their evolving femininities in challenge to ever-present patriarchal expectations, Ebanks shared.

With the play exploring deeply complex issues like black femininity, survival, trauma, identity, and resilience, she explained that her choreography was designed to highlight its “heartfelt celebration of the deep, abiding love black women must continue to cultivate and embrace fiercely.” As such, her input helped “student-actors embody what meaning often remains unspoken in voice and find resonance in the sisterhood of witness and testimony”.

For Coloured Girls opens today and runs for two weekends: November 1-3 and November 8-10. Whether through the rhythms of global folk traditions on Sunday, or the poetic intensity of Shange’s iconic work, these two events promise memorable experiences for all who attend.