Voices of hope - Ward Theatre centenary celebration a mixture of pain and delight

Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer

A birthday party was held for the 100-year-old Ward Theatre on Sunday afternoon. Many friends of the institution attended. Three of them even cut a large birthday cake.

But despite the music, dance, laughter and positive words, the function was fraught with dramatic irony. The blind Edna Manley College (EMC) School of Music musician who was one of the many performers might not have appreciated the irony until playwright Barbara Gloudon spoke.

"The last time I went into the theatre," she said, "I cried. I'm not going back inside till it fix up."

Had she heard the emotion in Gloudon's voice and known that the playwright-producer was responsible for numerous acclaimed Pantomimes at the venue, the blind musician might have understood the depth of
the feeling behind the words. She might even have then understood why
the centenary celebration was being held on the terrace in front of the
theatre and not within its crumbling interior.

She
might also have appreciated the irony of the function being presented by
the Ward Theatre Foundation. ("What's the foundation like after a
hundred years?" she might have wondered.)

She could
not have seen, however, that behind the temporary stage constructed on
the terrace by the EMC's Drama School, the once beautiful façade of the
theatre was fast deteriorating. Its white and blue paint was stripping,
its iron accessories rusting, and many of its glass windows broken, some
boarded up.

After the playing of the national anthem
by the Jamaica Regiment Band, the effervescent MC, Fae Ellington, began
introducing speakers and performers. Ever aware of the fast-approaching
darkness - before which the function had to end, she said - she
frequently but good-naturedly urged speakers to be
brief.

Prayers by the Reverend Nigel Pusey, chairman,
Downtown Religious Fraternity, was followed by words of welcome by Ward
Theatre Foundation Chairman Francis Kennedy. He stated the obvious.
"Sadly, over the years, the theatre has fallen into disrepair," he said,
before requesting donations for the saving of the
Ward.

He called the building "the Grand Old Lady of
Jamaican Theatre," which was true enough.

Donated to
Kingston

It was donated in 1912 to the city of
Kingston by Colonel Charles James Ward, and has been the venue for
scores of theatrical productions and other functions of national and
international importance.

Reading from her
21st-century tablet, Mayor Angela Brown Burke said she wanted to restore
the old building to "a place of honour" in the society and opined that
there could be no real and lasting development of downtown Kingston
without the restoration of the theatre. The KSAC continues to look for
partners to assist in that restoration, she
said.

Bringing greetings from Youth & Culture
Minister Lisa Hanna, the director of culture in the ministry, Sydney
Bartley, also spoke of the necessity of educating people, especially
young people, about the importance of Jamaica's cultural heritage to the
country and the world.

"Let us all rise up," he
urged, "with the KSAC and the ministry to help build back a cultural
institution that is part of Brand Jamaica."

Gloudon's
witty remarks revealed to her audience that Ward Theatre was of
importance to her for at least three reasons. When they were children,
she and her siblings were often taken to the theatre by their father.
Her Little Theatre Movement National Pantomimes (which now run at the
Little Theatre) were initially produced at the Ward. And it was there
that she went on her first real date - with a Wolmer's schoolboy. He
bought her a chocolate bar which melted in their hot hands, she
revealed.

Musical and dance items followed. The East
Queen Street Baptist Church sang Mozart's Glorious is Thy
Name and Marty Parkes' And the Word Became
Flesh; a dance ensemble from the School of Dance performed a
dancehall item; Rosina Moder led other recorder players in O'er
Our Blue Mountains (Clyde Hoyt) and Let Christmas
Ketch You in a Good Mood; a small Salvation Army choir sang
Star in the Sky; the School of Music's Nikita Steer
sang O Holy Night; and a steel pannist also from the
school, played three tunes.

After the Jamaica Regiment
Band played a medley of Christmas tunes and Coke Methodist Church choir
sang Mozart's Ave Verum, there was the cutting of
the birthday cake. The cutters were actress Ruth HoShing,
playwright-producer-actor Louis Marriott, and
Kennedy.

After she re-emphasised the fact that the
function was historic, the MC handed the stage over to the final set of
performers, the Akwaba Drummers.

Dusk was falling as
they began to play. The race against time had been
won.