After two summers of a dark stage, the Reichhold Center for the Arts is returning to a mini-season of Caribbean theater presented by its own Caribbean Repertory Company.
Three productions are planned, in each case with the playwright himself serving as director.
The first, "Triptych," a drama by St. Lucian writer Kendel Hippolyte, will open June 23 for a four-night run.
Next up will be "Jean and Dinah," by Trinidad and Tobago playwright Tony Hall. It's to run July 28-31.
Concluding the season will be "Smile Native Smile," the premiere of a new work by Reichhold director David Edgecombe, a native of Montserrat, that is set on St. Thomas. It is scheduled to play Sept. 1-4.
"Triptych" is an art term that refers to a single image created in three separate parts. Each panel hangs separately and can stand alone, but the complete view, the embodiment of another arcane term, "synergy," has significance greater than the sum of its parts.
Hippolyte's play, naturally, has three characters. Its theme is tripartite, too: the interplay of art, politics and love. Each character experiences a conflict because of the pressure of these elements in his or her life.
Kadien, played by University of the Virgin Islands student Rehalio Henley, is an artist is torn between his desire to create more personal, mystical paintings and a nagging sense that art should be socially useful. There is also conflict in his growing attraction to Myrna, who is in a relationship with Tyrone, his closest friend.
Tyrone, portrayed by UVI student George Silcott Jr., is a political activist and journalist who writes for a trade union newspaper. While gathering information for a story about a dismissed hotel employee, he becomes attracted to the woman and jeopardizes his relationship with Myrna. Personal involvement influences his investigation and the action he decides upon, yet he convinces himself that he is acting out of radical political beliefs — until a critical moment.
Myrna, played by Josephine Lindquist, recognizes both her attraction for Kadien and her failing relationship with Tyrone. She and Tyrone break up, and she agrees to let Kadien paint a nude portrait of her. This causes a crisis in the friendship between the two men. Without getting into specifics, suffice it to say that as each individual confronts the others, Myrna finds confirmation in her resolve to make the person at the center of her life. . . herself.
The drama raises — but does not necessarily resolve — issues concerning the relationship of art and political action, the nature of friendship and the place of love in one's life. "Triptych" is about questions more than answers. Through their interrelations, all three characters come to understand their own motivations more clearly and arrive at a deeper self-knowledge.
Edgecombe founded the Caribbean Repertory Company in 1994 as a vehicle to allow for the professional production of Caribbean plays and to give performing artists and stage technicians greater opportunity to work in professional theater. It did so that summer and those of 1995, 1996 and 1997. Among the plays presented were "I Don't Want to Bathe" by St. Vincent playwright Cecil "Blazer" Williams; "Hotel Christobel" by Kittitian-born writer Caryl Phillips, and Edgecombe's "Marilyn," about a reunion on St. Thomas of characters who together had survived the hurricane of the same name.
Curtain time for all three of this summer's production is 8 p.m. Seating for the performances will be in the covered section only. All tickets are $20. They are available now at the Reichhold box office and may be purchased by charge card by calling 693-1559.
For more information, call the box office, e-mail to boxoffice@reichholdcenter.com, or go to the theater's web site at www.reichholdcenter.com.
