The Sunshine Theatre must be applauded for honouring deserving Anguillians for the past sixteen years. On Saturday 7th February 2015, Sunshine Theatre held its Annual Awards Banquet at the Anguilla Great House Beach Resort. It was a grand affair marked by a large and appreciative audience, superb entertainment and delightful ambiance. In keeping with the occasion the guests, who were elegantly attired, were photographed on their entrance to the venue. Throughout the evening both the guests and award recipients demonstrated their appreciation for the kind gesture made by Sunshine Theatre.
This year’s award recipients included Mr Keith “Repeater” Carty, a veteran calypsonian and the reigning Calpyso Monarch of Anguilla, who received the Artiste of the Year Award. King Repeater, who is known for his clear, sweet, melodious voice and thought-provoking lyrics, sang one of his hits “What is life?” for the appreciative audience.
Ms Shellya Rogers received the Theatre Arts Award. Ms Rogers, a former Ms Anguilla, is a bright and talented young lady who is currently the Programme Officer for Culture at the Department of Youth and Culture. She has been involved in theatre and dance for many years and has, in fact, won several pageants in Anguilla and successfully represented Anguilla overseas in pageantry. In a memorable thank you address, Ms Rogers took the opportunity to publicly thank her family and friends and in particular her mentor, Teacher Sarah Francis, for the role she played in introducing her to drama and dance and for her support over the years.
Also awarded this year was my dear friend, local historian, author and curator of Heritage Collection Museum, Mr Colville Petty OBE, who received the Community Service Award. Mr Petty is well known and respected in the Anguillian community as an authority on Anguilla’s history. By writing about our history he has given all Anguillians a gift which we can pass on for generations. Mr Petty took the time to share some thoughtful words in response to receiving the award. I will quote extensively from those remarks as, in my view, they are a fitting tribute to Sunshine Theatre:
“It has long been said that no prophet is honoured in his own country, but Sunshine Theatre has being proving, over several years now, that there is little truth in that saying because here we have a local, private institution honouring local people – honouring prophets in their own country. For this, Sunshine Theatre should be loudly applauded and should take much pride.
I extend a special thank you to both Felix and Mona, two patriotic Anguillians, who I have known over many years. I recall riding to The Valley Secondary School with Mona on a few occasions, but Felix and I go much further back. We both spent our childhood days in East End. And we were at the East End Primary School together, where he was a few classes ahead of me. I remember once sharing with him some boiled potatoes which I had for lunch. We did not bother to take off the skin. Back then we ate everything…
I lost sight of Felix in the late 1950s and when I saw him again in the 1960s he was a member of the Flamingoes Musical Band which he and several other Anguillians had formed in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands. And it was also in St Thomas where he founded his Sunshine Theatre Company. It was registered there as a non-profit corporation in 1972.
Some years later, in 1989, Felix made Anguilla the permanent home of Sunshine Theatre by which time he had long been regarded as a distinguished playwright and dramatist. And I have heard it said that he is among the best dramatists and producers in the Caribbean. Indeed, Felix and Mona, and their Sunshine Theatre, are making Anguilla proud.
[Sunshine Theatre is] keeping Anguilla’s traditions alive, and ensuring the transmission of our cultural values and history….[It]is alive and working… I say to Sunshine Theatre, to Felix and Mona, be proud of your accomplishments. You are good and faithful servants. May you grow from strength to strength. Anguilla needs you.”
As a country, we ought to recognize and commend the efforts of those individuals and entities among us who are working in various ways to improve our society. One such entity is Sunshine Theatre. It is for this reason that I wanted to take the time to simply say: “Hats off to Sunshine Theatre for a job well done!”
