The Billie Holiday Theatre Launches CARIBBEAN CALLING – ROOTS & RESURGENCE Theatre Festival

The Billie Holiday Theatre has announced the launch of the  Caribbean Theatre Festival – “Caribbean Calling: Roots & Resurgence,” a landmark celebration of English-speaking Caribbean artistry, storytelling, and cultural legacy. The Festival marks a new addition to The Billie's acclaimed Black Narrative series.

This evening event of staged readings will take place on Saturday, December 13, 2025, from 5PM to 9PM at The Billie in its Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn - continuing the institution's legacy of celebrating the breadth, beauty, and brilliance of the African Diaspora through the performing arts.

Curated by Obie Award-winner Heather Alicia Simms and Drama Desk Award-nominee Patrice Johnson Chevannes, Caribbean Calling is a sweeping tribute to the playwrights and plays of the English-speaking Caribbean. The festival highlights excerpts of  seminal works whose impact within the Caribbean diaspora has been profound, though not always fully acknowledged, as well as the dynamic, resurgent voices shaping the region's contemporary theatrical landscape. The evening also seeks to honor the linguistic authenticity of the islands by pairing each curated play with actors whose Caribbean accents reflect the nations represented - offering playwrights the rare opportunity to hear their work spoken in the rhythms, cadences, and tonalities for which it was written. For audiences, the result will be an immersive experience in the eclectic and nuanced sonic tapestry of English-speaking Caribbean islands.

The evening will include with a panel conversation moderated by Kamilah Forbes (Executive Producer, The Apollo) featuring an extraordinary lineup of creative leaders including Karl  O'Brian Williams (Artistic Director, Braata Productions), Patricia McGregor (Artistic Director, New York Theatre Workshop), Nicole Watson (Producing Artistic Director, Playwrights' Center) and Lamar Richardson (2x Tony Award-winning Producer & Actor). The discussion will explore the Caribbean's cultural contributions to global Black storytelling and the pathways for Caribbean artists in today's theatre ecosystem. 

The program will unfold in two dynamic acts - Roots and Resurgence - tracing an arc from the foundational playwrights whose works transformed theatre within the Caribbean diaspora, to the bold new artists redefining Caribbean narratives for a new generation. Each of these works will be performed by a cast of seasoned actors to include: Opal Alladin, Jacq Gregg, David Heron, Lateefah Holder, Kimberly Huie, Chelsea Ann Jones, Jenny Jules, Amani Kojo, Simone Moore, Stacey Sargeant, Celeste Sena, Adesola Osakalumi and Paul Pryce.

In Roots, audiences will encounter foundational works that anchor the Caribbean canon. Mustapha Matura's Meetings, a sharp social satire set in independent Trinidad, explores identity, belonging and the cost of progress. Edgar Nkosi White's The Nine Night, inspired by the Jamaican burial ritual of the same name which helps troubled souls to cross over into the spirit world. follows a Caribbean immigrant's journey toward peace. The legendary Sistren Theatre Collective's Bellywoman Bangarang is a  landmark in Caribbean theatre that captures the strength and struggle of Jamaican women through an unflinching portrayal of teenage pregnancy, class, and survival. Alwin Bully's McBee, a biting reinterpretation of Macbeth, recasts Shakespeare's tragedy within a Caribbean political landscape pulsing with ambition and corruption. Derek Walcott's Ti-Jean and His Brothers, a poetic Caribbean-based fable of virtue and defiance, exploring themes of colonialism, cultural identity, and resistance.

The section concludes with At What a Price by Una Marson and Horace D. Vaz — the first play by a Black woman to be staged in London's West End - which examines gender, race, and the tension between love and independence in colonial Jamaica. 

The festival then turns to Resurgence, spotlighting a new generation of playwrights whose works boldly interrogate identity, migration, and liberation. Buh Wha' Trouble Is Dis? (The Exhumation of MC Spice) by Stacey Sargeant blends verse and prose to tell the story of a Brooklyn-born daughter of Caribbean immigrants reclaiming her voice against the pressures of racism and assimilation. Patrice Johnson Chevannes' Jamancipendence Day presents a mosaic of monologues, songs, and stories examining what true independence means for Jamaica today, confronting the legacies of colonialism and the persecution of LGBTQ citizens.

 In Beneath the Land of Cockpit Country by Christin Eve Cato dives into a family's battle over ancestral land in Jamaica's lush, contested Cockpit Country, revealing deep connections between environmental justice and cultural inheritance. Winsome Pinnock's Leave Taking captures the ache of displacement through the story of a Caribbean mother and her daughters navigating life between two worlds in Britain. Resurgence will also include Petron Brown's The Colour Woman which follows Haitian migrants seeking refuge in The Bahamas and Dhari Noel's Is Cry You Cry'n? interweaving two stories across time that examines belonging, migration, and the layered complexity of Caribbean identity.

“The Caribbean is a mosaic of histories, rhythms, and voices that have long been at the heart of global Black storytelling,” said Simms. “Yet our contributions are often viewed as peripheral rather than central. With this festival, we are reclaiming that center. We're illuminating the continuum - from our ancestral griots and freedom fighters to contemporary playwrights - all of whom use theatre as a vessel of truth, protest, and spiritual remembrance.”

“This work feels deeply personal,” said Johnson Chevannes. “The Caribbean has birthed some of the most fearless and inventive voices in world theatre, yet our stories remain underrepresented. With Caribbean Calling and this partnership with The Billie, we're creating a homecoming - a space where the richness of our languages, humor, and politics are fully seen and celebrated. It's also a love letter to those who came before us and a torch for the next generation who will define where Caribbean theatre goes next.”

“The Billie Holiday Theatre has always been a stage where the multiplicity of the Black experience takes center stage,” said Shadawn Smith, Executive Director of The Billie Holiday Theatre. “‘Caribbean Calling' embodies our ongoing commitment to expand the Black narrative - to honor the stories of the Diaspora that have shaped our collective identity and continue to move culture forward. Brooklyn is home to one of the largest Caribbean communities in the world, and this festival reflects our deep connection to that heritage. It's an invitation for the community to see themselves, their ancestors, and their possibilities reflected on this stage.”