Playwright Amba Chevannes (left), Actor Boy-nominated director, Michael Daley (centre), and UWI Singers' alumna Laura McNeil (right) after a production meeting for the writer's two new one-act plays - 'The Last Bloom' and 'Dinner with Eleanor' set to debut on the Jamaican stage at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts (UWI) from December 14-16. - Contributed

With a stellar cast including Bertina Macaulay, Marguerite Newland, Afolashade from the Sistren Theatre Collective, Alwyn Scott and Munair Zacca, M.A.D.K.O.W. Productions introduces a new playwright, Amba Chevannes and her work to the Jamaican stage.

The two one-act plays, The Last Bloom and Dinner with Eleanor have already received critical acclaim and accolades from their first outing at the Sunday morning readings at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts (UWI, Mona).

They have now been put together as a double bill in an evening called - 'Cracking Up'. A name chosen to highlight the lighter side of the issues explored in both plays.

Range of characters

Audiences will be treated to a wide range of characters that go through various stages of Alzheimer's, manipulation, depression, greed and loneliness in an all too zany and quirky manner. It's theatre with a tickle of the funny bone, without sacrificing the conscience.

Actor Boy Award nominee, Michael Daley, goes for his fourth sitting in the director's chair with The Last Bloom and distinguished and multiple-award-winning director Norman Rae handles the reigns on Dinner with Eleanor.

The shows are being staged for just one weekend only: December 14-6, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 6 p.m. For tickets and more information please call 818-2973 or 382-3541 or email: getmadkow@gmail.com.