1970
See How They Run
|
In
September, 1970 a small group of people got together
socially to discuss the possibility of putting on a
play See How They Run.
This group included Stanley Panton,
John and Valarie Morgan
and John Maples, among others.
During the course of rehearsals several others
joined the group - Peter Phillips
and John Furze, to name but two. |
1970
Formation
|
With the success of
this initial production, it was decided that the
group should organise formally and, to that end,
drew up a Memorandum and Articles of
Association and registered the
Cayman Drama Society as a Cayman islands
company limited by guarantee in April, 1971. The
Society then made application to the then Financial
Secretary to be registered as a
not-for-profit association, which was
granted in 1973. |
First
Committee |
First members of the
initial committee were: - Stanley Panton
(Chairman), Maureen Moody (Deputy
Chairman), John K. Shield
(Treasurer), John G. Morgan
(Secretary), with John Furze,
Valarie Morgan and John
Maples as committee members. |
|
Objects |
In the Memorandum of
Association, the objects for which the Company was
established were set out as follows:
|
1.
|
To promote
in the Cayman Islands the culture of the
dramatic, musical and allied arts. |
|
2.
|
To
organise for the benefit of the public the
production of dramatic and other forms of
entertainment. |
|
3.
|
To obtain
by licence, lease or purchase the use of
land, buildings and equipment for the
exhibition to the public on payment or
otherwise of dramatic and other forms of
artistic entertainment. |
|
|
Town Hall |
During the next
fourteen years, forty plays were presented, most of
which were staged at the Town Hall in George Town.
However in 1985 major renovations were carried out
to the Town Hall and it was being used more and more
by others: churches, Government, etc. Not only that,
once the renovations were complete the acoustics
were no longer as good as they had been, and the
stage had been totally removed and replaced with
free-standing platforms. Obviously, it was going to
be necessary to find another venue for the Society's
productions. |
|
Catholic School Hall |
Our first move from
the Town Hall took us to the original school hall at
the Catholic School, where Toad of
Toad Hall was presented. However, acoustics were
again a problem, coupled with the lack of dressing
room areas and the major work involved in bringing
in and setting up stage lighting. The Society was on
the move again. |
1979
Racquet Club offer |
In the meantime, and
since the inception of the Society, the idea of
building and operating its own theatre had continued
during the 1970s. After several abortive attempts to
have land and/or a building donated, in May 1979 it
was announced in a newsletter that the
Racquet Club had offered the Society a
piece of land adjoining the Club, at a peppercorn
rent of CI$1.00 per year for 20 years, with an
option to purchase. |
|
Costs for a "modest
building" |
In the same
newsletter, the then theatre building committee
pledged its full support for such a project and
committed CI$8,000 towards the building. The piece
of land would be sufficient to build a mini-theatre
approximately 40' x 40' which would seat
approximately 100 people. Initial estimates on a
very modest "shell" building on this site were put
at around CI$24,000. The Society's general funds
held CI$8,000 and a further CI$8,000 would be
required. |
1980
Racquet Club no longer an option |
In April, 1980,
another newsletter said that the first layer of fill
had been spread on the site and that fund-raising
was going very well. However, later in the year it
transpired that the Racquet Club was for sale and,
not being sure of its legal recourse if the Society
wanted to pull out of the 20 year lease once the
premises had a new owner it was agreed that the
Society would pull out of the deal prior to the
Racquet Club changing hands. This was done, with
CI$4,000 being returned to the Society to cover the
cost of the marl fill already on the site. |
1981
Site offered at Prospect |
The following year,
with the late Bill Bazelmans as
Chairman, another site was offered at a peppercorn
rent for 50 years - the site on which the Prospect
Playhouse now stands. This came about because Bill
and his partner, Arni Sumarlidason,
owned the Cayman Foods land and building through
their company West Wind Holdings Ltd., and they
generously leased the Society the western-most
portion of the site which was totally undeveloped.
Bill also presented the design for a larger facility
than that which had been proposed at thc Racquet.
Club site, stating that the costs would now be in
the region of US$120,000. |
|
Foundations and steel
frame |
At that stage,
fund-raising and productions had given the Society
enough to put CI$45,000 into the building fund and
the steel frame and roof was ordered in the early
part of 1981. The foundations were laid and the
steel erected by the autumn of 1981, when funds ran
out. |
|
Harquail Centre stops
further building progress |
Also during the same
year, it was announced that the Inn Theatre Company
would be building a theatre complex at a site off
the West Bay Road, using funds donated by Mrs. Helen
Harquail. This had the effect of totally drying up
any source of funds from fund-raising activities, as
no one could understand why Grand Cayman would need
two theatres. Thus no further work was carried out
and the site was left to become overgrown and
inaccessible. |
1985
Harquail workshop and John Calvert |
Turning again to 1985,
when the Society was anxiously trying to find a
home, the Harquail Theatre complex had completed its
workshop theatre and the Society rented it whenever
it was available. Once the Harquail Theatre was
completed, the Society alternated between it and the
workshop until they were unequivocally informed by
Mrs. Harquail that it was not acceptable for the
workshop to be used as a theatre now that the main
building had been completed. Unfortunately, a fairly
permanent show put on by John Calvert (the magician)
meant that the main theatre wasn't available and,
once again, the Society was temporarily homeless.
|
1989
Victory Theatre |
In early 1989,
Peter Phillips approached the owners of the
then Lord Nelson Pub at Trafalgar
Place to see whether they would be prepared to rent
the empty room on the upper floor of the pub for the
Society to turn into a dinner theatre venue. This
suggestion was welcomed with open arms by the owners
who didn’t in fact charge rent but instead catered
all the dinners. Thus the Victory Theatre was
conceived and born.
However, it was a
far from ideal situation. The smallness of the venue
meant that major productions could not be staged
unless at the Harquail Theatre which, although John
Calvert was no longer performing there, was still
very busy with other productions. Only two shows
were put on at the Harquail in 1989 and it was
decided to re-form the building committee to meet
and discuss whether there was any likelihood that
the Prospect structure could be completed.
|
1989
AGM adopts proposal to complete Prospect site |
Throughout 1989 the
sub-committee, lead by Peter and
Penny Phillips, looked into all
aspects and possibilities for the completion of the
building and, at the Annual General Meeting that
year, Penny presented the committee's findings. In
short, the building could be closed in and used as a
very rough and ready workshop for the Society
at a cost of CI$50,O0O; further interior development
could bc carried out as and when funds became
available. The sub-committee asked the members of
the Society whether they would approve a bank loan
for these funds, which approval was given after
considerable discussion and a question and answer
period. |
|
Andresen donation and
Prospect Playhouse |
After the adjournment
of the AGM, which had been held at the Victory
Theatre, some of the members moved downstairs to
celebrate the decision. At that time, Evelyn
and Jack Andresen asked Peter and
Penny more questions regarding the costs and, quite
out of the blue, offered to donate a sum of
US$50,000 towards the theatre. This was, of course,
most gratefully accepted and the Andresen's were
asked to give the new theatre a name. They were
adamant they did not want it to be named after them
and after several suggestions had been put forward,
they decided that. the best name would be the
Prospect Playhouse; not only
was the site in the Prospect area of Grand Cayman,
but the initials would reflect Peter and Penny's
names as they had become the driving force behind
getting the theatre underway again. |
1990
Duty free concession and construction |
A building committee
was quickly formed and construction commenced at the
beginning of 1990. Government was asked whether
construction materials could be brought in to the
island duty free and this request was granted.
During the next 10 months, casual labour as well as
building contractors were hired to carry out the
major building works, with members of the Society
joining in on weekends and in the evenings with much
of the cosmetic work. The first of Colin
Wilson's series, based on the popular
Fawlty Towers TV shows, was the final production at
the Victory Theatre before the move to the society's
new and permanent home at Prospect. |
|
Grand Opening |
The Prospect
Playhouse opened in October, 1990, with a
gala evening of speeches and refreshments, and the
first production, Pirate Princess
commenced the following week. To August, 1998, a
total of 45 major productions have been presented at
the Playhouse. A blend of comedy and drama with at
least one musical a year has been the aim. Dinner
Theatre now features as a standard night-out for
tourists visiting our island. The Fawlty Towers
series was completed and the first of a new series
of plays by Colin Wilson based on Are You
Being Served has been presented. In October
2000, CDS celebrated the tenth
anniversary of the Prospect Playhouse. |
2004
Hurricane Ivan |
On September 11th 2004,
Hurricane Ivan struck Grand Cayman and the Prospect
Playhouse was severely damaged. Most of the walls
surrounding and roof over the stage were torn away.
Despite this and other interior damage, Peter
Philips and a number of volunteers armed with blue
tarpaulins created a water-proof barrier, built an
extension to the stage at a small loss of seating
capacity, and the shows went on. |
|
The future |
Despite all the
tribulations over the last years, the Cayman
Drama Society has been a real success
story. The first expansion of the theatre
building has taken place, with a wardrobe,
props and set storage extension being built to the
west side of the building. Following this, the
existing kitchen was moved into the extension and
the foyer bar remodelled to give more comfort and
space for our patrons. The second expansion
has included new restrooms, an entrance ramp for the
handicapped and another extension (this time to the
front of the theatre). In December 2005 as part of
the Hurricane Ivan reconstruction, over 600 square
feet of space in the wings of the stage is being
added and the roof over the stage lifted to over 28
feet allowing the flying of both sets and performers
that will make the Prospect Playhouse an ever
improved facility and spectacle for the theatre
lovers in Grand Cayman. |
