WHEN multi-Actor Boy Award-winning actress Nadean Rawlins relocated to the Second City in May of last year, she was determined not to fall to the common statement that ‘nothing happens in MoBay’. She just knew she had to make that difference.

On arriving in Montego Bay, noted actor and stage director Douglas Prout greeted her with the challenge to revive the Fairfield Theatre, which was dormant for the past two years, as he was relocating to Canada.

“Moving to Montego Bay was the right place at the right time. It created an avenue for all the things I wanted to do,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“It opened the door and provided the means for me to explore the other sides of me … not just as an actress, but as a director, producer and manager.”

Rawlins said she is well aware of the challenges she faces. Her production of Her Last Cry months ago saw only two patrons showing up for the opening night. But she is convinced that Montego Bay needs this form of entertainment and is, therefore, not daunted.

Come October 16, Rawlins takes the plunge again as she opens a remount of Karl Williams’ The Black That I Am.

She brims with excitement as she speaks of this project which was first staged by The University Players exactly 10 years ago, with her as a cast member.

“I was talking to Karl about what to stage in Montego Bay and he suggested The Black That I Am. In further discussions, we realised it was first staged 10 years ago and everything just began to come together and I am so excited,” she said.

“The Black That I Am is based on the experiences of Karl when he first moved to the United States a few years ago. He wrote a poem which he then expanded into a series of monologues which comprise the production. It is a really great work which explore themes of black identity, but not in a Black Power way, but rather issues of actualisation which encompass things like gender, sexuality and poverty. We have infused some audio and visuals in-between the monologues to full it out and offer two hours of richness to our patrons,” she continued.

She has assembled a cast for The Black That I Am which combines varying levels of experience in theatre. The cast comprises Jean Paul Menou, Sanique Brown, Julene Robinson, Tabia Nelson, Marlon Brown, David Clarke, and Philip Clarke.

Rawlins hopes that with schools back in session and theatre arts being offered at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate level, students in western Jamaica will be able to come out and see the production which will run for four weekends.

Her day job as the area manager at Guardsman Alarms western region still takes priority, but staging productions are not the only thing that Rawlins has now put her hands on.

She has established Raw Talent Management, a development agency, which she hopes will give a lot of the individuals with innate gifts the guidance she never had and help them optimise their opportunities for growth and success.

“It is a company that will offer events management, but at the core, it will be an entity like none other which exists here or, if it does exists, I am not aware, that seeks to hone and manage talent. When I look at my own talent… I have been like this from the day I was born, but like other such persons in Jamaica, we have had to fend for ourselves. Nobody to say there is a casting call go here, there is an audition go try out for this. I am sure if I, and many like me, had this in the past we would be leaps and bounds ahead of where we are now,” Rawlins explained.