A number of individuals who have played pivotal roles in the development of roots theatre were honoured ate last month at the second Roots Theatre Awards.

Staged at the Anglican Church Hall in Ocho Rios, like last year’s inaugural staging, the pioneers got their place in the spotlight.

Lifetime awards went to writers Kenny Salmon, Balfour Anderson, and Richard Mullings, as well as actors Georgette Wright and Deon Silvera.

Inducted into the Roots Theatre Hall of Fame were actors Garfield “Bad Boy Trevor” Reid, Daphne “Mae” Grandison, Amelia “Ann McKenzie” Henlon, and Clive Anthony Duncan (posthumously).

Everton Dawkins, founder and CEO of the Roots Theatre Foundation, addressed the importance of honouring roots theatre’s finest during an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

“We decided to put on the awards ceremony last year to honour some of those persons who have given their all to the theatre industry but were never recognised, because they said that we are roots plays, so it’s very important that we found a way to put ourselves out there so the wider public can see and know that we are really the ones carrying the culture far and wide,” he said.

Dawkins, a playwright who has been involved in theatre for 25 years, disclosed that his organisation hopes to install a panel of judges for next year’s event.

Their job will be to select the leading lights in roots theatre for 2023.

While the productions by trailblazers like producer Ralph Holness and playwright Ginger Knight packed halls across Jamaica, the roots play phenomenon during the 1980s and 1990s never earned true theatre respects. The Root Theatre Awards seek to correct that with recognition.

Other individuals acknowledged for their contributions to the movement were in the area of outdoor promotion, Garfield Bailey, Andrew Griffiths, Ingrid Palmer, and Lascell Hylton; print media, Carl Gilchrist; electronic media, Noel Fender; writer Micheal Denton; light and sound technician Clement Pryce; as well as humanitarian awardee Leson Williams.

The roots plays recognised for 2022–2023 were Ex Baby Motha, Single Parents, and Man Problem.

Bun fi Bun was honoured as an iconic play.