The Blacktip Island Community Players will perform their take on the children’s classic The Poky Little Puppy at the Caribbean island’s Heritage House this weekend. (photo courtesy of Doris Blenny)
The Blacktip Island Community Players will stage their version of the children’s classic storybook The Poky Little Puppy Saturday and Sunday evenings at the island’s Heritage House to kick off the small Caribbean island’s holiday season, BICP organizers said.
“After last year’s melee between the folks involved in the Christmas and the Bodhi Day plays, we wanted to celebrate the season with something that would get as few people riled up as possible,” BICP director Doris Blenny said. “We chose The Poky Little Puppy as a work that celebrates goodness, but is totally non-religious.
“It has no references to holidays at all, but has a positive message at the end,” Blenny said. “Children will love it. And some of our slower adults as well. And really, what says, ‘Holiday Season’ more than a naughty bulldog puppy?”
Community members praised the choice, for the most part.
“It’s morality play, really,” the former Reverend Jerrod Ephesians said. “It reinforces the idea that your actions will eventually catch up with you. You can’t go poking around stealing all the dessert and digging under fences without facing consequences.
“It’s the lesson in karma the Christmas season’s been crying for, especially on this island,” Ephesians said. “Lots of people here could learn a thing or two from this. They won’t, but it won’t be from lack of exposure to the message.”
Some objected to the play’s lack of religious focus.
“It’s Christmas. There should be a Christmas play,” the Rev. Pierre Grunt said. “All this snowflake, ecumenical hogwash is ruining the season for those of us who take it seriously. Although, with everything else that’s happened in 2020, I suppose I should have expected something cockamamie like this.”
The cast includes:
- Marina DeLow as the Poky Little Puppy
- Gage Hose, Alison Diesel, Finn Kiick and Antonio Fletcher as the other puppies
- Lee Helm as the puppies’ mother
- Jessie Catahoula as the Brown Hop-Toad
- An iguana as the Quick Green Lizard
- Corrie Anders as the strawberry shortcake
Cast members praised the choice of plays.
“This role will really help me stretch my talents and grow as a performer,” DeLow said. “I’d been stuck in a rut the last few holiday seasons, always cast as a camel at the manger or Mrs. Claus. This is a great opportunity, and the subject is certainly topical.”
Traditionalists vowed to boycott the play.
“We’ll have a proper church service at the same time as the play, for all those interested in keeping the Christmas in Christmas,” Grunt said. “We can’t stop Doris and them from performing their monstrosity, but we can provide an appropriate alternative, complete with singing, a sermon and offering plates.”
The Blacktip Times 