When performing in an outdoor venue, weather and the elements always play a part. But for the upcoming production of “Once on This Island” at Dogwood Dell, a little storminess might be appropriate.
“That has been an ongoing joke throughout the process of rehearsing the show,” says director Desirée Dabney.
At one point in the musical the character of Agwe, god of water, conjures up a storm. “The other night I told Taesean Blanding [who plays Agwe], ’Don’t sing too loud in case the ancestors really hear you and they really put out some rain,’” laughs Dabney. “‘Just keep it at a drizzle.’”
“Once on This Island” takes inspiration from the fairy tale “The Little Mermaid,” but set on an island in the Caribbean and adapted from the 1985 novel “My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl” by Rosa Guy. In the story, a young girl named Ti Moune pleads with the gods to save Daniel, a rich stranger who ends up in her village because of a car crash during Agwe’s storm.
A hit when it opened on Broadway in 1990, the show has been a favorite among regional theaters ever since and the New York restaging in 2017 won the Tony Award for Best Revival.
Dabney, who has ancestors from both Jamaica and the Bahamas, has always had a connection to “Once on This Island.” “There aren’t a lot of Caribbean musicals and, since I have Caribbean influences in my family, I made sure to learn about this musical,” she says.
She extended that connection during the COVID lockdown, collaborating with a friend on the development of a virtual version of the show. When she heard that Dogwood Dell was planning a production, she reached out to Cameron Booth, who programs the annual Festival of the Arts there.
“I gave him my spiel about my connection to the show,” says Dabney. “And he was like, ‘Yep, absolutely, let’s do it.’”
Until recently, Dabney had been working as head of musical theater at Virginia Commonwealth University and, before that, as a middle school arts teacher. Her experience as an educator can be seen in the casting of many of the young people in “Once on This Island.”
“Our youngest cast member is Hazy Lynch, who is playing Little Ti Moune; she’s 11,” Dabney says. “I was one of her first theater teachers at summer camp. There are about five 17-year-olds in the cast and I was a theater teacher for all of them at some point in their lives as well.
“Then there are six or seven actors that have just graduated from or are still attending VCU,” she adds.
While Dabney has moved on from VCU, she says her next job will also be in an educational context. “I have always wanted to be somebody who builds programs,” she says. “I built a strong program [at VCU] so, now that my job is done, I can go to another program and rebuild that.”
“Once on This Island” typically has an all-Black cast but the entire creative team for this production is Black.
“That was something I really wanted to make sure happened,” says Dabney. “This is one of those shows where there’s history with it, history that actually happened. I think oftentimes we see shows that are great productions, but who was the creative team? Did they dive deep into the history?
“We have to honor those who came before us, as well as making sure that shows like this are being represented authentically.”
The production is opening at a time when many in the local arts world are grieving because of the tragic shooting of actor Adam Turck. With the themes of love and loss being prominent in “Once on This Island,” Dabney says, “for those that are able to come out, I will be there and hold them in my arms the entire time to make sure love is flowing throughout the theater community.
“I hope that this weekend can be filled with love and healing for everybody, knowing what our community is going through right now.”
“Once on This Island” has performances Aug. 8-10 and 15-17 at 8pm at Dogwood Dell, 600 South Arthur Ashe, Jr Blvd. Admission is FREE. More information available at https://rva.gov/parks-recreation/dogwood-dell.
