FREEPORT, Grand Bahama — It was an evening filled with cheers and applause, laughter, and occasionally some tears but, most of all, pride, as Grand Bahama’s theater lovers dressed in their finest to join the new executive team of the Freeport Players Guild (FPG) for the grand reopening of the iconic Regency Theatre, The Nassau Guardian reported on Tuesday, December 13, in an article written by Barbara Walkin.
The evening began with a ribbon cutting ceremony that many found emotional, followed by a cocktail hour and a gala show featuring a collaboration of plays, mainly musicals, performed at the Regency over its more than four-decade span.
FPG members held the audience spellbound with live performances of scenes from “Chicago”, “Fame”, “Grease”, “Phantom of the Old Opera House”, “The Circle of Life” and “Sister Act”, and a video collage from shows including “I’ll Get My Man”, “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “For Colored Girls”.
“Tonight, we are proud to be presenting snippets from past performances that [took] place here over the years,” FPG President Preston Knowles said. “We just want to show persons that have been involved and that contributed to the theater. Some of them are household names and bigger productions that everyone knows and some are more iconic.”
The home of the island’s thespians and their loyal audiences sustained major flood damage in Dorian in 2019, and many thought it was the end of a magical era.
However, past president Paulette Russell, who was head of the board when Hurricane Dorian hit Grand Bahama, immediate past president Alfred Anderson, who took the reins in 2020 to 2021, and Knowles, made a commitment that resulted in Saturday night’s gala cocktail event.
“Getting here has been a long, tiring road,” said Knowles. “It took a lot of sacrifice, a lot of time and to us thespians and members of the guild this is more than just a facility, it’s a second home. It’s been such a catalyst for so many Grand Bahamians and international people. We’ve had everything from pageants, conferences, live events, live productions to dance recitals here on this stage. Everything has been a part of this building, so it has touched the community and by extension the world.”
Knowles was excited to see the audience’s reaction to being back in the brightly lit lobby and seated in the famed red cushioned seats.
It’s not the first time the FPG has had to rebuild. Founded in 1961, its first home in the Sea Craft Building on Fishing Hole Road was destroyed in 1965 by Hurricane Betsy.
Rupert Hayward, whose grandfather Sir Jack Hayward was a founding member of the guild, said that led to the building of the Regency.
“This community was undeterred and came together to fund and construct the first iteration of the iconic venue where we gather tonight,” Hayward said. “Among these dedicated individuals was my grandfather, Peter Aston, John Slack, Betty McConville, Raymond and William MacNeill and Martin Sinsley. The Regency opened in 1971 with a production of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ and in 1973, proudly welcomed the then-Prince Charles, now King Charles III.”
See complete article in The Nassau Guardian at https://thenassauguardian.com/regency-theatre-reopens/?fbclid=IwAR2URyj-wYiP3sTyqwltMIFQ08N97ydKepYHREXe_KULs6PuGgMyJu77V94
