Optimist Club 501 Belize Presents “Wan Man An Eh Chree Ting”
Optimist Club 501 Belize is hosting its second annual fundraiser this weekend. For two nights only, beginning on Friday night at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts and starring Althea Leslie, Anna Pitts-White, Gilda Courtenay and Dwight Neal, the club is presenting “Wan Man An Eh Chree Ting.” It’s a comedy that is expected to keep you on your toes and rolling over with laughter. Today, we caught up with the director and the crew as they concluded their final rehearsal. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
It is a show that is expected to have dying with laughter – that wah mek yo eye wata run and yo belly hurt. “Wan Man An Eh Chree Ting” is a comedic show that was written and is being directed by Ray Gongora, the Vice President of Optimist Club 501 Belize. He says that while it is funny, it is for a mature audience.
Ray Gongora
Ray Gongora, Director, “Wan Man An Eh Chree Ting”
“Everybody have to say it, dah one man and ih three thing. How this come about? It came about physically just because we had three thing and one man and this man had three thing. That’s how it happened. Listen, it’s all about our society and what’s happening in our society. It is more that these three ladies liberated themselves from this weight of this one man. I mean they talk about it, they talk about weh di happen and then dehn find out that di three of them di talk bout the same man.”
It’s sharing a Belizean perspective on a real life social happening. One of the lead characters, who is identifying as one of the three things, is Althea Leslie.
Althea Leslie
Althea Leslie, Dramatist/Comedian
“My name is Dillis Lainfiesta in the play, a woman he had for twenty-five years.”
Duane Moody
“You dah wah thing? Weh di go on?”
Althea Leslie
“Well ih just di go on liek weh go on. Man think they dah macho and they could handle everything. Sugar deh down deh and so they want more than one bag a sugar. So this man take me on, but the thing weh I say is dah fi twenty-five years we deh together. And yo know what in life yo get some advancements, so I had two house.”
Tifarrah Andazi Panton
Tyfara Andazi Panton, PR Director, Optimist Club 501 Belize
“You have to come out and have a good time. It’s fun, it’s playful. And in addition to that, we have our Optimist brother from Jamaica, Owen “Blakka” Ellis who is an internationally known comedian. He comes as well and he’s going to be doing the second act, some stand up comedy.”
Director of Public Relations Tiffarah Andazi Panton says that the comedy show is the annual fundraiser for Optimist Club 501 Belize, a non-profit that has been working with youth development across the country.
Tyfara Andazi Panton
“It’s all about raising funds for all of the events and the different programs that we have at the Optimist Club 501 Belize. And as you guys know, the Optimist Club 501 Belize is all about empowering the youths, working with the youths; helping them through their development, becoming productive citizens and doing all of that by using optimism as a tool.”
Duane Moody
“So how can people be a part of the fundraiser, where they can get tickets, the cost?”
Tyfara Andazi Panton
“So the show takes place Friday night, September twenty-second and Saturday night September twenty-third at the Bliss Institute. So right here on this very stage, we’re going to be putting on that play. Tickets are very affordable: they are thirty-five dollars for reserve and twenty-five dollars for general. And if you are in the diaspora or if you are further away, and for some reason you can’t make it, we also have live streaming tickets for twenty dollars but that’s only for Friday night.”
Tickets are available at the Bliss Box Office and at Anna’s Lunchbox. Duane Moody for News Five.
