By Neil Armstrong
 |
| Photo credit: Crossfield House Productions Troy Crossfield and Sheronna Osbourne are leads in the play 'A Little Black Lie' |
Fresh off it’s run at the DC Black
Theatre and Arts Festival, Crossfield House Productions is bringing back its
award-winning play, 'A Little Black Lie,' to Toronto's Tarragon Theatre.
Directed by Douglas Prout and written
and produced by Troy Crossfield, it will run from July 24-28.
Founded by the writer, actor and producer in 2016, Crossfield House Productions is an independent Black-owned production company in Toronto that specializes in producing theatre and film.
Crossfield, a Jamaican-Canadian who is
appearing in season two of the TVJ show, 'Ring Games,' has produced two
successful plays that have been performed locally and internationally.
Dahlia Harris wrote and produced Ring Games
and then casted him from Toronto to go to Jamaica and play one of their lead
roles in the drama series.
He decided to start his company because
as an actor in many productions he has seen producers who could not continue
their projects because of finances. There was also the issue of the lack of
roles in Toronto which led him to bring onboard a group of people he believes
in and who are on his team.
“We can do our own thing, let’s put
ourselves on stage. Let’s open up the doors for ourselves. A lot of times when
we go in these audition rooms we’re not always getting called,” says Crossfield
while also noting that it is a great time to be black now to “write our own
narratives.”
He plays the male lead, Michael, in 'A
Little Black Lie,' while Sheronna Osbourne plays the female lead, Stacey.
Like 'A Little White Lie,' 'A Little Black
Lie' pivots around the character Michael Myers who is dealing with identity
issues that impact his family, friendships and relationships. This plays out
all around him and in the other characters as well.
“It is a mix of comedy and drama and we
deal with heavy issues like illness in the family, lies within relationships
that come out and he has Stacey that is his love interest in both shows, and
just figuring out a way of how to get her in his life and how to keep her in
his life once all these lies are exposed,” says Osbourne who is a partner in
the company and also a fashion stylist.
Crossfield says what is important for
them while they are developing more stories is consistency and they hope to
become the Tyler Perry of Toronto.
The cast has 20 actors and Osbourne
says the biggest challenge is scheduling rehearsal time but they have gotten
into a groove in terms of doing so for specific scenes.
“We have truly grown organically into
this family; we’re like brothers and sisters,” says Osbourne who is also the
costume designer.
Like Osbourne and other partners in the
company, Crossfield wears multiple hats and is “like the Tyler Perry model
where he is writing his first shows and then being on stage and directing
films.”
“I’ve always taken on those multiple
roles just in being multifaceted too – being an actor, being a writer, being
assigned to Sony Music as a songwriter it just allows me to work my brain in
different areas at the same time.”
When he is in rehearsals he gets to be
Michael but if they have a question related to the script he changes from that
character to become the writer.
Sometimes Prout will call for the
writer or has a question about costumes and both Crossfield and Osbourne have
to come out of their characters to provide answers and then return to the
roles.
Through humour, gentleness, transparency
and Caribbean flavour, their plays discuss forgiveness, acceptance, healing, and moving forward. They have also
opened the doors for their audience to have important conversations with their
family and friends.
family and friends.
The company is currently in
pre-production mode for its first official film out of Crossfield House
Productions which is the film version of the first play, 'A Little White Lie.'
They will begin production of that as
soon as the run of 'A Little Black Lie' is over so shooting begins in August.
Osbourne says participating in the DC
Black Theatre and Arts Festival was a very good experience for the company.
“It was the first time with some new
cast members so it was nice to really jump in. It was personally my first
festival experience so it was very fast and furious.”
Crossfield says it was good to see the
team going out there as a unit “and travelling together and just really seeing
my partners step up into their roles and like, man, this is all on us, from the
funding and everything like that and going after funding but we really have to
put our stuff together in order to make it work.”
Both actors are promising a lot of
drama, laughter and love at 'A Little Black Lie' and a “faith-and-hope dream
realized.”
[This story has been published in the North American Weekly Gleaner, July 18-24, 2019.]
No comments:
Post a Comment