NEW YORK – Three time Actor Boy Award winner Karl O’Brian Williams, Miranda Melhado of Amazon Prime’s horror feature Amityville Vampire and Emilio Evans of the popular Allblk network drama Makeup and Breakup (Makeup X Breakup) are the latest actors announced for the American Premiere presentation of Alwin Bully’s Caribbean drama McBee.
They join the previously announced Luke Forbes (Amazon Prime’s Harlem) and Denise Hunt (How Stella Got Her Groove Back) for the one night only production, which takes place on Sunday June 23 at 7pm at the Jamaica Performing Arts (JPAC) in Jamaica Queens. The performance will be preceded by the complimentary Golden Krust Caribbean Cuisine Reception from 5:30pm.
The event is in tribute to McBee’s late playwright, Dominican born Alwin Bully, and is part of the celebration of New York’s annual Caribbean American Heritage Month festivities, held across the city each June.
Broadway World Award winner David Heron serves as Producer and Director of the project.
McBee is set on an unnamed Caribbean island in the recent past and follows the story of husband and wife politicians Allan and Alice McBee (Forbes and Hunt, respectively). On his way home on general election night following his party’s victory at the polls, McBee encounters three mysterious Rastafarians who inform him that he is destined to become Prime Minister of the nation. When he shares the news with his ambitious spouse, she immediately begins to forge the bloody plan to make the prediction a reality. But the couple soon discover that the choices they make may possibly come at a price far too high for them and their country to pay.
Actor Boy Award Winner Karl O’ Brian Williams
Karl O’Brian Williams | Photo courtesy of Karl O’Brian Williams
Williams will play the role of Prime Minister Vere Duncan Sr., the newly re- elected national leader who stands in the way of the McBees’dream, while Melhado is cast as young politician Antoinette Cross, a loyal party ally of the couple. Evans portrays politician Bernard Bannis, Allan McBee’s close colleague and, significantly, the only other witness to the Rastafarian prophecy on the fateful night that McBee receives it.
Jamaican born Karl O’ Brian Williams is an actor, playwright, director and educator deeply committed to arts education and theatre for social justice and transformation. He is a three time winner of Jamaica’s coveted Actor Boy Award- the equivalent of Broadway’s Tony- as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses in the epic musical Moses, and then twice as a playwright, winning the Best New Jamaican Play award for his dramas The Black That I Am and Not About Eve. He is one of only a handful of multi hyphenates to have been honored in both the acting and writing categories at the awards. On stage, he has also appeared in New York productions such as The Tempest, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and Antony and Cleopatra while his screen credits include the films Betta Mus’ Come and One Love.
Amityville Vampire’s Miranda Melhado
Miranda Melhado | Photo by Yaw Asiedu
Miranda Melhado is a Jamaican actor and model who can currently be seen in the Amazon Prime horror feature Amityville Vampire. She has earned excellent reviews for her performance as a fiery latina prostitute in the pilot episode of From Yard- The Series, which has recently been named an official selection for several major international film festivals. She has also appeared on stage at The Apollo Theatre and at Manhattan Theatre Club’s City Center Stage in staged reading productions of Heron’s courtroom drama Against His Will. Her commercial resume includes campaigns for McDonald’s and Goli Gummy Bears.
Makeup and Breakup Star Emilio Evans
Emilio Evans | Photo by Jermaine Blum
Emilio Evans will shortly be seen in his third season of the popular Allblk network drama Makeup X Breakup as fan favorite Bryce Grove. Born in the USA to Jamaican parents, Evans has also appeared on television series including Law and Order Organized Crime and Power Book II-Ghost.
His stage credits include the productions Breakz at the Nimbus Arts Center in New Jersey and the role of Theodore, one of the Tuskegee Airmen in Layon Gray’s long- running Off Broadway drama, Black Angels Over Tuskegee. He also played Judas Iscariot in the 2019 fortieth anniversary staged reading concert production of Jamaican Easton Lee’s classic passion play, The Rope and The Cross, held in New York.
The American Premiere production of McBee is presented in association with Kendel Instant Ginger Teas, The True Tribute Organization, IMC Media and Results Promo and Marketing.
Final casting for the production will be announced shortly. Tickets for McBee are now available at mcbeetheplay.eventbrite.com.
The Jamaica Performing Arts Center is located at 153-10 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica NY, 11432.
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