When a one-woman show makes you feel like you saw a fully-cast play, you know you’ve just witnessed a fabulous actor at work. Last night, I got to see Jamaica, Farewell at the Santa Monica Playhouse. I didn’t know what to expect - there was merely a podium and two black boxes on the stage with a black background. I knew whatever the performer was going to bring, it had to be big enough to fill that empty stage. And boy did she bring it!

Debra Ehrhardt was born in Kingston, Jamaica and was a child when the revolution broke out on the island. In Jamaica, Farewell, she takes us back to when she was eight years old and dreaming of coming to America. Some of the things she’d heard about America at that age stretched her imagination, but that only made her desire to come to America even stronger. After many attempts at getting a Visa as a teenager, she ends up finding a way just after high school: She befriends an American CIA agent and uses the opportunity to smuggle a million dollars into America as her ticket into the country. But on her way to the airport, she encounters countless road blocks that almost stand in her way, but nothing could have stopped her from fulfilling her dream.

Filled with humor and sentiment, Debra openly demonstrates her relationship with a religious mother and an alcoholic, gambling father. I was brought to tears as she demonstrated her heartbreak, and was laughing a minute later as the music of Bob Marley sang, “Don’t worry…about a thing…’cause every little thing…gonna be alright.”

Debra Ehrhardt is an extremely talented performer who is expert at bringing the audience into her world. This show is not to be missed!

Future show dates:

Sunday, April 1, 2007
Whitefire Theater, 13500 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, California

For Reservations: 818-939-1026 or 818-366-0575
Also check out: www.freewebs.com/jamaicafarewell

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