English by birth, Jamaican by parentage, Taurean by sign: fabian describes himself as an Actor, director, poet, writer, singer, Communications Consultant, Trainer/Facilitator and HIV/AIDS Educator. He was the Entertainment Manager at Sandals Royal Caribbean for 5 years and added Training to his portfolio in his last 2 years at the resort. In 2000, The Jamaica Federation of Musicians gave him 2 awards as Entertainment Manager of the Year.
He has appeared in John Crow Notebook (UWI, Jamaica), The Rose Slip (UWI, Jamaica), Children, Children (for which he won the TALLAWAH Best Actor Award at UWI, Jamaica), Hay Fever (Fordham University, USA), West Side Story (Fordham University, USA), Grease (which he also directed for the Jamaica Musical Theatre Company, JMTC), Elinora Baby (JMTC), Echo in Bone, Hamlet and Dear Counsellor , and the Montego Bay Little Theatre Movement (MLTM) productions The General’s Inn and God’s Favorite (for which he received the ITI Actor Boy Award for Best Actor in 2002).
His directorial credits include many poetry performances, skits for television; One of Our Sons is Missing (for Jamaica AIDS Support), Aston Cooke’s Jamaica Pepperpot, Irie Neighbours, Di Fallen Angel an Di Devil’s Concubine and Hairpeace. Before relocating to Montego Bay, he created, directed and appeared in the critically acclaimed VOICES, which he restaged as part of the MLTM’s TWO 4 ONE, after which he directed an MLTM production of CHILDREN, CHILDREN. VOICES won the ITI Actor Boy Award for Best Revue of 2003. In 2005, he directed and wrote lyrics for Trevor Rhone’s musical edu-drama POSITIVE, commissioned by the Ministry of Health and funded by the World Bank. He remounted POSITIVE in 2007 for a highly-acclaimed tour of St. Vincent & the Grenadines. In 2006 he directed Prayer Partner and produced and directed ‘night, Mother which garnered 4 Actor nominations, including Best Actress in a Lead Role, won by one of his leading ladies, Leonie Forbes. He was most recently seen on stage in JMTC’s Disco Inferno and Karl Hart’s ground-breaking original script Secrets….Shhh! Fabian revisited his Two for One concept in 2007 when he produced and directed Di Fallen Angel an Di Devil’s Concubine, and presented it along with a spoken word/poetry & movement performance piece called word medicine. In 2011 he spearheaded an original production that he describes as ‘a collaborative experiment’ that resulted in over 15 scenarios collectively called Tapestry He has also directed the musicals Grease and Dreamgirls for the Jamaica Musical Theatre Co.
fabian is the co-founder of a New York-based performance group called Brother Tongue Collective and has been the coordinator/producer/director of V-Day Kingston: The Vagina Monologues for the last 5 years
fabian is dedicated to the Arts as a tool for transformation and is the founder/sole trader of his own company called Sankofa Arts & Facilitation.
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Sankofa Arts & Facilitation's first production for 2010 was staged at the Dennis Scott Studio Theatre, Jamaica School of Drama from January 22 to February 7 for seven performances. ’for black boys who have considered homicide when the streets were too much’ is an unabashed and powerful exploration of the external/internal, public/private, political/personal questions and trials of being a black man. Written by Keith Antar Mason and directed by fabian thomas, ‘for black boys….’ utilizes poetry and spoken word to examine and depict the situations and scenarios performed by a cast of five men. It is a journey that travels through some of the harsh realities of our time as it moves towards healing and transformation. For the Jamaican premiere of ‘for black boys…’ thomas included Jamaican interpretations of some of the sections and has also included movement and music as parts of the tapestry of the piece. Keith Antar Mason is a poet/performance artist/playwright based in the Los Angeles area and the artistic director of the Hittite Empire--a performance group whose work centers on the lives of Black men and the contradictions they face living in Amerikkka. The group has performed at theaters and performance spaces from New York's Lincoln Center to Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum. Keith's work has been included in a number of poetry anthologies and his theater pieces have been staged throughout the U.S. and in Britain. Keith and the members of Hittite Empire dedicate a large part of their artistic effort to working among youth and developing progressive theater companies in the projects and poor neighborhoods of major cities throughout the U.S The cast comprised of Andre Morris (Season Rice, A Soh It Go, POSITIVE & Voices: Unoo Nuh Hear Dem), Brian Johnson (Maskarade, Mansong, POSITIVE, Freedom Fi Who? & Voices: Unoo Nuh Hear Dem?), Rayon Mclean (Mansong, Freedom Fi Who?, 11/9 & Voices: Unoo Nuh Hear Dem?), Darion Palmer (Voices: Unoo Nuh Hear Dem?), Damian ‘DJ’ Shaw (Dreamgirls) and Adrian Wanliss from L’ACADCO: A United Caribbean Dance Force.
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TAPESTRY: a fresh, colourful thread in the fabric of Jamaican Theatre Sankofa Arts & Facilitation’s first production for 2011 took the form of an original and provocative experimental performance piece called TAPESTRY. In describing his latest brainchild, director/producer fabian thomas had this to say: "TAPESTRY was brought to life using improvisation and dramaturgy as the method of creating a new script that has been whirling about in my head for years. I steadfastly resisted the urge to simply write a script, but instead wanted a creative, intuitive and inside-out process that would involve the actors and I taking this journey together, starting with a story, headline, idea or crazy thought and exploring what these would look, sound, feel like when we gave them words, flesh and form. The result is a pot pourri of vignettes that tell the stories of various people living in Jamaica. I am delighted at and inspired by how the cast has responded to this process: their enthusiasm, creativity and passion have been a blessing! This collaborative creative journey has birthed a bold, brash, painful, funny, confusing, enlightening and rich piece of art that has exceeded my hopes and imagination." TAPESTRY presents scenarios that examine the legacy of divorce, the triumph of love, the aftermath of the murder of a child, the return of an absentee father, surviving the violation of rape, the process of a support group for the parents with lesbian, gay and transgendered children, domestic abuse, living with HIV, the toll of crime and violence, the power of faith and prayer and other topical issues.
The cast consisted of an exciting mix of seasoned, ‘up and coming’ and young performers: Barbara McCalla, Maurice Bryan, Suzanne Beadle, Shayne Powell, Noelle Kerr, Laveda Thompson, Susie Braham, Martin Thame, David Crosgill, Akeem Mignott, Julene Robinson, Kevoy Burton, Veronique Smith, Hanief Lallo, Jovan McPherson, Kalia Ellis and Melissa Beadle.
TAPESTRY's World Premiere was on February 27th as part of the Arts Festival at the Phillip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. The production then had a 3-week commercial run at the Theatre Place, 8 Haining Road from March 10th to 27th.
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Fabian