Blakka returns

• Owen Ellis to feature in one-man show

Blakka Ellis returns to the stage unplugged, uncensored and uninhibited for a one-weekend-only, one-man show at Centerstage Theatre, opening Friday, May 20. Show time is 8:30 p.m.

The unconventional one-man performance is a presentation of Ellis International - producers of the popular Ity & Fancy Cat Show, and Blakka's appearance will be the first in a series that promises to present selected multi-talented entertainers in previously untried formats, hence the name 'Un'.

Ellis has over two decades of experience as a teacher, writer, performing artiste, and community development worker. He taught English, literature and drama in the secondary school system in the 1980s and lectured at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts for 11 years. In 2004 he migrated, and he has been living alternately between Jamaica and Canada since then. He has made several appearances at events all over Ontario as a stand-up comic, and performed in two theatrical productions Letters from the Dead, directed by Honor Ford-Smith, and I Marcus Garvey, directed by Rhoma Spencer.

Widely acknowledged as a leading Caribbean comedic entertainer, Blakka has performed at the world-famous Apollo Theatre In New York, The Hackney Empire in London, and at major comedy festivals in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Florida, Virginia, Washington DC, and all over the Caribbean either as a solo act or as part of the popular 'Bello & Blakka' comedy duo.

Asked for a comment on the upcoming show, Ellis asserts that "it will be 'Un' on several fronts. It will be a great show in which I will be unleashing some unbridled emotions and uncanny truths in an unconventional setting. It will be unquestionably entertaining ... and it might be unruly!"

Un marks the grand return to the stage for Blakka, who retired from stand-up comedy in 2009, and whose last appearance as an actor in a Jamaican play was for Tings a Gwaan in 2004. He also did duties as writer and director for that production, which won the Actor Boy Award for Best Comedy and was a nominee for Best New Jamaican Play.