5 years, 11 months, and 25 days
On March 15th, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was announced in The Bahamas. From the beginning of that month rehearsals were underway in the Winston V. Saunders Theatre for the Repertory Season’s production of The Foreigner, which was scheduled to open on Tuesday, March 17th.
A technical rehearsal was scheduled for Sunday, March 15th, and the dress rehearsal was to take place on Monday, March 16th. We were informed that on Thursday, March 19th the Competent Authority (later named) was to announce that COVID restrictions would immediately go into effect for the entire Bahamas. This of course meant that we would not be able to hold performances in the theatre and that The Foreigner’s six-week rehearsal period would be for naught.
The set had been built, the costumes purchased and an ad had been running on both Facebook and YouTube.
Just before the announcement of the first COVID-19 case, the Dundas Board was reliably informed that a nationwide shutdown was imminent. The cast and crew left the Dundas on the evening of March 14th and locked the theatre doors.
As we’ve mentioned before, the Dundas remained closed under Emergency Orders for the next eighteen months. Even after other comparable businesses were allowed to re-open near the beginning of 2021, live theatre remained a “prohibited business” until the summer of 2021. And when live performances were eventually permitted, they were restricted to outdoors only. So while Shakespeare in Paradise went ahead in 2021 in partnership with the NAGB’s Fiona’s Theatre, indoor performances did not take place again until December 2021.
The last show to be presented in the Winston V. Saunders theatre was Ian Strachan’s Diary of Souls, which opened on February 21, 2020, and closed on March 1, 2020.
On Wednesday March 11, 2026, five years, eleven months and 25 days after the Winston V. Saunders was closed down, the doors of the Winston V. Saunders Theatre will open once again for a student matinee performance of Ian Strachan’s Gun Boys Rhapsody, part of the UNESCO IFCD-funded project, Professionalizing the Theatre Industry in The Bahamas.
The first public performance?
Will be held on March 14, 2026, six years to the day the theatre closed.
Gun Boys Rhapsody by Ian Strachan
Student matinee performances March 11-13, 18-20 at 11 AM • $10 per student
Public performances March 14 and 21 at 8 PM • $35 per person
Call the Box Office at 1-242-434-2066 OR 1-242-819-7977
Or book online at Ticket Tailor (fees apply)