David Edgecombe

Background

David Edgecombe was born on the 4th of February, 1952 in Montserrat, British Overseas Territories.

Education

David Edgecombe studied at Niagara College and received a diploma in radio and television arts in 1973. He attended Concordia University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976 and a Master’s degree in 1983. David also obtained a diploma in journalism in 1988 from the Thomson Foundation.

Career

David Edgecombe began his career in 1970 as a radio announcer and journalist in Montserrat. He also was a radio announcer at Antilles radio corporation in 1971 and served as the director of education there in 1977-80. Three years later he joined WE Garments as a manager. He was also an editor at Montserrat Reporter in 1985-90.

Edgecombe has been creating Caribbean Theatre since 1973. His first play, the comedy For Better For Worse was first produced by the Montserrat Theatre Group as part of the Alliouagana Arts Festival, Montserrat, on July 18, 1973, at the University Center.

While studying in Canada, Edgecombe served as resident playwright and director of the Black Theatre Workshop of Montreal, which gave major productions to four of his plays. He became Canada’s Administrator for the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1976-77.

Edgecombe joined the faculty of the University of the Virgin Islands in 1990 to teach English as an instructor in speech and theater till 1992. He was an artist-in-residence in 1991 when UVI Little Theater premièred his play “Heaven”.

Edgecombe was Director of the Reichhold Center for the Arts for 14 years from 1992. As head of the RCA, Edgecombe found many innovative ways of encouraging the creativity of Caribbean youth, starting such noteworthy programs as The Reichhold Caribbean Repertory Company in 1992, The Digital Video Institute, The Youth Movie Making Workshop and Starfest.

The Repertory Company has staged plays such as Edgecombe’s Coming Home to Roost in 1988 and Marilyn in 1977, Caryl Phillips’ Hotel Cristobel, Trevor Rhone’s classic Smile Orange, Cecil “Blazer” Williams’ I Don’t want to Bathe, and Dorbene O’Marde’s This World Spin One Way.

In 2008 Edgecombe started a film production company, Cutting Edge Entertainment Inc., with Edward La Borde Jr. Edgecombe ardently champions Caribbean drama along with advocating for film and new media.

David Edgecombe returned to the faculty of UVI in January 2011 to teach full time after spending the past 3 and a half years at Government House as Special Assistant to the Governor for External Affairs. Currently, Edgecombe teaches in the Communication, Art, and Theatre Division of the Reichhold Center for the Arts at the University of the Virgin Islands.

David wrote the book “Contemporary Dramatists” in 1999. He is also the author of radio plays such as Sonuvabitch, Tangled Web (based on a work by Dorbrene O'Marde), Nice Box (based on a work by Alwin Bully), and Kirnon's Kingdom.

Achievements

• David Edgecombe has written over a dozen plays that have been staged throughout the Caribbean, in Canada, and in Nigeria. His plays have been published in various formats primarily as collections.
  
  Edgecombe’s 2014 play "Lady of Parham" has been shortlisted for the 2014 Guyana Prize for Literature Caribbean Award for Best Drama.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Lady of Parham

    (Legend has it that in Antigua in the late 1650s the beaut...)

    2014
  • For Better For Worse: David Edgecombe's Caribbean Theatre

    (When Sandra and Derek insist that they will raise their s...)

    2015
  • Theatrical Training During the Age of Shakespeare

    (This collection of essays examines the method and traditi...)

    1995
  • Heaven

    (Heaven is a discotheque frequented by thrill-seekers. On ...)

    1993

Connections

David Edgecombe is married to Leonie Lee.

Wife:

Leonie Lee