Trevor Rhone

In October 1973 during Smile Orange's run at The Creative Arts Centre in St Andrew, among the hundreds who saw the play was Basil Dawkins, a first-year student at the University of the West Indies' Mona campus.

"It was an eye-opener, it was the first time that I saw a full-length play. Smile Orange convinced me to get involved in theatre," Dawkins said in a 2003 interview.

On September 15, Trevor Rhone, the man who wrote and directed Smile Orange, died from a heart attack at the Medical Associates Hospital in St Andrew. He was 69. The curtains on the life of the man many considered Jamaica's greatest playwright were drawn.

Rhone, fellow writer Louis Marriott and actors Leonie Forbes and Charles Hyatt were responsible for many of the high points of Jamaican theatre during the 1970s.

Hyatt, who died in 2007, seemed to save his best performances for Rhone productions. He appeared in Smile Orange as Ringo, and his performance as Pa Ben in the classic 1979 play, Old Story Time, was arguably his most memorable.

distinguished career

Dawkins also went on to have a distinguished career in theatre, scoring big with plays like Flat Mate and Couples. He formed a friendship with Rhone whose plays he described as "authentically Jamaican".

"Trevor provided a voice for real people at a time when there was none," Dawkins told The Gleaner last week.

Chairman of the Broadcasting Commission, Hopeton Dunn, said he and Rhone developed a professional bond while they were at the Creative Production and Training Centre Limited (CPTC). As a consultant, Rhone reviewed scripts and film projects before they were released. Dunn said Rhone also held strong nationalistic views.

"He was very critical of the social direction of the country. He wanted to see better standards in media and more probity in public life," Dunn said.

Rhone was born in Bellas Gate, St Catherine, a rural district that had a profound influence on his career. It inspired Old Story Time and was the backdrop for his award-winning one-man play and book, Bellas Gate Boy.

international acclaim

The last of three children for his parents, Rhone discovered theatre while attending Beckford and Smith High School in Spanish Town. From 1961-64, he studied at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in England, and taught high school when he returned to Jamaica. In 1971, Rhone's career as a writer got a big boost when he was invited by Perry Henzell, a former advertising executive, to help him complete a screenplay for The Harder They Come, a low-budget film that was released the following year to international acclaim. That year, Smile Orange was released with Hyatt leading a cast that included Stanley Irons, Grace McGhie and Rhone. Three years later, Rhone made his debut as a film director with the play's movie version which ran for six weeks at The Carib cinema in Kingston.

Rhone worked on other films, 1998's Milk and Honey which won a Canadian Genie Award and the 2003 urban drama, One Love. In recent years, he dedicated much of his time to developing areas of his beloved Bellas Gate.

Basil Dawkins said Trevor Rhone's obsession for detail may have been his greatest asset.

"He once told me that working on a new play was as challenging as childbirth, you had to be careful with everything. That was Trevor ... a perfectionist."