Dana J. Ferguson is a name local theater buffs are familiar with. Her Bahamian theater credits include "Dat Bahamian T'ing", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Tempest" and most recently her turn in "Hibiscus Hotel". Her film credits include "Passage", "Crazy Love" and "Heart of a Champion". People that have never gone to a Bahamian theater production would of course know her from her role as "Kelly" in a series of commercials for Cable Bahamas. But Dana's acting career transcends The Bahamas. She's steadily making her way in the world of the performing arts in probably one of the toughest arenas there is, the theater scene in New York. And she's doing it too. She's fresh off an Off-Broadway production, "Every Goodbye Ain't Gone". If you don't know her name yet, well it's about time you did.
Dana has also appeared on London stages in "Stamping, Shouting & Singing Home", "Peter Pan" and "As You Like It". Her film credits include "Passage" by Kareem Mortimer", "Crazy Love" by Clarence Rolle and "Heart of a Champion" by R. Fitzpatrick. Her work to date has also included television. Outside the local Cable Bahamas commercials, she has done international commercials for Avon and BMW.
A trained barrister, Dana blames her mother, Deveral Ferguson, for her having caught the acting bug.
"She [mother] was acting with Ringplay Productions when she was pregnant with me. When a baby hears all of this stuff when it's developing and growing, its impressions are made," said Dana on a recent visit home for a 10-day run in the Robin Belfield production "Hibiscus Hotel".
Dana said as far back as she can remember, she's always had an interest in acting. Her fate was sealed during a high school European tour when her Queen's College class went to see a production of "Romeo and Juliet" at Shakespeare's Globe. At the time she was also studying the play for her Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) examination. Seeing the production resonated with her.
"The play stuck with me...it really stuck with me. I was like I could do that. I want to do that. I want to make people feel the way this is making me feel. I was 16 years old, watching Shakespeare and getting it," she recalled.
A few years later, after becoming a trained barrister, Dana sought training in classical theater at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England, then studied film, television and voice-over at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. And she's been working steadily since graduating. She describes herself as "lucky".
And this actress said she wants to do it all, theatre, television and film, but she says there's a special place in her heart for theater.
"I'd love to do it all, but theater is my heart," said Dana. "There is something really wonderful about getting into the nitty-gritty of a role that's been drafted from start to finish with theater. With TV you don't necessarily have that privilege because you don't know where your character's story is going from one episode to the next, so that presents its own unique challenge. Having said that, I wouldn't mind being on TV ... 'Law & Order: SVU' ... I could be an attorney [she laughed] ... just saying."
Each role she's played she said has given her an opportunity to learn something about herself because she has to explore the character and try to find her way in.
"When I do these things it's not Dana -- it's Mia in 'Hibiscus Hotel', or Rula in 'Every Goodbye and Gone' or 'Kelly' in the REVon commercials. I think that they're all great in some way, shape or form and I think I'm successful if I'm able to convince someone that I am that character."
One role she would love to sink her teeth into is that of "Iago" in "Othello" a character that is possibly the most heinous villain in "Shakespeare."
"I would love to be a female version of 'Iago'. I think 'Iago' is the best villain, but I'm always cast as the love interest and I would love to just have the excuse to be evil ... just naughty," she said.
Back in New York, Dana hasn't slowed down. She has been cast as a single mother who is about to give birth in a short film to be shot at the end of the month before she starts rehearsals for another play that she hopes will make it Off-Broadway in July.
As for how she chooses her roles, it's all a matter of what piques her interest, whether it's well-written, if it's with creative people or someone she has not worked with before. She said she enjoyed working on "Hibiscus Hotel" because it gave her the opportunity to work with Claudette "Cookie" Allens who she had known and loved, but hadn't worked with. "She played my mother, and it was wonderful," said Dana.
Dana is pursuing a job in an arena that isn't exactly easy, but to her fellow Bahamians that have caught the acting bug, she encourages them to believe in their talent and work at it.
"This is not an easy job -- you will get far more no's than yes's. In fact, the no's are very frequent and the yes's are gifts. It is difficult to hear no, but you have to understand that they are not rejecting you -- it's just that you are not right for this vision, or you are not right for this particular character. And you just have to have a thick skin, and shake it off and realize you do have something to offer. You do have to believe in your talent and you have to work at it. Every day you have to work at it, just like a singer would spend time working their notes and protecting their vocal chords and taking singing lessons, a musician will do their scales, and practice on their instrument, you don't just get up and act, you have to work at it. If you want to do it, do it. Do not let no be the stumbling block," she said.
In fact, Dana's first professional job when she graduated from drama school in England in 2006, was given to her by Robin Belfield, who was born in The Bahamas and raised in the United Kingdom. Belfield is the writer/director of "Hibiscus Hotel" and she has worked with him quite a few times in the U.K.
Even though she's currently resides in New York, Dana says she's excited about bringing theater to The Bahamas and will do so as often as she can, because she's simply a Bahamian actress who just happens to be working abroad.
"It's very important to me to know that I can come home and be creative on home soil as well," said the daughter of Ashwood and Deveral Ferguson.
As for her role models, Dana says she admires Craig Pinder who played her dad in "Hibiscus Hotel."
"He's a Bahamian actor who has done it. He has tread the boards at Shakespeare's Globe, The Royal Shakespeare Company and he played Jean Valjean in Les Miserables in the West End and that's incredible that it can happen," said Dana.
When she's not acting, Dana keeps herself busy freelanceing with Abrams Artists Agency for print and SW Artists (formerly Shelpin-Winik Artists Agency) for commercial projects.

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