Stage Door News
Stage Door News
TORONTO, October 6, 2011 – Tarragon Theatre is proud to present the premiere of the complete sankofa trilogy, written and performed by d’bi.young anitafrika. the sankofa trilogy features word!sound!powah! in repertory with blood.claat and benu in Tarragon’s Extra Space. word!sound!powah! previews October 22, opens November 4 and runs to December 4, 2011. Tickets range from $20-45 (inclusive of HST) and are available by calling the box office at 416-531-1827 or by visiting www.tarragontheatre.com.
the sankofa trilogy features three extraordinary stories of three powerful women—Mugdu Sankofa, her daughter Sekesu and her granddaughter Benu—and their resolute belief in blood and truth. One of North America's most celebrated storytellers, d’bi.young anitafrika is an award-winning afrikan-jamaican-canadian playwright, actor, educator and dub poet. d’bi.young weaves together pieces of her own life with the herstory and mythology of her Jamaican heritage. The performer describes her work as biomyth monodrama, where the term biomyth represents biography—pertaining to the accounting of one’s own lived experience—and mythology pertaining to the poetic reinterpretation of a lived experience, as well as the use of orature, folklore, myth and magic in the process of reinterpretation. “Biomyth is the poetic space between what we interpret as real and what we deem make-believe. It is magic making!” says d’bi.young.
d’bi.young will host an informal question and answer period after each of her performances.
word!sound!powah! (part three of the trilogy)
Young dub poet benu sankofa is swept up in the violence of the infamous 1980 national election in Jamaica. The country is on the cusp of a political coup, and in the heat of the struggle between young radicals and the establishment, benu is accused of involvement in a political assassination. Amidst all the corruption and turmoil, who will stand up for the land they love? benu ultimately finds strength in her maternal ancestors to fight for the freedom she believes in, with her courage and dub poetry as her primary tools
blood.claat (part one of the trilogy)
mugdu sankofa, a fifteen-year-old girl from Kingston, Jamaica, begins her journey into womanhood under the watchful gaze of her granny. With her mother gone to Canada, Mugdu chafes against the limitations imposed on her by her grandmother’s generation - even as she looks to her ancestors for strength. Like her mother and grandmother before her, mugdu attempts to embrace her femininity as she navigates the perennial danger that plagues the young women in her family: pregnancy. blood.claat received two Dora awards in 2006.
blood.claat will be performed at 8 p.m. on November 23 and 27, and at 2:30 p.m. on November 26 and December 3, 2011.
benu (part two of the trilogy)
mugdu’s daughter sekesu a new mother. Painful memories of her upbringing – her separation from her mother – surface with the pregnancy and birth, and collide with her expectations of motherhood. Can she be the mother she never had? There is hope in her daughter, benu, named after the mythical Egyptian predecessor of the phoenix, which rises from its ashes.
benu will be performed at 8 p.m. on November 29, December 1, and December 3, 2011.
Although d’bi.young anitafrika plays numerous roles in her productions, she identifies herself primarily as a storyteller, believing that storytelling encompasses everything she does. As a playwright, d’bi.young has written and performed six plays, including yahayah (co-written with Naila Blevett) and androgyne. As an actor, she has appeared in ‘da Kink in My Hair (Theatre Passe Muraille/Mirvish), as well as Canada’s first afro-Canadian sitcom, Lord Have Mercy. d’bi.young has released six dub poetry albums, published two collections of poetry, and was a member of the Soulpepper Academy in 2006, playwright-in-residence at Canadian Stage 2009-10 and a member of Tarragon’s Playwrights Unit in 2010. She was the recipient of the K.M. Hunter 2010 Theatre Award, and 2007 Toronto Mayor’s Emerging Artist Award. d’bi.young is the founder and artistic director of YEMOYA international artist residency, and is the Curator of Badilisha Poetry X-Change in Cape Town, South Africa. She is currently on a 15-month global tour of her new album, 333, and of the sankofa trilogy.
the sankofa trilogy
written and performed by: d’bi.young anitafrika
Musical Director: Waleed Abdulhamid
Set and costume designer: Camellia Koo
Lighting designer: Michele Ramsay
Trilogy production manager: Kristen Kitcher
2011-10-06
Toronto: Tarragon Theatre presents d’bi.young.anitafrika in “the sankofa trilogy”