Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Imprisoned in Canada for committing a violent crime, a young man from Ghana tells his cellmates a story on the eve of his release. Although there is great risk in sharing his tale, he must tell it to be truly free. Through storytelling, dance, and live music, Obaaberima chronicles a young African-Canadian’s journey across continents, genders, races, and sexualities.
Buddies’ 2012/13 Season begins with an important and often unheard perspective on the queer experience in Canada – that of first-generation queer immigrants. In a powerhouse performance that blends theatre, spoken word, music, and dance, Tawiah M’carthy gives voice to people caught between their homeland and their new home.
The show is created and performed by Tawiah M’carthy (The Kente Cloth, Summerworks; The Fort at York, Crate Productions; and Body 13/Change Room, MT Space), directed by Evalyn Parry (SPIN and Breakfast, Buddies in Bad Times), and features live music by Kobena Aquaa-Harrison (founder/artistic director, Michezo! International Festival), along with designs from award-winning theatre artists Camellia Koo and Michelle Ramsay.
A DEEPLY PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF QUEER MIGRATION
M’carthy’s script offers up a contemporary voice for 21st Century Canada by speaking to the realities faced by new Canadians. It is a story about a queer person’s search for a place where they belong, both in their homeland and in Canada. As a distinctly queer perspective on the immigrant experience, this play bravely confronts the taboo subject of the double-edged discrimination faced by queer people of colour.
Obaaberima is, at its heart, about a person pulled in every direction by the labels placed on him – queer, black, African, Ghanaian, Canadian, effeminate, masculine, immigrant, closeted – who rises above these perceived contradictions to find his own sense of identity. It is an empowering journey of self discovery that celebrates the beauty of our individuality.
A BOLD NEW VOICE ON TORONTO’S THEATRE SCENE
Since moving to Canada in 1998, Tawiah M’carthy has been working on stages in and around Toronto, as a creator/performer, an actor, a playwright, and community activist. His first solo-show, The Kente Cloth, was presented at SummerWorks in 2008, and he has collaborated on projects such as The Art of Catching Pigeons by Torchlight and Cover Me With Your Shadows. He recently worked with Kitchener’s social justice theatre company MT Space on Body 13/Change Room for the 2011 Impact Festival. M’carthy was also the Arts Director at TheNextEdition, an organization that works to strengthen youth voices in Toronto through art.
First presented as a 20-minute performance at the Rhubarb Festival in 2008, Obaaberima began its journey to Buddies’ main stage when M’carthy joined the Young Creators Unit (YCU) – a program that develops emerging voices in queer performance. Obaaberima is the third YCU show to be presented on Buddies’ main stage, joining Mark Shyzer’s Fishbowl and Waawaate Fobister’s Agokwe.
A MULTICULTURAL APPROACH TO STORY TELLING
M’carthy’s Obaaberima incorporates elements of theatre, poetry, and movement, and sets it all to the continuous heartbeat of African music, provided live by Kobena Aquaa-Harrison. By merging elements of North American and African art forms, M’carthy creates a world that inhabits both places as one.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
OBAABERIMA
created and performed by Tawiah M’carthy
directed by Evalyn Parry
live music by Kobena Aquaa-Harrison
set and costumes by Camellia Koo
lighting by Michelle Ramsay
Previews September 15,16, 18 & 19 | Opening Night September 20 | Closes October 7
Runs Tues-Sat 8pm, Sun 2:30pm
Tickets PWYC - $37
Box Office 416-975-9130 or buddiesinbadtimes.com
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street, Toronto ON
Photo: Tawiah M’carthy.
2012-08-13
Toronto: Buddies kicks off its 2012/13 season with a new play by Ghanaian-Canadian performer Tawiah M’carthy