Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Jude Idada's play COMA - playing until November 3 at the Al Green Theatre in a star-studded production by African Theatre Ensemble - has been shortlisted by the Association of Nigerian Authors for the prestigious 2013 Esiaba Irobi Prize for Playwriting.
Esiaba Irobi (1960-2010) was a distinguished African playwright, stage director, actor, literary theorist, poet and scholar. Born in Eastern Nigeria, Irobi lived in Britain and the USA, and held degrees from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the University of Sheffield, and the University of Leeds. His play, Cemetery Road, won the prestigious World Drama Trust Award for playwriting in 1992. If Irobi's life was a restless search for new horizons, his deep anchorage in the oral tradition of his Igbo ethnic group, its rituals of self-renewal, myths and legends of enigmatic and daring deity-heroes, its lore of the mysteries of life and transcendence of the human spirit, its rousing chants, masquerades, and dramaturgy remained the indispensable source of his creative imagination and critical thinking. Shortly after his untimely death from cancer, his play, Cemetery Road, received the highest award from the Association of Nigerian Authors. A literary prize - the Esiaba Irobi Prize for Playwriting - was also established in his memory by that same association.
The Association of Nigerian Authors is a worldwide organization committed to the promotion of Nigerian and African Literatures. It was founded in 1981. More info: ana-nigeria.com
About COMA:
For 15 months, Nana (Lorraine Klaasen) has been lost in a coma in an upscale Lagos hospital room. Her doctors say she will never awaken. At the end of her rope and crushed by medical bills, Nana's daughter Ifueko (Bridget Ogundipe) makes the painful decision to end her mother’s life…but everything changes when she informs her exiled brother in Canada. Osasu (Wale Ojo) rushes back to stop his sister. Highlighting the power of love over hate and the healing that comes with forgiveness, COMA is an odyssey into a mother’s prolonged nightmare, a son's desire to make amends for a lifetime of neglect, and a daughter’s need to be loved.
2013 Juno Award (World Music Album of the Year) Winner Lorraine Klaasen stars as Nana in Jude Idada's COMA, opening Wednesday October 30, 2013, at the Al Green Theatre for a five-day run. Trapped in the netherworld of a coma, Nana listens helplessly as her children fight over crippling hospital bills, mercy killing…and a secret that haunts them all. COMA also features Bridget Ogundipe (Heartland, CBC; Life's a Zoo, Teletoon - Gemini Award; Intimate Apparel, Neptune Theatre) as her daughter Ifueko, and award-winning actor Wale Ojo (Meet the Adebanjos, MTA Productions; The Guard, Reprisal Films; Phone Swap, Golden Effects Pictures) as her son Osasu.
COMA is written and directed by award-winning screen writer, playwright, and director Jude Idada . Set and Costume Design by Guthrie Award and Tom Patterson Award winner Sean Mulcahy, and Lighting Design by three-time Dora-nominee Arun Srinivasan.
AfriCan Theatre Ensemble (ATE) recognizes the power of live art to inspire and renew the human spirit and to forge human relationships across cultures, creeds, ethnicities, ideologies, genders, and social classes. Our work presents the theatrical idioms, traditions and experiences of Africa and creates an avenue for cultural exchange between Africa and Canada. More information is available at africantheatre.org.
COMA
Venue:
Al Green Theatre ~ 750 Spadina Avenue, Toronto (Spadina and Bloor)
Performances:
Oct 30 – Nov 3, 2013 ~ 5 SHOWS ONLY!
(Preview Oct 30 at 4pm, Opening Oct 30 at 8pm, Cocktail Gala Nov 1 at 6pm)
Wed-Sat at 8pm. Sun matinee at 4pm
Gala Reception Nov 1 at 6pm (performance begins at 8pm)
Tickets:
Preview: PWYC ($10 suggested minimum) at the door
Regular: $32 Early Bird (before Oct 25), or $35 at the door / Students $27
Gala Reception with Performance $55 in advance or $60 at the door. VIP Gala Tix: $100
Regular tickets available via www.totix.ca or www.picatic.com/copy-of-event-16933, or at the door
Gala tickets available only via www.picatic.com/event13765891797372, or at the door.
Group ticket rates are available via group@africantheatre.org
Discounted tickets are still available for alumni, and association members. Contact group@africantheatre.org to purchase.
2013-10-31
Toronto: Jude Idada's "Coma", now playing until November 3, shortlisted for playwriting prize