Stage Door News
Stage Door News
June 9, 2014, Toronto ON: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is excited to announce that internationally celebrated Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina is coming to Toronto as part of Queer Pride 2014 – the company’s month-long World Pride celebration. This panel and performance is an incredible opportunity for Toronto audiences to hear from a leading voice in Africa’s LGBT community.
Wainaina will be participating in a panel discussion about sexuality and the LGBT rights movement in Africa, along with Ugandan writer ADONG Lucy Judith and moderator d’bi young. The panel follows a reading of Judith’s play Just Me, You and the Silence, which offers a fictionalized account of the impact of anti-homosexuality laws on a family and a nation.
The event takes place on June 22 on the main stage of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (12 Alexander Street). Tickets are PWYC at the door (or $10 in advance) and all proceeds go to FARUG (Freedom and Roam Uganda), faruganda.org
An official WordPride Toronto 2014 event, this performance & panel brings together leading cultural institutions within Toronto’s culturally diverse and LGBT communities: a partnership between Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, IFT Theatre, Obsidian Theatre Company, and WorldPride Toronto 2014.
ABOUT BINYAVANGA WAINAINA
Wainaina recently made international headlines following the signing of the infamous anti-homosexuality law in Nigeria, when he published an essay he called ‘the lost chapter’ of his memoir. Titled I am a Homosexual, Mum, this widely published essay is an honest and public account of Wainaina’s discovery, exploration, and acceptance of his homosexuality. This essay rocketed him to the forefront of Africa’s gay rights movement and landed him on Time Magazine’s Time 100 list of ‘The Most Influential People in the World’.
Wainaina is the founding editor of Kwani? Magazine and winner of the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing. His work has been published in The New York Times, The Gaurdian, and National Geographic and is one of the most celebrated and widely read authors in Africa. His seminal memoir, One Day I will Write About This Place was published to critical and popular acclaim in 2011.
ABOUT THE PLAY
Just Me, You and The Silence traces the story of an ambitious politician who introduces a bill that divides his nation and family. This powerful play by Ugandan writer ADONG Lucy Judith explores the anti-homosexuality laws in her country.
A fictional piece, Just Me, You and The Silence is directed by IFT Theatre’s Mumbi Tindyebwa and provides a timely look at the legislation instituted in Uganda with the Anti-Homosexuality Act. Nine of Canada’s leading talents, including Karen Robinson, Cara Ricketts, Jim Codrington, Walter Borden, Jeremiah Sparks, Tawiah Ben-Eben M’Carthy, Araya Mengesha, Sodi Waboso Amajor, and Peter Bailey join Tindyebwa’s creative team.
TICKET INFORMATION
Just Me, You and the Silence
By ADONG Lucy Judith
staged reading and panel discussion
reading directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa
panelists Binyavanga Wainaina, ADONG Lucy Judith
moderator d’bi young
show time 7PM
tickets $10 advance / PWYC at the door
(all proceeds go to FARUG - Freedom and Roam Uganda)
box office 416-975-8555 or buddiesinbadtimes.com/pride
Photo: Binyavanga Wainaina. ©2014.
2014-06-09
Toronto: Celebrated Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina comes to Buddies in Bad Times Theatre for World Pride