anitafrika dub theatre summer 2010 newsletter

dear village

ase elegua. ase ancestors. ase olokun/yemaya. ase orishas. ase spirit guides. hello there village. how are you? i hope happy, healthy, and well. it has indeed been a world-wind year with all that anitafrika dub theatre has been up to, coupled with the wombanifesto tour (see photos of cape town visit here) and the festivals celebrating the work of our artists-in-residence (see photos of the audre lorde festival here). I am delighted to share that I am the recipient of this year's km hunter theatre award (youtube.com)

you have been so incredibly supportive and for that we say thank you. this summer promises to be the same high intensity movement as we have play openings, festivals, book and cd launches, graduations, and farewells, taking us right to the end of august. we hope that you will be able to join us for most of the upcoming events.

on june 30th i open my new biomyth monodrama word! sound! powah! at the toronto fringe festival. the show will also be playing at the summerworks theatre festival in august. find out below how you can get free tickets. in july my new album, wombanifesto comes out, and i'll be continuing with the world tour launching it in different countries.

in august we will be wrapping up anitafrika dub theatre's 2nd season with the word! sound! powah! monodrama festival featuring the solo works of our artists-in-residence. during that festival there will be an anthology launch of s is for storytelling vol ll documenting the plays by the residents as well as an album launch for wombanifesto. finally we will be closing the season with a graduation ceremony for the artists in residence.

wow! you will mos def find something in all these treats that you would like to attend. check below for further details. see you at the theatre!

in love and solidarity
d'bi.young
founder and artistic director
of anitafrika dub theatre

word! sound! powah!

free tickets to opening nite of d'bi.young's new play word! sound! powah!

word! sound! powah! by d'bi.young @ the toronto fringe festival $10
wed june 30th 10:30pm | fri july 2nd 5:15pm | sat july 3rd 5:45pm | sun july 4th 1:45pm | mon july 5th 5:00pm | tues july 6th 3:15pm
theatre passé muraille. 16 ryerson avenue. fringetoronto.com

word! sound! powah! by d'bi.young @ summerworks theatre festival $10
sat aug 7th 12:30pm | sun aug 8th 5:30pm | tues aug 10th 8:00pm | thurs aug 12th 10:30pm | fri aug 13th 3:00pm | sat aug 14th 8:00pm
theatre passe muraille. 16 ryerson avenue. summerworks.ca

for immediate release
toronto - june 19, 2010.

free tickets to see the show-stopping 2010 k.m hunter theatre award recipient d'bi.young, celebrate the completion of her monodrama trilogy with a new play 'word! sound! powah!'

d'bi.young will be showcasing the third and final episode in her biomyth monodrama trilogy called sankofa at both the fringe and summerworks festivals. her first biomyth monodrama 'blood.claat' was nominated for 5 dora awards and won in 2 categories for outstanding new play and outstanding performance. the second play 'benu' recently completed a canadian tour to critical acclaim. and the third play 'word! sound! powah! was featured at the canadian stage's festival of ideas and creation. d'bi.young was the 2009-2010 playwright-in-residence at canstage working on word! sound! powah!

the trilogy charts the journey of three generations of afrikan-jamaican womben: mudgu sankofa, her daughter sekesu sankofa, and sekesu's daughter benu sankofa. in word! sound! powah!, the grand-daughter of mudgu negotiates her own identity to the backdrop of a mythologized revolution and the birth of dubpoetry in jamaica. dub, mysticism, lyricism, politics, love, stick playing, and courage frolic in this part-real, part-fiction universe of 1970s/80s jamaica. the play reflects much of the socio-political truths that are currently plaguing the 'little but tallawah' island in the sun. and ultimately we are asked 'what would we do' if we were in the same circumstances presented. this play is not to be missed! later on in the summer, young launches her newest dub album wombanifesto.

for free tickets to the opening night performance of word! sound! powah! on wed june 30, 2010 @ 10:30pm be one of the first 30 people to arrive at theatre passé muraille. 16 ryerson avenue @ queen street west of bathurst. first come! first served!

word! sound! powah! monodrama festival @ anitafrika dub theatre

august 16 - august 22, 2010
admission: $10
venue: anitafrika! dub theatre, 62 fraser ave. @ king and dufferin
time: 7:00pm doors | 7:30pm show

for immediate release
toronto - june 19, 2010

anitafrika! dub theatre has the city of toronto waiting in high anticipation for the third and final festival of the 2009-2010 season!

through the artistic direction of visionary dubpoet d'bi young, at the end of the summer 6 young women will be presenting their full-length plays at the word! sound! powah! festival. for the past two years anitafrika dub theatre has been the launching pad for emerging canadian playwrights who specialize in biomyth monodrama. founded in the summer of 2008 and currently wrapping up its second season, the theatre has been working with 6 resident artists for the 2009-2010 season under the artistic direction of d'bi.young.

the 2nd annual word! sound! powah! festival will feature full length solo performance works by artists-in-residence at anitafrika! dub theatre: kemba king, kalmplex, natasha morris, amanda parris, julie tesolin and cassandra walker.

in december 2009 they emerged onto the artistic scene with the first draft of their works-in-progress at the 2nd annual mikey smith raw works festival. in may they continued their development with the highly anticipated workshop presentation at the 2nd annual audre lorde workshop festival. feedback from these festivals has consistently celebrated the insightful, creative and compelling honesty of the work presented:

"emotional. engaging. entertaining. educational. ever evolving. the performances at the festival taught me about myself, the stories of deep sisters in our city and the rich herstory we all carry within us."
~ che kothari (photographer and manifesto executive director)

"to witness freedom found, is enough encouragement to escape from mediocrity, and discover individuality, in its sincerest form."
~ kiana eastmond (board president of anitafrika dub theatre)

"an amazing and thought-provoking experience, hard to believe that these artists are so new to the stage. the bravery in their storytelling is a testament to the power of d'bi as an artist and a human being"
~ ian kamau (artist and nia centre for the arts executive director)

each night of the festival will feature a full length play from each of the 6 artists-in-residence and will create space for intimate talk-backs with members of the community. on august 22nd, the theatre will celebrate the graduation of the residents and the launch of s is for storytelling: an anthology of biomyth monodramas vol ll. edited by d'bi young, the anthology serves as a published chronicle of the plays created by the 2009-2010 resident artists, as well as a documentation of activities at the theatre.

anitafrika! dub theatre presents the word! sound! powah! monodrama festival featuring works-in-progress by 2009-2010 resident artists:

kemba king - where the stories are told
kalmplex - medusa: the truth they neglected to tell you
natasha morris - itty bitty
amanda parris - 32c
julie tesolin - safe haven
cassandra walker - untitled

for more information: anitafrika.com
for media inquires, please contact:
artist-in-residence amanda parris amandaparris4@gmail.com
tel: 416.294.4584

wombanifesto album launch, anitafrika dub theatre graduation ceremony, and s is for storytelling book launch on august 22, 2010

anitafrika dub theatre residents' graduation + wombanifesto and s is for storytelling launches
anitafrka dub theatre
62 fraser avenue
sunday august 22nd, 2010
time: doors @ 7pm. shw @ 8pm
entry: $10 ($20 gets u a cd too. $30 gets u a cd + anthology)

d'bi.young's highly anticipated new dubpoetry album wombanifesto is finally here. it is being launched on the nite of the graduation of the artists-in-residence at anitafrika dub theatre, along with the anthology launch of s is for storytelling vol ll

d'bi.young is a poet and dancehall mc whose lyricism stems from the highly political genre - jamaican dubpoetry. a dancehall-diva-urban-warrior-chanting-conscious-fyah on the mic, she embodies the meeting place of dubpoetry and roots-reggae, infused by dangerous dancehall riddims colliding with heavy hiphop beats and funked out by punkrock. following in the footsteps of the globally celebrated father of dubpoetry, linton kwesi johnson and his dennis bovel band, young brings her own wombanist flair to the mix by applying an intersectional-oppression-awareness framework to all the music she creates. her rhymes sear with socio-political overtones while maintaining their commitment to the sensual poetics of storytelling.

throughout the past decade d'bi.young has headlined numerous festivals including the canwest cabaret festival in the historic distillery district, the calgary international folk and spoken word festivals, vancouver folk festival, havana international reggae festival, and toronto's international dubpoetry festival. she has self-produced six dub albums including the critically acclaimed blood demo. young's dub also appears on several hiphop and spoken-word compilations.

her latest dub album wombanifesto, is a celebration of her art and life during the past 10 years; a rebellious collection of cross-genre dancehall-hiphop tracks soaked in d'bi.young's gritty political delivery. the album features musicians from toronto, montreal, and havana as well as the genius work of armenian-egyptian producer, haig vartzbedian.

wombanifesto tour dates

d'bi.young's wombanifesto tour continues throughout north america, europe, south america, and afrika

from new york's def poetry jam to london's hackney empire theatre; from cape town's badilisha poetry exchange to kingston jamaica's red bones blues café, d'bi.young is steadily making a global name for herself as a dynamic, socially-conscious, trail-blazing artist.

with over 120 shows completed since beginning her world tour in January, d'bi.young gears up for the second upcoming series of tour dates...

d'bi.young wombanifesto international tour 2010 remaining dates...

© 2010 anitafrika! dub theatre

anitafrika! dub theatre is a radical arts centre founded on the orplusi principles of storytelling being developed by d'bi.young: the use of orality, rhythm, political content, language, urgency, sacredness, and integrity as mediums of social change

62 fraser avenue toronto ontario m6k 1y6
w - anitafrika.com · e - enews@anitafrika.com

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