artists-in-residence program

each year anitafrika! dub theatre mentors 5-10 artists; guiding them through a rigorous process of bio-myth-solo-creation, using seven principles of dubpoetry and dubtheatre being developed by d'bi.young.

resident-works are featured in three festivals, as well as a year-end published anthology and documentary film entitled 's is for storytelling.'

2009-2010 artists-in-residence

amanda parris

i have had the privilege to explore the complex depth and creative beauty of stories across the african diaspora and through these narratives am now ready to dedicate energy to the narrative voice within me. through the support of b current performing arts company i broke my stage virginity at the rock.paper.sistahz festival. i am excited to continue this courtship with the stage...

casandra walker

cassy walker is a self professed jack-of-all-trades with an affinity for storytelling through spoken and written word, theatre, photography, visual art (whether sticky notes or napkins, 2d or 3d; regular paper is overrated), the occasional candid late-night phone conversation, and run-on sentences (which this bio could probably qualify as).

julie tesolin

julie is an actor based in toronto. with a passion fueled from acting and dancing since a young age, she graduated with honours from the fanshawe college theatre arts program and continues to work in film, voice-over, and theatre. she feels blessed to be part of this storytelling journey and to be working with such an inspiring and talented group of artists. she looks forward to her growth as a writer and storyteller. you can find julie teaching hatha, vinyasa yoga, and nia classes in the city.

kalmplex

kalmplex is a dj-mc-photo-video-visual-artist and kreative warrior. born and raised in toronto, with jamaican and ghanian roots, she is a truly eclectic artist drawing inspiration from just about everything and everyone she comes into contact with. performing at various events and venues throughout the city, and featured numerous times in the globe and mail toronto star and snap photography toronto, kalmplex is currently working on various musical and photo endeavours as well as performances with the les blues collective. in addition she is currently in the midst of editing the first of many documentaries to come, "toronto uncut", in which she documents 10 years of the innumerable cultural events that make this city the diverse metropolis it is. myspace.com/kalmplex1

kemba king

kemba is a healing storyteller.she is a leo with a sensitive heart and a sharp tongue. she has always walked to her own beat and knows that the coming year will be one of magic, beauty and change. her choice to be apart of the residency is to challenge herself in her relationship to the community and herself.

natasha morris

adt! manifested because it was a place and space I desired to learn/grow/create/share with other storytellers. It is crucial to thank those before you and lead for those after; those are my intentions, through poetry, comedy and overall creativity.

bahiyyih watson

 

2008-2009 artists-in-residence

colanthony humphrey, jamilah malika, liza paul, leah stinson, bahia watson

the storytellers integrity workshop

the storytellers integrity workshop is anitafrika! dub theatre's revolushunary pedagogical approach to the oral and written performing arts of poetry, acting, and scribing stories. under the mentorship of program designer and facilitator d'bi.young, youth, emerging, mid-career, and or established artists, receive radical arts training in storytelling, founded on 7 principles of dubpoetry/dubtheatre (the use of rhythm, language, political protext, orality, urgency, integrity, and sacredness as mediums of social change through storytelling) and grounded in oppreshun-awarenes. program length ranges from 4 weeks to 3 years.

the result of this process is a collectively or individually created revolushunary play informed by social justice, integrity and community empowerment, a workshop guide for participants, practitioners, and educators who wish to incorporate the dubpoetry/dubtheatre methodology into their curriculum and a collective independently published book documenting the participants' creative and theoretical process.

these workshops have been successfully programmed with arts for children of toronto, art starts neighborhood cultural centre, toronto community housing, theatre passé muraille + roseneath theatre + obsidian theatre collaboratively, the illinois youth centre-warrenville, magnetic north theatre festival vancouver, and u of t + york + ryerson universities. upcoming collaborations include the griffin centre, sketch, and warden woods community centre. please visit http://www.thestar.com/article/258297 for a feature on art starts' 2007 dubbin stories program.