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- Written by Meres J. Weche
- Category: Arts
An interview with stage actresses Akosua Amo-Adem and Déjah Dixon-Green. They are both part of the Stratford Festival's current production of Death and the King's Horsemen, written by renowned Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet and Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka. The production runs until October 29. As part of our conversation, we discuss the singularity of staging a Yoruba classic play at Stratford.
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- Written by Meres J. Weche
- Category: Arts
An interview with stage artist Beck Lloyd—as part of our conversation series from the Stratford Festival's 2022 season. Lloyd currently plays the role of Marianne in the festival's adaptation of Molière's The Miser, which runs until October 29.
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- Written by Meres J. Weche
- Category: Arts
An interview with Ngozi Paul, founder of FreeUp! She discusses her film "FreeUp! Freedom Talks," celebrating BIPOC vocalists broadcasting on CBC and CBC Gem on Canada’s Emancipation Day.
Today is Emancipation day 2022. Emancipation Day marks the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire, declared on August 1st, 1834. In this episode, I speak to Ngozi Paul, a seasoned performing arts practitioner, writer, producer and award-winning director. She's the founder of FreeUp! Through her company, Emancipation Arts, in partnership with CBC, she speaks to us about her film "FreeUp! Freedom Talks," celebrating BIPOC vocalists within the context of Canada’s Emancipation Day. The film will air today, August 1st, at 8 p.m. ET on CBC and CBC GEM as part of a two-hour special celebration of Emancipation Day.
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- Written by Meres J. Weche
- Category: Arts
An interview with actors Jessica B. Hill and Jordin Hall, both currently part of two shows in the Stratford Festival's current season. Namely, Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well and Richard III. Our conversation focuses on their leading roles as Helen and Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well.
In this episode of Afropolitan Dialogues, we speak with Jessica B. Hill and Jordin Hall. The two actors are currently performing leading roles as Helen and Bertram in the Stratford Festival's current production of Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well. They're also both concurrently playing Richard III. Performances for both plays are taking place at Stratford's new Tom Patterson Theatre.
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- Written by Meres J. Weche
- Category: Arts
An interview with performing artists Sandra Caldwell and Amanda De Freitas about their experience on stage with the Stratford Festival's production of the musical Chicago. They discuss their careers and what the show says about women's empowerment and agency.
In this podcast episode, we speak to two performers from the Stratford Festival's current production of the well-known musical Chicago, holding the record as the longest-running American musical on Broadway, now part of the festival's lineup until October 30th. Directed and choreographed by Donna Feore, the show captures the effervescence of the Roaring Twenties in a tale full of intrigue, adultery, revenge, murder and justice.
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- Written by Meres J. Weche
- Category: Arts
Amaka Umeh, the first artist of colour to play Shakespeare's Hamlet in the history of the Stratford Festival, is no stranger to breaking norms. In this conversation, she shares how she has navigated her life upstream from conventions both on and off the stage.
"Art in general, there's no substitute for its healing capabilities, and I think it's some of the best of what we do as human beings."
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- Written by Meres J. Weche
- Category: Arts
An interview with the Spoken Soul Collective (Paulina O'Kieffe-Anthony, Randell Adjei and Dwayne Morgan) on their curation work on the ArtworkxTo-supported exhibition called Scarborough: The Backbone. The exhibition runs until October 2022 at Scarborough Town Centre.
We speak with the Spoken Soul Collective on this episode, comprising three members representing a powerhouse of Toronto's spoken word poetry scene. The three groundbreaking artists are Scarborough Walk of Fame Inductee, Dwayne Morgan, who needs no introduction given his three-decade-long career as a deeply entrenched builder and pioneer of the local and national spoken word scene, award-winning artist, arts educator and executive director at SKETCH Working Arts, Paulina O'Kieffe-Anthony, as well as Scarborough spoken word artist, founding director of R.I.S.E. Edutainment and Ontario's first Poet Laureate, Randell Adjei.
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- Written by Meres J. Weche
- Category: Arts
An interview with Philip Akin, the former artistic director of Obsidian Theatre Company and accomplished stage, voice and film actor. We discuss his current directorial work on Alice Childress' play 'Trouble in Mind' at the Shaw Festival and the importance of laying the path for Black storytellers and theatre practitioners.
Philip Akin is the former Artistic Director of Toronto's Obsidian Theatre Company. The award-winning Canadian actor and theatre director has built an illustrious career of over 35 years on the stage, as a voice actor, on television and movies.
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- Category: Arts
Esie Mensah is a Dora-nominated choreographer, dance artist, educator, and public speaker. She's worked with megastars like Rihanna, Drake, French Montana and Arcade Fire. She recently conceptualized, wrote and directed a short film, TESSEL — which premiered earlier this week, on June 1, 2021 — and is currently streaming for free on tessel.film.
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- Written by Meres J. Weche
- Category: Arts
Alica Hall is the Executive Director of the Nia Centre for the Arts — Canada's first multi-disciplinary professional arts space dedicated to showcasing art from the African diaspora. The Toronto-based not-for-profit community arts organization has, for its primary mission, to be a key destination for the Black community to bolster and showcase the full range of creative diasporic expression.
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