SWAHILI AT THE SUNDANCE?

The Kiswahili adaptation of Nigerian Ken Saro-Wiwa’s ‘Africa Kills Her Sun’ was yesterday selected by the Sundance Institute as one of eight projects selected from nearly 900 submissions to participate in the 2012 Theatre Lab, July 9th – 29th at the Sundance Resort.

The eight projects were selected with input from an Advisory Committee including American industry specialists Lydia Diamond, David Henry Hwang, Stephen Wadsworth, Mame Hunt and Janice Paran.

“The eight projects we’ve selected for 2012 are diverse in every sense,” said Philip Himberg, Producing Artistic Director. “We have had the pleasure of discovering the work of writers not known to us prior to this submission process. Our slate includes an NYU undergraduate student, as well as seasoned Sundance Institute alumni that we are welcoming home. Artists hail from Hawaii, New York, Chicago, Nigeria and Tanzania. We look forward to working with these artists to realize their visions for the unique and indelible worlds they seek to create on stage.”

The Lab is the centerpiece of the Theatre Program’s year-round work and is designed to support emerging and established artists and to create a place where their original work can be effectively mentored and challenged.

Fellows at the Lab will be supported by a team of advisors and colleagues who provide feedback on the material and process. Artists in Residence include Kenya’s Eric Wainaina, composer and book writer and Zainabu Wallo, a playwright from Ikeja, Nigeria.

Tanzania’s Mrisho Mpoto will lead the adaptation team of ‘Africa Kills Her Sun’ along with Irene Sanga (adapter/performer), Elidady Msangi (composer), Gilbert Lukalia (assistant director/performer) and Indhu Rubasingham (director).

Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged under the Nigerian dictatorship of Sani Abacha in November 1995 for his activism on behalf of his Ogoni people. The original text is a condemned man’s last letter to his loved one. A poetic style is being adapted in Kiswahili to combine it with slam poetry and storytelling to talk about corruption and abuse of power in contemporary Africa. Partnering with UK- based director Rubasingham of the Tricycle Theatre, the team will develop the Sundance Institute’s first all- Kiswahili theatre project.

Africa Kills Her Sun was previously in workshop at the 2011 Theatre Lab on Manda Island in Kenya as part of the Theatre Program’s charter Lab for East African artists and at the 2011 Theatre Lab at The Banff Centre.