On April 3rd at the University of Pittsburgh, sponsored by the Year of Diversity and the Theatre Arts department, I am producing a staged reading of Mfoniso Udofia's award nominated play runboyrun. Mfoniso Udofia will direct the piece featuring students and professor's from the University of Pittsburgh and artists from the community.
Mfonsio Udofia is a first generation Nigerian-American storyteller, playwright, actress, and educator. Her plays have been developed and/or produced by Playwrights Realm, The Magic Theatre, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre, Hedgebrook, Sundance Theatre Lab, Space on Ryder Farm, NNPN and New Play Showcase, Makehouse, Soul Productions, terraNOVA, I73, The New Black Fest, Rising Circle's INKTank, At Hand Theatre Company, The Standard Collective, American Slavery Project, Liberation Theatre Company and more. Her play Sojourners was selected for the 2015 Killroy list, and it was a finalist for the Eugene O’Neill New Play Conference. She attended Wellesley College and obtained her MFA from ACT. She co-pioneered the youth initiative The Nia Project, providing artistic outlets for youth residing in Bayview/Huntspoint. She’s also the Artistic Director of the NOW AFRICA: Playwrights Festival and a proud member of New Dramatists class of 2023. runboyrun is the third entry in Udofia’s Ufot Cycle of plays that follow the Ufot family’s experience as Nigerian immigrants in the United States, a people uprooted from their home by war and strife. runboyruntells the story of patriarch Disciple Ufot, and his failing relationship to his wife Abasiama Ufot. They have been living in the memory of the Nigerian Civil War that forced Disciple to come to America, living in the trauma of that day over and over for many decades. A sudden burst of frustration breaks their pattern and time suddenly rushes forward while also reeling backwards; forcing Disciple and Abasiama to finally navigate the treacherous waters of illness, memory and love. runboyrun blends the present day with the civil war of 1968 to produce an evocative tale of trauma, love, and the secrets that devour us from the inside. This year’s Big Ten production of Baltimore explores the fraught racial relationships within the United States and on college campuses. runboyrun explores the experience of Nigerian immigrants in America, and complicates the story of what it means to be black in the United States. This play deals explicitly with the global resonances of African diaspora after the middle passage and introduces the audience to implications of the Nigerian Civil War for that population. As we embrace a year of diversity, hearing stories of the wide range of experience grows our understanding of and empathy for difference in our community.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2024
Categories |