About Us
Black Theatre School
Founded by dr d’bi.young anitafrika following the culmination of their PhD dissertation, Black Womyn Theatre: Personhood, Practice, Pedagogy, the Black Theatre School emerges from over two decades of Black-led decolonial theatre training and community-building. It is the continuation and convergence of fiwi aat space, ArtStarts Dub Theatre Program, anitafrika! dub theatre, and The Watah School, and is rooted in the legacies of African-Caribbean Black womyn arts educators Anita Stewart, Amah Harris, ahdri zhina mandiela, and Djanet Sears whose praxes have shaped generations of artists.
The Black Theatre School is a nine-month immersive professional theatre training residency, led by d'bi.young anitafrika and guided by the Anitafrika Method, a holistic pedagogy for decolonial theatre practice. Presented by The Watah Theatre, in residency with The Theatre Centre, the School cultivates holistic Black theatre makers grounded in embodied practice, Black performance aesthetics, and liberatory worldbuilding.
Designed for multi-hyphenate theatre practitioners, the program supports artists who work across—and/or seek to develop across—writing, devising, dramaturgy, directing, design, producing, stage weaving, and performance. With biomyth monodrama and pantodub theatre at its creative core, the Black Theatre School prepares practitioners to generate original work and take up multi-leadership roles within contemporary theatre ecosystems.
Rooted in African diasporic philosophies—Ubuntu, Sankofa, and Iwa Pele—and grounded in Black feminist thought, the Black Theatre School operates as a decolonizing, intersectional training space that centres global majority artists. Through practitioner-centred learning, ensemble integrity, and Critical Dub Pedagogy, the School nurtures artists committed to transforming both their practice and the conditions under which theatre is made.
Our Weavers
Founding Artistic Director
dr d'bi.young anitafrika
2025 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize laureate dr d’bi.young anitafrika, is an internationally acclaimed dub poet, playwright-performer, director-dramaturge, and activist-pedagogue who creates, embodies, and teaches critical dub pedagogy. They are the creator of the Anitafrika Dub Praxis.
Associate Artistic Director
Sashoya Simpson
Sashoya Simpson is an award winning Afro-Jamaican cultural leader, writer, storyteller, theatre practitioner, audiobook narrator and children’s book author, whose artistic work embodies Caribbean folklore knowledge and cultural practices through the arts. They recently produced their award-winning Lulu.
Projects Weaver
Kabrena Robinson
Kabrena Robinson is an Afro-Jamaican author, multidisciplinary storyteller, performer, playwright, and creative educator based in Toronto, whose work spans theatre, dub poetry, creative writing, and children’s literature, drawing from Afro-Caribbean spirituality, ancestral memory, and decolonial storytelling.
Our 2026 Faculty
The Anitafrika Dub Praxis
dr d'bi.young anitafrika
Lead Weaver of Music
Waleed Abdulhamid
Lead Weaver of Voice & the Esoteric
Tuku Matthews
Lead Weaver of Movement & Grantwriting
Raechele Lovell
Lead Weaver of Acting & Producing
Ngozi Paul
Lead Weaver of Body, Food & Puppets
Aisha Bentham