artistic director's note

I was, am, and will continue to be mentored, therefore I mentor. In summer 2007 I was invited by Rea McNamara on behalf of Art Starts to co-facilitate a dub theatre program with a group of emerging artists from across Ontario. The ten-week exploration was conceptualized and co-ordinated by Rea and I designed and directed it. We followed a program based on an early version of the Sorplusi Method focusing on four elements of dub poetry: language, rhythm, political content and orality.

The result was a collective collaboration the youth titled PN Numero Uno: Jinch Malrex.

 

The piece featured the voices of young people residing in various Toronto communities designated as ‘priority neighborhoods’ who were learning how to give and receive love within a microcosm of violence, generosity, loneliness, hope, self-esteem and self-awareness. I am proud of so many things from this achievement including the fact that the emerging artists involved in the program excelled as creators and storytellers, writing and performing from a place of personal experience. All the writing they produced was original. Their courage was evident in the piece and was a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit. It was in this moment that the seed was planted to start Watah Theatre Institute.

 

Fastforward to now and then even further back in time again.

Watah emerges from this spirit, advancing a radically innovative approach to solo-performance, self-actualization, creativity, equity, mentorship & leadership; offering artists the unique & accessible intersectional oppression-aware Sorplusi Methodology that equips them with the skills to lead non-hierarchically in their communities. Watah supports artists in identifying & practicing a self-defined process of empowerment through creativity; fostering their creation of a significant solo work that emerges from their process of self-actualization. Watah nurtures artists as mentors; collaborating with them to connect the dots between self-actualization, art creation & wholistic transformation. 

 

This group of brilliantly gifted, passionate & compassionate artists-in-residence at the institute have created biomyth monodramas catalysed by their own lived experiences to re-vision the possibilities of theatre-making in Canada & the world. You do not want to miss their plays. Each story offers the tenacity & courage necessary to start fires in our hearts that remind us that, as the visionary poet Audre Lorde tells us it is better to speak, remembering we were not meant to survive.   

 

- d'bi.young anitafrika, YWCA 2015 Woman of Distinction in Arts