Eti! East Africa Speaks!

A Dartmouth Summer Arts Festival Event

June 30, 2008 - July 14, 2008
Free and open to the public.

In July 2008, a group of eleven theatre artists from East Africa (Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda) will come to Dartmouth College and New York City for a three and a half week residency. The first two weeks of the residency (June 30 to July 14) will occur at Dartmouth, to facilitate artistic exchange and dialogue among and between the artists and students. Through rehearsals, workshops, and play readings, students will receive a variety of opportunities to engage with the artists in formal and informal settings. These two weeks will culminate in a showcase event on July 12 and 13 in the Warner Bentley Theatre.

Organizer: Laura Edmondson, Department of Theater. Co-organizers: Ugandan playwright Charles Mulekwa and Roberta Levitow, co-founder of Theatre Without Borders.

Part of the Dartmouth Summer Arts Festival with cosponsorships from the Leslie Center for the Humanities, The Dickey Center for International Understanding, the Department of Theater at Dartmouth and the generous support of the Ford Foundation.

July 6, 2008 - Warner Bentley Theater - 5.00pm and 8.00pm

A Reading of Cooking Oil,a new play by Ugandan playwright/performer Deborah Asiimwe.

A Reading of Remember Lumumbal,a new play by Ugandan playwright and Brown University Ph.D. candidate Charles Mulekwa.

July 12, 2008 - Warner Bentley Theater - 5.00pm and 8.00pm

Mtumishi wa Umma/Public Servant Featuring Tanzanian poet/performer Mrisho Mpoto, this piece exploring corruption in contemporary medical practice draws upon Parapanda Theatre Lab's unique style of Swahili-language ensemble theater that fuses improvisation, dance, music and drama.

They Call Me Wanjiku. A solo piece by Kenyan writer/actor/producer Mumbi Kaigwa with music by Andrea Kalima Zawose of Tanzania, exploring the complexities of womanhood and the struggle to reclaim and re-articulate female identity in Kenya today.
July 13, 2008 - Warner Bentley Theater - 5.00pm and 8.00pm

Forged In Fire. A collaborative performance piece by Ugandan playwright/performer Okello Kelo Sam; Tanzanian musican/dancer Robert Ajwang'; and Dartmouth Theater professor Laura Edmondson, integrating dance, music and testimony to explore Okello's wrenching experiences during the civil war in northern Uganda.

Come Good Rain. A solo autobiographical play written and performed by Ugandan playwright/actor George Seremba, incorporating song, folklore and live percussion to take us on his journey from bare survival and terrifying experiences to triumph over the oppressive political regimes of Milton Obote and Idi Amin in 1970s Uganda.