d'bi Young
d’bi.young anitafrika is a Jamaican-Canadian feminist dub poet and activist. Her work includes theatrical performances, four published collections of poetry, twelve plays, and seven albums.
d'bi young anitafrika | |
|---|---|
 d'bi Young | |
| Born | December 23, 1977 |
| Nationality | Jamaican-Canadian |
| Occupation | Dub poet, performance artist, actor, playwright |
Notable work | The Sankofa Trilogy; The Orisha Trilogy; The Ibeji Trilogy; Da Kink in My Hair |
Early life and education
d’bi young anitafrika was born on December 23, 1977, in Kingston, Jamaica to dub poet Anita Stewart and community organizer Winston Young. In 1993, she moved to Toronto, Canada to join her parents where she completed high school.[1]
Career
Young's early career included the role of “Crystal” on the Frances-Anne Solomon produced sitcom Lord Have Mercy! (2003), theatre work with Black Theatre Workshop and Theatre Passe Muraille, and artist residencies with Soulpepper Theatre, CanadianStage, Obsidian Theatre, and Banff Centre for the Arts. In 2001, her breakout role as “Stacyanne” came through Da Kink in My Hair, by Jamaican-Canadian writer Trey Anthony.
Key works
Young's works, The Sankofa Trilogy, The Orisha Trilogy and The Ibeji Trilogy, explore the psychological and ideological impacts of colonization to capitalism on people of African descent, from a Black Feminist perspective. They are triptych dramas.
The Sankofa Trilogy are the stories of three Jamaican women, Mudgu Sankofa, her daughter Sekesu, and her granddaughter Benu. Each play uses the women's familial bond to tell of their respective journeys of revolutionary self-determination, and transformative self-expression. The Orisha Trilogy[2][3] is a series about the experiences of women characters of the past, present, and future who survived the transatlantic slave trade. In each time period, the women grapple with power, gender, and sexuality through oppression and social unrest, under the help and protection of the Orishas .The Ibeji Trilogy are three biomyth dramas about Black love as it evolves in the midst of major life changes, from friendship to romance, between mother and son, and deep self-love.
Publishing and theatre
Young established Spolrusie Publishing, a publishing house to support the work of emerging black writers.[4]
From 2008-2018 she also created and ran The Watah Theatre, the only black-focused performance art school in Canada. The Watah Theatre offered tuition-free professional development programs.[5] Between The Watah Theatre and Yemoya Artist Residency, she mentored some of Canada's up and coming young black creatives and international artists of colour including Amanda Parris,[6] Kim Katrin Milan,[7] Titilope Sonuga, and photographer, Che Kothari.[8]
Young's style of theatre practice developed draws from her upbringing in the performative and political environment of emerging Dub poetry in Jamaica of 1980s. She uses Jamaican language and idiom as nation language, as opposed to colloquialism.[9] She works extensively with monodrama and biomythography, or “biomyth monodrama.”
The Anitafrika Method
Young's work recognizes the connections between identity and community as both inextricable and sacred.[10] The Anitafrika Method initiates self-recovery through a creative process of performance that grounds broader notions of identity, community, social constructs, and metaphysical concepts, and focuses them into an embodied performance experience.[9] She has applied the method in a variety of disciplines and with practitioners in health care, social justice, art, and leadership development.
From January to June 2015, Young applied the method in a special collaboration with the Women's College Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada: The Black Womxn's Health Research Project.[11]
In 2018 Young began work in postgraduate studies in the Praxes, Politics and Pedagogies of Black Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London.[12]
Personal life
Young is a mother to two sons.
Selected works
Plays
| Year(s) | Title | Notes |
| 2018 | Once Upon a Black Boy | |
| 2017 | The Orisha Trilogy | Featuring: Esu Crossing the Middle Passage, Mami Wata & the Pussywitch Hunt, & Lukumi: A Dub Opera, |
| 2016 | Lukumi: A Dub Opera | |
| 2016 | Esu Crossing the Middle Passage | |
| 2016 | Mami Wata & the Pussywitch Hunt | |
| 2013 | The Sankofa Trilogy | Featuring: Benu, Bloodclaat, & Word! Sound! Powah! |
| 2011 | The Sankofa Trilogy
(Featuring: Benu, Bloodclaat, & Word! Sound! Powah!) |
Tarragon Theatre |
| 2010 | Nanny Maroon Warrior | Summerworks, Lower Ossington Theatre |
| 2010 | Word! Sound! Powah!
(Part 3 of The Sankofa Trilogy) |
Free Word Centre (2010), Summerworks Theatre Festival (2010), Toronto Fringe Festival (2010), Canadian Stage Theatre (2010) |
| 2008 | She | Buddies in Bad Times Theatre |
| 2007 | Benu (Part Two of The Sankofa Trilogy) | Summerworks Theatre Festival, Theatre Passe Muraille |
| 2006 | Domestic | Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts |
| 2001-2016 | Bloodclaat | Watah Theatre (2016), Tarragon Theatre (2011), The Rhubarb Festival (2010), University of the Western Cape (2010), Firehall Theatre Vancouver (2010), GCTC, Magnetic North Theatre Festival (2010), Firehall, Magnetic North Theatre Festival (2008), Theatre Passe Muraille (2006), Solitary, b current theatre (2001) |
| 2003 | Androgyne | Buddies in Bad Times Theatre |
Theatre (actor)
| Year | Title | Role | Theater | Notes |
| 2017 | For Colored Girls | Lady In Red | Soulpepper Theatre | |
| 2012 | In Search Of My Father | Nu Century Arts | ||
| 2008 | Have You Seen Zandile | Zandile | African Theatre Ensemble | |
| 2008 | Three Sisters | Olga | Soulpepper Theatre | |
| 2008 | Three Penny Opera | Ballad Singer | Soulpepper Theatre | |
| 2007 | Da Kink In My Hair | Staceyanne/Claudette | Hackney Empire London | |
| 2006 | San Diego Repertory Theatre California | |||
| 2006 | Princess Of Wales Theatre Toronto | |||
| 2003/2005 | Theatre Passé Muraille | |||
| 2001 | Toronto Fringe Festival | Role debut | ||
| 2003 | Anowa | Badua | Artword Theatre | |
| 2002 | Stuck | Womban | Black Theatre Workshop | |
| 2002 | Three Parts Harmony | Body | Tarragon Theatre | |
| 2001 | And Girls In Their Sunday Dresses | Mime | Artword Theatre | |
| 1999 | Tooth And Nail | Sifiso | Mcgill Theatre |
Television (actor)
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Network | Notes |
| 2003 | Lord Have Mercy! | Crystal | Various | Vision Television |
Compilations
| Title | Producer | Release Date |
| When Sisters Speak Live | Dwayne Morgan | 2008 |
| Love Equality Freedom Revolushun. | CBC Poetry Faceoff | 2004 |
| Blood And Animal Farm | Lost Tribes Of The Sun: Renewal | 2003 |
| Ain’t I A Woman (In Dub) | Ribsauce: Words By Women | 2001 |
| Revolution | La Vache Enragee. Planete Rebelled | 1998 |
| Johnny. Wordlife | Revword. | 1998 |
Books
| Title | Year | Publisher |
| Dubbin Poetry: The Collected Poems of d’bi.young anitafrika | 2019 | Spolrusie Publishing |
| Oya: Collection Of Writing | 2014 | Spolrusie Publishing |
| Shemurenga: Black Supah Shero Comic (Book 1) | 2013 | Spolrusie Publishing |
| Rivers And Other Blackness Between Us: (Dub) Poems Of Love. | 2007 | Women's Press |
| Blood.Claat | 2006 | Playwrights Canada Press |
| Art On Black | 2006 | Playwrights Canada Press |
Essays
| Essay | Date | Publication | Publisher |
| Black Plays Matter: Watah Theatre, Creating Safe Space for Black Artists in These Dangerous Times | 2016 | Canadian Theatre Review: Equity in Theatre | University of Toronto Press |
| R/Evolution Begins Within | 2012 | Canadian Theatre Review: Manifestos | University of Toronto Press |
| Love Equality Freedom and Revolushun | 2007 | Theorizing Empowerment: Canadian Perspectives on Black Feminist Thought | Inanna Publications |
| Revolushun III and Letter To Tchaiko | 2007 | Wasafiri Magazine | Open University and Routledge |
| Dubpoetics and Personal Politics | 2007 | Notes From Canada's Young Activists: A Generation Stands Up for Change | Greystone Books |
| 2006 | Talking Book | Cumulus Press | |
| Blood, Dub and Holy | 2002 | Contemporary Verse: The Canadian Journal of Poetry and Critical Writing | Canadian Magazines Publishers Association |
| Ain’t I a Woman (In Dub) | 2007 | A Canadian Anthology of Words by Women | Véhicule Press |
Poetry
| Poem | Date | Publication | Publisher |
| Love Equality Freedom and Revolushun | 2007 | Theorizing Empowerment: Canadian Perspectives on Black Feminist Thought | Inanna Publications |
| Revolushun III and Letter To Tchaiko | 2007 | Wasafiri Magazine | Open University and Routledge |
| Blood, Dub and Holy | 2002 | Contemporary Verse: The Canadian Journal of Poetry and Critical Writing | Canadian Magazines Publishers Association |
| Ain’t I a Woman (In Dub) | 2007 | A Canadian Anthology of Words by Women | Véhicule Press |
References
- Johnson, Richard (May 28, 2012). "D'bi's Word! Sound! Powah!". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- Maga, Carly (April 4, 2016). "Esu Crossing the Middle Passage a powerful journey back in time". The Toronto Star. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
- Parris, Amanda (Sep 22, 2017). "Everything you ever wanted to know about dub". CBC Arts. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
- "d'bi young anitafrika on performance, centring oneself, and storytelling".
- "HERstory in Black: d'bi young anitafrika". CBC News. Feb 22, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
- "CBC Arts: The Exhibitionists".
- Samuel, Getachew (February 15, 2012). "SWAY MAGAZINE: Q&A with Kim Crosby". SWAY Magazine. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- Che, Kothari. "Che Kothari- About".
- Eva C., Karpinski (2017). "Can Multilingualism Be a Radical Force In Contemporary Theatre? Exploring the Option of Non-Translation" (PDF). Theatre Research in Canada/Recherches Théâtrales. 38 (2): 153–167 – via Theatre Research in Canada/Recherches théâtrales.
- anitafrika, d'bi. young (2016). "Black Plays Matter: Watah Theatre, Creating Safe Space For Black Artists In These Dangerous Times'". Canadian Theatre Review. 165: 26–31. doi:10.3138/ctr.165.005.
- "Research". anitafrikmethod. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
- "dbi.young anitafrika". Open Space. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
Further reading
- Allen, L 2016, ‘The Sixth Sense in Performance: d’bi.young anitafrika’, in J Householder & T Mars (Eds), More Caught in The Act: An Anthology of Performance Art by Canadian Women, YYZ Books, Toronto, pp. 107–113.
- Austin, D 2018, Dread Poetry and Freedom: Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Unfinished Revolution, Pluto Books, Montreal.
- Flynn, K & Marrast, E 2008, ‘Dubbin Revolushun: Interview with d’bi.young’, obsidian lll, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 35–58.
- Luhning, H 2010, ‘Accountability, Integrity, and 'Benu': an Interview with d'bi.young’, Alt Theatre Magazine, vol. 8, no.1, pp. 10–17.
- Gumbs, A P 2016, ‘Angel’s Basic School: d’bi.young anitafrika and Black Queer Divinity’, Jacket2, 6 October
- Ford Smith, H 2018, ‘Performing Queer Marronage: The Work of d’bi.young anitafrika’, in P Dickinson, C E Gatchalian, K Oliver & D Singh (Eds), Q2Q: Queer Canadian Performance Texts, Playwrights Canada Press, Toronto, pp. 239–243.
- Gill, L K 2016, ‘I Represent Freedom: Diaspora and The Meta-Queerness of Dub Theater’, in E P Johnson (Ed), No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies, Duke University Press, durham, pp. 113–130.
- Sakolsky, R 2004, ‘Summer Festivals 2004: International Dub Poetry Festival’, The Beat, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 36–37, 41.
External links
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