Tawiah M'carthy
Tawiah Ben M'Carthy is a Ghanaian-born Canadian actor and playwright.[1] He is best known for his 2012 play Obaaberima, a one-man play about growing up gay in Ghana.[1]
Tawiah M'Carthy | |
---|---|
Born | Accra, Ghana |
Occupation | theatre artist; actor, playwright, director, creator |
Nationality | Ghanaian-Canadian |
Period | 2008-present |
Notable works | Obaaberima |
Biography
Born in Accra, Ghana, M'Carthy moved to Canada at the age of 14, living first in Merritt, British Columbia and later in Scarborough, Ontario.[1] He studied theatre at York University,[1] writing his first play The Kente Cloth and staging it at Toronto's SummerWorks festival during this time.[1] Obaaberima had its roots in a poem that he submitted to the Young Creators Unit at Buddies in Bad Times theatre.[1] The play premiered at Buddies in September 2012, under the direction of Evalyn Parry.[2]
He garnered two Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations for Obaaberima in 2013, for both Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role – Play, amid five other nominations for the play.[3] The show won three other Dora Awards, including Outstanding Production of a Play.[4]
In 2014, his plays Blue Bird, cowritten with Brad Cook, and Black Boys with Saga Collectif premiered as workshop productions.[5]
He has also acted in other plays, including productions of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band, Kwame Stephens' Man 2 Man, Lanford Wilson's Balm in Gilead, D. D. Kugler and William Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth, and in Maxime Desmons' short film Au plus proche.
He is part of the 2014-15 English Theatre Ensemble at the National Arts Centre,[5] and has also worked with Toronto's Tarragon Theatre and Obsidian Theatre companies.[5]
References
- "Telling stories". Xtra!, September 5, 2012.
- "Interview: Tawiah M’carthy". NOW, September 20, 2012.
- "Buddies in Bad Times leads troupes vying for Toronto theatre awards". CBC News, June 3, 2013.
- "A Cinderella story at theatre's 2013 Dora Awards". The Globe and Mail, June 25, 2013.
- "Tawiah M’Carthy". National Arts Centre