THE SANKOFA TRILOGY is d’bi.young anitafrika’s two-time Dora Award-winning premiere triptych of biomyth monodramas. It features the plays blood.claat, benu & word! sound! powah! It journeys through extraordinary stories of three generations of powerful Jamaican womxn – Mudgu Sankofa, her daughter Sekesu and her granddaughter Benu – and their resolute belief in blood, truth and r/evolution. blood.claat was nominated for 5 Dora Awards including Outstanding Design, Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Production.
blood.claat is a story about a 15-year-old girl’s coming of age and how she learns about loving herself. Dora Award winning for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Performance by a Womxn - d'bi.young anitafrika. Read a preview from the World Premiere production. For a critical analysis of blood.claat read Natalie Wall’s Catching Bullets with Her Ass: Matrilineality and the Canadian Dub Poetry Tradition in the Work of d’bi.young anitafrika
FOUR STARS | REMARKABLE | The Toronto Star
benu is a story about Sekesu’s motherlessness and motherhood. She transforms through the mythology of the ancient phoenix bird rising. Benu was a Critic's Pick production. For a critical Black queer analysis of benu, read Chapter 6 of No Tea No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies entitled I Represent Freedom: Diaspora and The Meta-Queerness of Dub Theatre by Lyndon K Gill. Also read Accountability, Integrity and Benu: An Interview with d'bi.young anitafrika by Holly Luhning to delve deeper into the world of benu.
FIVE STARS | COMPELLING - The Stage Door
word! sound! powah! is a story about the rebirth of dubpoetry and r/evolution in Jamaica through the emergence of a brilliant group of young storytellers led by Benu. Word! Sound! Powah! was a Critic's Pick production. For a critical analysis of word! sound! powah!, read Hyacinth Simpson’s On Stage with d’bi.young anitafrika and word! sound! powah!
NNNN | ELECTRIFYING - Now Magazine | FOUR STARS | A POWERHOUSE PERFORMANCE - Toronto Star