Lulu by Sashoya Simpson, a theatrical reading

Come along and follow Lulu on her adventure as she embarks into the mystical folk realm to save her ailing grandmother. Her journey takes her on path of discovery as she learns about her herself, her culture and her family.

Hosted by: Zakisha Brown

PRESENTATION TEAM

Directed by: d'bi young anitafrika

Music by: Kobena Aquaa-Harrison

Featured readers: Najla Nubyanluv, Zakisha Brown, Savannah Taylor, Daniel Jelani Ellis, Angelique Lazarus, Morgan Davis, Rare

Opening performers: Savannah Taylor, Kesha Christie, Ryan Imagines

Playwright Note:

"The idea for this story goes back to 2015 during my residency at The Watah Theatre and it took many trials, iterations, and concepts to get to this point. I honestly had to step back from this story to allow it form into itself instead of trying to force it out and it wasn't until 2019 that I sat down and wrote it as an animation screenplay (as that's my first love and the medium I aim for my stories to live). But I still love the stage and I can't wait to share this version with you all".

A special thank you to the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council for making this possible.

ABOUT

Sashoya Simpson is an oral storyteller, writer and theatre practitioner, of Jamaican lineage, based in Tkaronto, Canada. Her work integrates Caribbean folklore culture as an act of preservation and as a vehicle to share such knowledge. She has appeared in Known to Police by Nomanzland (Young People’s Theatre, 2012), Zero Visibility by the Artist Mentoring Youth Project (AMY) (Summerworks Festival, 2013), To The Kid That I Was by Expect Theatre (Nuit Blanche, 2015), Bleeders by d’bi.young anitafrika (Summerworks Festival, 2016) and Lukumi (Tarragon Theatre, 2017). Her work has been published in black solo: watah anthology of contemporary canadian monodrama volumes 1, 2 & 3 as a playwright and in from the root zine as a storyteller/poet. She’s also the award recipient of the artreach pitch contest in 2016. As a recent grad of the George Brown College Screenwriting & Narrative Design program, she has completed her first animation screenplay. Her work is now primarily geared towards young audiences.

Host or Publisher Sashoya Simpson