Latest news with #TreyAnthony
CBC
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
d'bi.young anitafrika's story goes to show that every artist needs nurturing
The award-winning artist, playwright and dub poet d' anitafrika broke onto the Canadian theatre scene when they were cast in Trey Anthony's play Da Kink in My Hair. But their life in the arts started way before that. They were only three years old when they realized they were destined to be a griot (a storyteller). In an interview with Q guest host Garvia Bailey, anitafrika credits their mom, the pioneering Jamaican dub poet Anita Stewart, for inspiring their passion for storytelling and nurturing them as an artist. "I actually had a blueprint," anitafrika says. "My mother was the blueprint…. She took me to the library every Saturday. My mother taught me how to read when I was two. She gave me a lot of autonomy…. So the environment was there for me to be nurtured, and my mother provided a mirror of possibilities for me." WATCH | d' anitafrika's full interview on Q: Though anitafrika was raised to freely express themself without shame, after they moved from Jamaica to Canada at age 15, their natural artistic vibrancy and exuberance wasn't always understood or encouraged. "I experienced deep, deep self-loathing because I couldn't understand what was so strange about me," they say. "Racism was something I'd never encountered before. I had encountered classism because I grew up working class … [but in Canada, there was] a real rejection and a real demonization of Jamaican-ness because remember, this is 1993." Luckily, anitafrika was able to find "femtors and mentors" to help guide them through the difficult periods of their life. While studying at McGill University, anitafrika met educator and journalist David Austin, who helped them overcome their self-loathing and lean into their talent for storytelling. "He was specifically talking about the way that I had been speaking," they say. "So five years into being in Canada, I had this unrealistic accent, which was my attempt at covering my Jamaican-ness. I had this unrealistic persona that was, again, an attempt at survival in a hostile environment…. Somehow he had seen through all of that and had seen into this young person who had the gift of storytelling, who had a gift of communication, but was burying those gifts." This year, anitafrika is celebrating a major milestone as their critically acclaimed Sankofa Trilogy turns 20. The three solo plays of the trilogy — benu and word! sound! powah! — follow three generations of Jamaican women from their experiences of growing up to motherhood. You can catch anniversary stagings of The Sankofa Trilogy, which has now been adapted into a multi-cast production, from Aug. 13 to 17 at The Theatre Centre in Toronto.
Hamilton Spectator
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Trey Anthony returns to the NWT to 'speak the unspeakable things' in NACC performance
The multi-talented Canadian Trey Anthony, known for her award-winning play, Da Kink in My Hair, is set to tour several NWT communities and take the stage at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC) in Yellowknife this week with a new performance. Black Girl in Love (With Herself) Speaking the Unspeakable Things, promises to be an evening of music, comedy, dialogue, and insight, Marie Coderre, executive and artistic director of NACC said. 'It's about the life of black women and what they are experiencing in this world and in society on a daily basis. And also, there's a touch of humor too,' Coderre said. 'You will navigate through a different range of emotions when you watch a play like this and she is giving us a really good taste of the intimacy of what's up in the world of black woman on a daily basis.' Anthony, a Jamaican-British-Canadian, is known as the 'Oprah of Canada' and is the first Black woman in Canada to have her own primetime series on a major television network. The versatile performer is also a writer whose newly released book Black Girl in Love (With Herself) has been published by Hay House and she has written for Global Television, the Women's Television Network and the Comedy Network, among others. Described as 'an uncensored night of true sisterhood and support', Black Girl in Love will delve into what is considered the 'taboo' topics of infertility, fibroids, miscarriage and black women and therapy, among others, such as questions surrounding motherhood. Coderre said such stories are 'very important'. 'We learn something new when it's not our reality, and to me, it's a high-quality scenario and script and text and Trey is a gifted artist. We're very lucky that she accepted to come to the Northwest Territories. 'And, you know, in the NWT, there are Indigenous woman who can relate to Black women on many levels. So I think it will be a fantastic tour and to have a cultural exchange,' Coderre said. 'It's going to be a show that is very blunt, very transparent, and it's an intimate experience of what Black girls experience on a daily basis in a contemporary setting. And it's about the past, the present, and the future too, as well.' Black Girl in Love (With Herself) will be performed in Norman Wells on May 20, in Inuvik on May 22 and at NACC in Yellowknife on May 24.
