Obsidian Theatre Company is a Canadian professional theatre company that specializes in works by

Black Canadian Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though t ...

artists. The company is located in Toronto, Ontario. The declared mandate of the company is a threefold mission: to produce plays, to develop playwrights and to train theatre professionals. Obsidian is dedicated to the exploration, development, and production of the Black voice. They produce plays from a world-wide canon focusing primarily, but not exclusively, on the works of highly acclaimed Black playwrights. Obsidian provides artistic support, promoting the development of work by Black theatre makers and offering training opportunities through mentoring and apprenticeship programs for emerging Black artists.

History

Founded in February 2000, Obsidian Theatre Company has grown into a large independent theatre company with a full schedule of productions, playwright/play development and professional training programs. Since the company's inception, Obsidian has worked to change the profile of culturally diverse theatre in Canada by encouraging companies to re-evaluate the way artists of colour are involved in the work. The company does not manage its own physical theatre and rather partners with other theatre companies to produce works.

People

Founding members

*Awaovieyi Agie * Ardon Bess *David Collins *Roy Lewis *

Yanna McIntosh Yanna McIntosh (born 1970), sometimes credited as Yanna MacIntosh, is a Jamaican-born Canadian television, movie and theatrical actress. Early life McIntosh attended the University of Toronto and the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Ha ...

Diane Roberts Diane Roberts is an American author, columnist, essayist, radio commentator, reviewer and professor. She is the author of three books and a documentary-maker for the BBC. Career Roberts has been a commentator for NPR since 1993,

*Kim Roberts *Sandi Ross * Djanet Sears *

Satori Shakoor Jeanette McGruder (born November 8, 1954) is a singer, comedian, sketch actress, and writer, who has performed with P-Funk, Brides Of Funkenstein, and Lynn Mabry and Dawn Silva. In 1979, she recorded with Silva and Sheila Horne on "Never Buy Texa ...

*Tricia Williams *

Alison Sealy-Smith Alison Sealy-Smith (born 1959) is a Barbados-born Canadian actress best known for her role as Storm in various Marvel animated TV series. Early life and education Sealy-Smith was born in Bridgetown, Barbados and raised in Toronto. She attended ...

* Philip Akin

Board of directors

*Harmony Cohen - Chair *Walter Gibbons - Treasurer *Arlene Campbell - Secretary *Ashima Chopra- Director *Sascha Cole - Director *Kevin Hanchard- Director *Greg Holness - Director *Stacey Norton - Director *Bev Salmon- Director

Staff

*Philip Akin - Artistic Director (2005-2020); Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu (2020-) *Michael Sinclair - General Manager *Luke Reece - Producer *Myekah Payne - Company Dramaturge

Playwrights Unit

An integral part of the company is the Obsidian Playwrights Unit, a venue for exploration of ideas. Playwrights commit to monthly meetings over a yearlong period (September to June). The group is headed by the Play Development Coordinator and is focused on playwright development as opposed to full-length play creation. This allows for each playwright to work on a short piece for workshop production and also explores a number of philosophical ideas that stimulate ideas and conversation. In June, the playwrights are matched with three directors to work on staging the plays for a workshop production, culminating in a Performance showcase.

Awards

* 2019 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production (''School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play'') * 2012

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped estab ...

for Outstanding Production ('' Topdog/Underdog'') * 2012 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production (in partnership with Acting Up Stage Company) ('' Caroline, or Change'')

References

External links

Obsidian Theatre

held at

Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections Clara Thomas (née McCandless; May 22, 1919 – September 26, 2013) was a Canadian academic. A longtime professor of English at York University, she was one of the first academics to devote her work specifically to the study of Canadian literatur ...

, York University Libraries, Toronto, Ontario. {{Authority control Theatre companies in Toronto Black Canadian culture in Toronto Black theatre 2000 establishments in Ontario