At the culmination of their PhD on the personhood, practice, and pedagogy of Black womyn in theatre, d'bi.young anitafrika returns to Tkaronto to reignite a lifelong dream of establishing a Black Theatre School for new generation arts practitioners. Continuing the foundational work of fiwi aat space (2001-2003), ArtStarts Dub Theatre Program (2007), anitafrika! dub theatre (2008-2010) and The Watah Theatre (2013-2018), the Black Theatre School is rooted in the transdisciplinary arts pedagogies of African-Caribbean-Canadian Black womyn arts educators such as Anita Stewart, Vera Cudjoe, Amah Harris, ahdri zhina mandiela, Djanet Sears, Winsom Winsom, Alison Sealy-Smith, Rhoma Spencer, Lillian Allen and Itah Sadu. The Black Theatre School is an outgrowth of the revolutionary art-based praxes, teachings, and legacy of these visionaries, all of whom (except for Vera Cudjoe) have personally guided d'bi.young, the Black Theatre School's Founding Director of Education, along their lifelong journey as a storyteller.

 

Here at Black Theatre School, we approach theatre and performance through the lens of three baobab African philosophies:

• Ubuntu~"I am because you are because we are" 

• Sankofa~"Return and get the knowledge" 

• Iwa Pele~"Be of good head and good heart"                A decolonizing intersectional space that celebrates global majority artists, the Black Theatre School embodies Black feminist thought as a central theoretical and philosophical location from which to cultivate liberatory Black epistemologies, ontologies, cosmologies, and aesthetics.

 

Our approach to theatre training is practitioner-centered, rooted in Critical Dub Pedagogy, and guided by the Anitafrika Method, which centers selfhood, creativity, and kinship in the process of making decoliberatory art. With a strong focus on decolonial criticality, biomyth monodrama, panto dub theatre, and ensemble building, the Black Theatre School trains practitioners in performance and non-performance disciplines, including playwriting, storytelling, directing, sound, set, lighting and costume design, stage management, technical direction/production management, and producing. 

 

The Black Theatre School is running a 9-month pilot program in professional theatre training designed to nurture a new generation of theatre practitioners across multiple disciplines, including:

• Performance

• Playwriting

• Directing

• Stage Management

• Production Management/TD

• Set & Costume Design

• Lighting & Sound Design

 

The Black Theatre School provides a decolonial, immersive, and interdisciplinary training ground where Black performance aesthetics, embodied learning techniques, and liberatory worldbuilding take center stage, through the Anitafrika Method's three-stage process of Self-Transformation, Creative Expression, and Community Embodiment.