BEING CHAKA Comes to Burning Coal Theatre Company
Being Chaka will run March 13th-30th, 2025, at the Murphey School.
Burning Coal Theatre Company has announced its production of Being Chaka, created by Téa Artistry, written by Tara Amber, Chuk Obasi, and Nalini Sharma, directed by Chuk Obasi and Vieve Radha Price.
Being Chaka will run March 13th-30th, 2025, at the Murphey School, located at 224 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC 27604. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. All tickets are $30, or $25 for seniors (65+) or $20 (students, teachers, active military). People 18 and under can get a ticket to any performance for $5. Friday, March 14th is College night: $5 dollar admission for college students. Sunday, March 16th at 2 pm is ‘Pay What You Can' day.
Being Chaka tells the story of Chaka, a 16 year old black high school student who transfers to a private school. Chaka is haunted, literally and metaphorically, by the ghosts of generational trauma and systemic racism. Over the course of the play, Chaka and his friends Kunzang, Ethan and Maddy must learn to grapple with their histories, families and cultures– or else let the past consume them.
Chuk Obasi: A New York Native, Chuk Obasi is a playwright, actor, director, and choreographer. He is also an educator and a multi-disciplinary artist who works in theater, film, television, dance, and poetry performance. He is the Co-Director of TÉA Artistry.
Nalini Sharma: Sharma is a writer, actress, and clown comedian known for her work on NCIS, The Rookie, Modern Family, and her absurdist clown show Until Death.
Tara Amber: Tara Amber is a playwright, actor and musician. She played Kunzang in the original cast of Being Chaka, and is also known for her work on Law and Order and Awaken.
The show will be co-directed by Chuk Obasi (see above) and Vieve Price.
Vieve Price: Price began her arts career in 1995 as an actor and assistant artistic director at NiteStar, an HIV prevention program using interactive musical theatre to educate youth. After serving in the Peace Corps in Vanuatu as a youth development volunteer focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention through theatre, she received the Sargent Shriver Peaceworker Fellowship. In 2015, Vieve founded TÉA Creative to expand Insight Artistry, her innovative approach to artistic creation, performance, and audience engagement. Over the past decade, she has created five original Insight performance experiences and completed residencies at institutions like George Washington University and the Irondale Ensemble Theatre.
Joining the cast for this production are Hunter Crone, Andrew Price Carlile, Joseph Reese, Gabby Morell, Emma Stone, Joey Brenneman, Miriam Tabb, Amanda Marikar, Jarred Pearce, and Christa Irby.
Juliana Frasca will serve as the Production Stage Manager. Costumes will be overseen by Jennifer Ijeoma and Barry Jaked will double as Technical Director and Master Electrician. Lighting will be handled by Julianna Babcock and Bri Flynn will be properties designer. The sound design for Being Chaka will be done by Juan Isler.
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