Bold Theater of Kenya to be Featured in DOWNTOWN VARIETY

Bold Theater of Kenya - comprised of young theater artists from across the East African nation -- will be featured in an exclusive DOWNTOWN VARIETY presentation live-streamed online Friday, April 30 at noon (eastern) it has been announced by Mia Yoo, Artistic Director of La MaMa. To register, visit www.lamama.org (donation suggested).

Under the direction of founder Aroji Otieno, Bold Theater of Kenya, based in Nairobi, will present short performances that reflect the company's experience of navigating the global pandemic by shifting to digital theatre, promoting cross-cultural collaborations and sustaining a mentorship program that local and International Artists together.

One of the works in Downtown Variety will be a new, short play DREAM IN A MATUTA: a matuta is a mini-bus, which is the most common means of transport in Kenya. The bus is highly decorated inside and out according to current fashion. In the play, A group of youth going for an audition meet inside this matutu. One of them is a school girl who is looking for money to go for an illegal abortion after she is impregnated during the current Covid lockdowns.

The cast members are current participants of the mentorship program by Bold Theater of Kenya.

Mr. Otieno is a leading director and acting trainer in Kenya. He is a student of life and artistic expressions. He is currently the founder and artistic director of Bold Theatre Kenya, a performance-art based forum that promotes the preservation and development of Kenyan art as a tool of self-expression while encouraging intercultural collaborations. He is also the director of Aroji Drama Academy, Nairobi. Through his institution he has produced several award-winning plays in Kenya and worked with celebrated Kenyan playwrights and thespians including John Sibi Okumu, Dr. Fred Mbogo, Caroline Odongo, Catejan Boy and many more. Aroji is also the creative director of Nganya Records, which is a record label that promotes authentic Kenyan music.

DOWNTOWN VARIETY is an original performance series produced by La MaMa and CultureHub, the Tony Award-winning experimental theater company's art and technology arm, which recently marked its 10th anniversary. DOWNTOWN VARIETY is powered by LiveLab, a browser-based media-router for collaborative performance by CultureHub.

DOWNTOWN VARIETY, which began in March 2020 in response to the lockdown brought on by Covid, was devoted last year largely to new works created by performance artists from across the U.S. and internationally. This year, to date, CultureHub has turned the platform over to its partners in Brazil, Serbia and South Korea.

For more information and to view DOWNTOWN VARIETY, visit www.lamama.org The livestream is free (donation suggested).

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