≈ 90 minutes · No intermission
Last updated: January 30, 2024
Creators' Note
“Through the demise, my heart is still alive. It looks awful outside, but it’s still worth a try.” - Yasiin Bey
Our identities are shaped by the echoes of our past. In the memories and experiences of our childhood, we discover our authentic selves.
Who am I? How am I?
Who are you? How are you?
Our development into who we are is a unique journey, molded by personal choices and experiences, yet it’s also a reflection of the environments that nurtured us. Understanding oneself begins with unravelling our true nature from the myriad influences that have defined us.
Freedom: A Mixtape arose from the streets of St. Paul, the benches of Montebello Park, and the forever-flowing water at 12 Mile Creek. Using the Niagara Region as the bookends, our story unfolds its pages to reveal tales of resilience, community, and an unwavering commitment to hope.
I invite you not just to be a witness, but to immerse yourselves in the stories you will hear. Reflect on your own paths, the passions that drive you, and what you stand for. Think about the connections between our shared histories and the narratives on stage. This isn’t just a staged reading; it’s a mirror reflecting our collective experiences and a window into the odyssey of life we are all on. As you sit here, I encourage you to ask yourself: What part of my story would I share in this mixtape? Let’s embark on this expedition together, discovering the ties that bind us in our relentless pursuit of freedom.
Program Notes
This multidisciplinary work blends original songs, stories, poems, anecdotes, and spoken word pieces from artists around the Niagara Region. Originally conceived as a digital compilation album, this will be its in-person premiere. An ensemble of actors and a live band will breathe life into this community conversation about joy, ancestral healing, generational trauma, police brutality, the complexities of Black identity, and the human right to be free.
Founded by award-winning poet/performer and stage director ahdri zhina mandiela, b current Performing Arts was created to provide space for black artists to train, explore, challenge mainstream notions of theatre, and engage with the community. Over its 30+ year history, b current has expanded to support artists primarily from the black and brown diaspora and intersectional artists, developing scores of internationally celebrated artists and their works. As the “current” in their name suggests, the company is focused on contemporary and relevant approaches to performing arts that speak to the issues and interests of present-day racialized audiences and communities.
Artists
Marcel Stewart is a father, award-winning artist, and facilitator. He serves as Artistic Director of bcurrent Performing Arts and as Director of Artistic Outreach for SpiderWebShow Performance. Marcel also sits on the Board of Directors for Essential Collective Theatre. He has worked with Soulpepper, Factory Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Obsidian Theatre, The National Arts Centre, The Theatre Centre, The Blyth Festival, Festival Players, Studio 180, The Grand Theatre, Persephone, Canadian Stage, Theatre Direct, Carousel Players, and Theatre SKAM. In his work, Marcel investigates telling stories that connect artists and audiences to a cultural and ancestral past, while also imagining a future without borders or boundaries. Marcel is passionate about crafting narratives that focus on joy as a form of resistance against the prevailing colonial narratives that have shaped the Black Canadian experience. He uses digital technologies to expand the reach of his work, both bringing collaborators in remotely and taking the work out to the wider public. Marcel is interested in finding non-traditional ways to build community through performances and storytelling that are interactive and welcoming. For three years Marcel worked at Suitcase in Point as Outreach Director, co-founding the Nest Artist Residency and Electric Innovations, while also executive producing Freedom: A Mixtape and Lost & Found: A Community Mixtape. When he is not creating theatre, Marcel is an arts educator who has facilitated programming to community youth groups, professional actors, students in university, high school, and elementary. He was the founding youth development coordinator for Shakespeare in the Ruff, and has been a theatre instructor at the National Theatre School, Brock University and Sheridan College.
Introduced to the magic of theatre and the arts at a young age, Kira is an arts administrator who is drawn to storytelling in all its myriad forms. Kira has a long-time love of learning - when not working, you can often find her researching, reading, or taking a course to explore new things. She has a degree in Drama from the University of Toronto, a diploma from the Canadian College of Performing Arts, and a certification in Finance and Accounting from Toronto Metropolitan University. Kira specializes in systems and process improvement and is on the board of Mural Routes.
Singer/Actor- Freedom: A Mixtape – Live and Unplugged (bcurrent Theatre debut 2024); On A Night Like This (Soulpepper 2023); The Amen Corner, A Grand Night For Singing (Shaw Festival, 2023); Trouble In Mind (Royal Mantioba Theatre Centre/Citadel Theatre 2023). Zokie of Planet Ruby (TV 2023).
Annika Tupper (they/she) is honoured and thrilled to be a part of Freedom: A Mixtape - Live and Unplugged! A queer Métis artist originally from Saskatchewan (Treaty 6), Annika is based in Toronto and is a recent graduate from Sheridan College’s Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance program. Growing up around diverse styles of music and being a classically trained musician, they are interested in exploring how different genres can be married together to express their inner world, and finds joy in specializing in styles outside of musical theatre. Selected credits: Emma Nolan in The Prom (Drayton Entertainment), Alex/Dawnis in After Prom/Nbwaachaadaa Nokomis (Decolonize Your Ears New Play Festival - Red Beti Theatre), Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, CJ in In Studio: the Words and Music o Britta Johnson (Theatre Sheridan), Tree/Asst. MD in Rooted: A Musical Poem by Jewelle Blackman (Theatre Sheridan + Musical Stage Co.). Along with performing, Annika is a composer, lyricist and copyist, and aims to amplify marginalized stories that have yet to be witnessed or heard within the musical theatre canon. @annikatupper
Amoya Reé (she/her) is a Jamaican-Canadian performance poet and 2018 Canadian National Champion. Her writing is rooted in her lived experiences as a Black Woman, mother, community worker & arts educator. Exploring the cultural significance of things like race, mothering and love, she often blends historical fact with present realities, making for a poetic experience that is both informational and inspirational. She began exploring performance poetry in 2008 & since then she has shared her stories in classrooms & boardrooms across Ontario. Affectionately known as Reé, she sat as captain of the 2018 Toronto Poetry Slam team who were the 2nd Canadian team to ever reach semi-finals at the National Poetry Slam in Chicago and led the team to victory, winning the Canadian National Championship in Guelph, Ontario. She has had featured performances at the coveted When Sisters Speak (2019) and at Toronto Poetry Slam (2019). The 2021 Toronto Grand Slam Champion was recently awarded the 2023 Black Pearl award, recognizing her as one of the top 100 Black Women to watch in Canada. Reé is currently working on her debut collection funded by the Ontario Arts Council and the coveted Canada Council for the Arts titled, “I Never Asked you to Love me”.
Emerjade Simms is a Jamaican-Canadian actor, storyteller and deviser-director. She is a graduate of the Acting program at the University of Windsor and holds a BFA degree. Emerjade is also a 2016/17 graduate of the Mechanicals program at Factory Theatre. She loves “da kids” and has been a director of Peace Camp at Children’s Peace Theatre for the past two years. Select theatre credits (Acting) include Sweeter (Cahoots/Roseneath), Redbone Coonhound (Arts Club), Calpurnia (RMTC/NAC), The Mountaintop (Persephone Theatre), 1851: Spirit and Voice (Soulpepper/Myseum), 21 Black Futures: Omega Child (Obsidian/CBC), Peter Pan (Bad Hats/Soulpepper), School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play* (Obsidian/Nightwood), Wounded Soldiers (4th Line), The Bird Killer (Let Me In). Television credits include Forbidden, Fear Thy Neighbor, See No Evil and Paranormal 911. Emerjade enjoys napping in her downtime and loves her mom like cooked food.
*Dora Award Winner for Outstanding Production "
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Jay Njoku is a one of a kind actor, voice actor and recording artist based in Brampton, Ontario, holding a degree in the performing arts from Brock University. Jay can be seen and heard in a variety of national campaigns, most recently one with New York Fries and on BET+ TV series, Love Me to Death. Joseph, also known as the recording artist, EverythingOShauN, has released multiple albums gaining acclaim from top national and international platforms such as Spotify, Complex, the Toronto Star and more. Combining both worlds, he has had his original music featured on television shows, Heels (Starz), Mayor of Kingstown (Paramount+), Sex Lives of College Girls (HBO Max) and more to come. Turn on the radio at any time in Toronto and catch his music on heavy rotation. Art is his passion and means of expression, but when not working on that, you can find him at the gym (or in the garage) working out and prepping for his next set or big stage.
Peter graduated from the Humber College Theatre Performance Program in 2003. Peter’s theatre credits include: A World Without Shadows, The Wilberforce Hotel, Jumbo, The Real McCoy (The Blyth Festival), Other Side of the Game (Cahoots Theatre Co. and Obsidian Theatre), To Kill a Mockingbird, An Ideal Husband, Richard III, All’s Well That Ends Well (Stratford Festival), Fences (Grand Theatre), Here Are the Fragments (The Theatre Centre), Romeo and Juliet, Sweat, Fairview (Canadian Stage Company), A Few Good Men (Drayton Entertainment).
Peter’s voice coaching credits include: Serving Elizabeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Death and the King’s Horseman, Wedding Band (The Stratford Festival), The National Theatre School of Canada, Canadian Film Centre, and Sheridan College. Peter is also a playwright, and his first play Tyson’s Song will be produced in of May 2024 by Pleiades Theatre in Toronto.
Xpress aka DJXP is a DJ/Producer of Nigerian and Jamaican decent born to immigrant parents in Canada. Getting introduced to music at a young age by his father's large music collection and taking piano lessons for a brief time, informed his musical fascination with both playing and making records. Growing up with fellow artist and brother EverythingOShauN has become the architect behind his sound and entrenched in the dna of the music and performances that OShauN outputs. DJXP's unique background and exposure to a wide variety of music, genres and time periods helps the musicality of both the music he produces and the music he plays as a DJ which allows him to bring a unique style and understanding of the art of DJing and production.
Jordan is a Toronto-based Stage Manager and is thrilled to be joining this production. Jordan works in Stage Management for Opera, Theatre & Musical theatre across Canada; favourite productions elsewhere include Richard II, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Stratford); ELF: The Musical, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Mary Poppins, A Christmas Carol (2017, 2018), Chariots of Fire, Home for the Holidays (Grand Theatre); Carmen, Don Giovanni, The Birds, Il Trittico (Pacific Opera); The Music Man, Serving Elizabeth, Kim’s Convenience, Ring of Fire (Thousand Islands Playhouse); R.U.R. A Torrent of Light, Oksana G (Tapestry Opera); Passing Strange (The Musical Stage Company/Obsidian); The Brothers Size, The Testament of Mary, Hosanna, The Odd Couple (Soulpepper); Disney’s Newsies (Drayton). Jordan's upcoming productions include Million Dollar Quartet (Grand Theatre) and The Diviners (Stratford).
Leighton Smith is a multi-disciplinary creative with a strong background in design and photography. Having studied from Durham College, York University and OCAD University, he uses his creative knowledge to find the best solutions to problems that come his way.
Joining the theatre world, he now takes on roles as a production manager, house technician and set designer to bring forth the visual telling of stories through lights, sound, set design and live performance.
Credits
Company
Marcel Stewart
Kira Allen
Annika Tupper
Amoya Reé
Emerjade Simms
Jay Njoku
Jordan Guetter
Leighton Smith
Peter N Bailey
Xpress aka DJXP
NAC Production Team
Azrieli Studio Team
Head Technician
Stephane Boyer
Assistant Head technician
Leigh Utley
Technical Director
Peter Lyne
Projectionists, Wardrobe Mistresses, Masters and Attendants are members of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 471.
The National Arts Centre is a member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association
NAC English Theatre Team
Managing Director
David Abel
Artistic Director
Nina Lee Aquino
Senior Engagement Strategist, Community & Partnerships
Rose-Ingrid Benjamin
Learning Coordinator
Aimee Bouchard
ASL Interpreter Consultant
Carmelle Cachero
Marketing Strategist
Bar Clement
Communications Strategist
Sean Fitzpatrick
Senior Producer
Alexandra Lunney
Senior Marketing Manager
Bridget Mooney
Associate Producer, Artistic Programming and Environmental Projects
Judi Pearl
Company Manager
Samira Rose
Administrative Coordinator
Monika Seiler
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Lead Donor
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Official Hotel Sponsor
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INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF THEATRICAL STAGE EMPLOYEES
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees