Afro Urban Society and Studio Grand present 'Full Color: A Staged Reading’. The story follows Inem, a first generation Nigerian woman returning home after five years of estrangement from her family. Inem grapples with the fractured memories and loss she experiences when attempting to piece her life together amidst family tragedy. Ultimately, the story is about finding reconciliation with one's cultural and personal history as a survivor.
Written by Itoro Udofia
Directed by Tossie Long
Featuring Kemi Role, Kwesi Dreams, Nekeya Iyanna, Nkeiruka Oruche, Teju Adisa-Farrar, Uzo Nwankpa
Writer Itoro Udofia will join the cast for a talk-back after the performance.
Full Color: A Staged Reading
Saturday, Apr 21 7:00-9:30 PM
Studio Grand
3234 Grand Ave., Oakland
$10-$20 Sliding Scale
ABOUT
Itoro Udofia is a writer, cultural worker, and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She loves to tell stories that showcase strong female protagonists defying social conventions. As a first generation Nigerian writer, writing in this way is a liberating process. You can find her work in Slice, aaduna magazine, Saraba, Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, and the anthology Two Countries: US Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents in Red Hen Press. She has received an Honorable mention from the Speculative Literature Foundation and is a finalist on the Top 25 list for Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers (2017). Recently, she won third place for Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Award for her story, “To the Children Growing Up in the Aftermath of their Parents War.” She has done residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and at the San Francisco Writers Grotto. Currently, she is a fellow at the New York Foundation for the Arts Immigrant Artist and Mentoring Program.
Afro Urban Society is a creative community committed to sustaining the resiliency, interconnection and unique artistic and cultural expressions and contributions of people of African descent in urban settings around the world.Through original and curated arts & event production, popular arts education and community engagement we create spaces for people of African descent to tell their own stories. www.afrourbansociety.com
Studio Grand is a nonprofit multi-use space that supports local families, youth, emerging and established artists by hosting a mix of music, performance, educational, visual art classes and events. Studio Grand’s programming centers leadership and programming for historically marginalized communities including people of color, immigrant, and LGBTQAA communities.
Tossie Long is a San Francisco native, GRAMMY-nominated vocalist, actress, dancer, facilitator, director; simply put, she is a performing artist. Tossie’s voice has graced the albums of highly TuNeYaRdS, Tumbleweed Wanderers, The Sh8peShifter, Pancho Morris, Alphabet Rockers!, and more. As a performer, her portfolio is not limited to work with Ase Dance Theater Collective, Amara Tabor-Smith's Deep Water Dance, Rara Tou Limen, Zakiya Harris, An Open Love Letter to Black Fathers, Elephantine, as well as various individual projects and appearances. Her proudest accomplishment is being a mother. IG:tossielong
Nkeiruka Oruche is an Igbo-Nigerian-American cultural producer and multidisciplinary performer specializing in the expressions of urban culture of the African Diaspora and its intersections with personal identity, public health and sociopolitical action. Since 2002, Nkeiruka has played a crucial role in ushering African culture unto the global stage from working as Editor-in-Chief of Nigerian Entertainment, a digital magazine, and now as Co-founder & Director of Afro Urban Society, a creative urban African organization. nkeioruche.com
Kwesi Dreams started writing poetry three years ago while traveling abroad in Ghana, West Africa. The poems began as a way to transcribe the world he wants to see and became his first published collection, “Pieces of My Soul, Vol. 1.” He now performs at venues throughout the Bay Area, recently headlining Twitter HQ’s first-ever “Poetry Night” and a Congresswoman Barbara Lee event. See more of the vision at KwesiDreams.com.
Nekeya Iyanna is an Oakland native dancer with an extensive love and experience for Afro-diasporic dancing specifically Hip-hop, Caribbean, and East African (Ethiopian/Eritrean) traditional dance styles. With over 20 years cultural study and performances she began teaching and now focuses on dance classes for women. She is very passionate about using dance to celebrate culture, learn history and sustain physical health. IG @flavasmovementoak
Teju is a writer, poet and urban geographer. Her interdisciplinary work is produced from her focus on how city culture, urban production, and microgeographies intersect with art and activism, subaltern populations, and immigrant communities. She does this using a decolonial, diasporic, transnational lens that is informed by culturally relevant moments. tejuadisafarrar.com
Uzoamaka (Uzo) Nwankpa MSN, RN is an Igbo woman, from Enugu, Nigeria, West Africa. She is a first generation immigrant to the west, dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Igbo culture. She is a performing artist, dance facilitator, choreographer, educator, researcher, community health registered nurse, and an advocate for the use of the healing arts as a right to individuals and communities. Uzo is connecting her passion of music and dance from all over the continent of Africa with its influence on global health and wellbeing. Uzo continues to explore ways to engage communities around the world through innovative workshops, speaking engagements, presentations and performances. www.theuzo.com