NATIONAL THEATRE: AUDITION CALL: COOKING OIL

AUDITION CALL: COOKING OIL
A play written by Asiimwe Deborah, Directed by Emily Mendelsohn
PLAY SUMMARY:
Cooking Oil, a new play by Deborah Asiimwe, tells the story of a teenage girl murdered while selling her village's food aid to raise money for her school fees. Using song, dance and storytelling, the play asks the questions - is it ever alright to take something that is not yours? Is it ever alright to judge difficult choices that one is not forced to make? This production is a collaboration between Ugandan and American artists and will be showing at National Theatre, Kampala from October 8, 2010.

Further Inquiries:
www.cookingoilplay.com or for inquiries while in Uganda, call 0752 841 567

AUDITIONS:
- We are looking for 12 actors and actresses, aged between 15 years and 60 years, with abilities to sing and act.
- Open Auditions will be held at the National Theatre, Kampala on Saturday 14 August, 10:00am to 3:00pm and Rehearsals will run from August 23, 2010.
- Interested? Please come for auditions prepared to sing a song.

We are looking for actors and actresses for the following roles:
MARIA – Spirit. 18 years old, Intelligent, beautiful, looks much younger than her age. Hawks gallons of Cooking Oil and also smuggles it across the boarders of her country. Her ambition-to attain university education.

HON. DR. SIR SILVER BIBALA – Politician. Mid 40s. Eloquent, handsome, loyal to his friends. His ambition is to build a strong political career, never to allow poverty into his household ever again, dreams of one day becoming the president of his country.

KAFUKO – Silver’s nephew, his right hand man. Early 30s. He is the brain behind Silver’s political career. Shrewd. He does what he can to get what he wants. He does as he is told without questioning especially if he knows that there is something for him. His motto is “eat while your mouth can chew!”

BATAKA – A peasant. Mid 40s. Silver’s childhood friend, Maria’s father. He lost his property during the war and became very poor. However, with Silver’s help, the economic condition of his household has slightly improved. He looks much older than his age. His ambition is to educate his sons (Maria’s brothers) and find a day’s meal for his family. He runs a retail shop in the nearby trading centre. He becomes a haunted man.

NEEZA – Housewife. Late thirty’s. Maria’s mother and Bataka’s wife. Beautiful but tired. She is a traditional woman who tries to keep out of her husband’s way. Her ambition is to kick poverty out of their household and see Maria back in school.

NDEEBA – Fresh graduate social worker. Mid 20s. Turns activist. Nurses political ambitions. Upfront, idealistic. Her ambition is to turn her country into a corruption free society. Can she succeed?

VOICES (6) – Of the crowd, of journalists; echoes of the characters’ dreams, males and females. Performers who can play drums or other musical instrument preferred.
Asiimwe Deborah
Currently working as Specialist for Sundance East Africa, Deborah Asiimwe is a playwright and performer from Uganda. Forgotten World, Cooking Oil, Appointment with gOD and Untitled received readings and workshops in the United States of America. Lagoma is Searching, You are that Man, and My Secret were produced at the Uganda National Cultural Centre/National Theatre. Asiimwe has participated in many artists’ gatherings and conferences, including, the annual Arts in the One World Conference (CalArts, Valencia, California), a project of More Life Initiative: Genocide and Cultural Studies, a collaboration between CalArts and the Interdisciplinary Genocide Study Center in Kigali, Rwanda; Eti! East Africa Speaks at Dartmouth College (2008); the Women Playwrights International Conference in the Philippines (2003); and is the 2003 Sundance Theatre Lab international observer. Asiimwe received her MFA in Writing for Performance from California Institute of the Arts. She is the overall winner of the BBC African playwriting competition

Emily Mendelsohn is an LA based director. She has traveled to Rwanda and Uganda for the past three summers as part of the More Life Initiative, a conversational community exploring ways art can respond to violence. Emily teaches arts and civics at Vassar College’s Powerhouse Theater Program. She received her MFA in directing at California Institute of the Arts and she will be spending the year in Kampala on a directing Fulbright Fellowship.

Mafuta's "NYWERA" album Launch

Mafuta a youth group is launching its "Nywera" album this Saturday the 31st of July 2010 at National Theatre in the main Auditorium. 

Time:   5:00 p.m.

Fee:    VIP 30,000/=
           Ordinary 10,000/=

SOUND AS A MEANS TO ENGAGE

SOUND AS A MEANS TO ENGAGE

Audio media, ICTs and oral history

8^th July 2010, 10-5 National Theatre/Kampala –CICP, 2-6p.m

A one-day interactive introduction to the tools and concepts of “slow broadcasting” online archiving and audio correspondence as based on creative commons (cc.) share-alike license distribution   

with Claudia Wegener (alias, radio continental drift)

For artists, collectives and organizations around UNCC; the session is also meant as a collective consultancy & ‘strategic’ idea exchange between the organizations involved; how by using above tools links and collective productions between those organizations can be furthered and thus common goals pushed even harder and more effectively.

including various ways of recording, uploading & capturing audio, clipping, editing, mixing as story telling, uploading online, creating on-line audio archives, setting up a blog and linking audio files to it, creating on-line platforms etc.

please bring pen & paper, your mobile phone (especially if it can record audio!) and other voice recording equipment you might have (including mics and headphones); if you have a laptop and its no trouble bringing it, please do.

resources: an interactive audio application, the publication of the NO-GO-ZONES project called “influence100”, and a sound-file telling the story of the DURBAN SINGS audio media and oral history project “the rough radio mix” are on the desktop of the computer in the UNCC resource centre. This is a free learning session and it’s open to all interested individuals.

further suggested listening

* 2010 (March), 100.3 MHz Laehradio in Helsinki Silakka Radio Show: Africa! dj shinji kanki presents selected tracks from the on-line archive of radio continental drift http://silakkaradio.fi/sound-art/march-7-2010-africa/

* 2009 (July) http://durbansings.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/durban-sings-pre-release/

switch board: http://www.radiocontinentaldrift.wordpress.com

on-line sampler: http://www.archive.org/details/RadioContinentalDrift

project blog/ archive: http://www.nogozones.wordpress.com

project blog/ archive: http://www.durbansings.wordpress.com

radio continental drift

a broadcasting house in the bag of a drifter out to here unheard voices

a branch of the growing networks of sound workers,

audio artists, radio communities, and the street corner academies of listening and broadcasting

around the world

radio is happening

when people loiter in public places

the air is free!

radio continental drift (claudia wegener) http://www.radiocontinentaldrift.wordpress.com

a travelling sound and media artist organising collective radio projects (such as the No-Go-Zones audio radio project in South London; collaboratively with Terry Humphrey, funded by Arts Council England, TrAIN, and Southwark Council; http://www.nogozones.wordpress.com); Associate member of Transnational Arts Identity and Nation Research Centre (TrAIN) at University of the Arts London http://www.camberwell.arts.ac.uk/39575.htm; most recently, a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?10,66,19,104; organising and facilitating the DURBAN SINGS audio media and oral history project www.durbansings.wordpress.com collaboratively with Molefi Mafereka Ndlovu, funded by Rosa Luxemburg Foundation; recent work includes LONG WALK, a radio play commissioned by Studio for Acoustic Arts WDR3 Cologne (broadcast October 2009) http://www.wdr3.de/open-studio-akustische-kunst/details/artikel/long-walk.html; and a contribution to sound art magazine www.vibrofiles.com for vibrö No.5; "The Plastic People Issue", released by Double Entendre June 2009.

Reinventing the Golden Era of Ugandan Theatre

Muduuma Kwe Kwaffe to Premiere at the National Theatre this Saturday 

There a time was when indigenous plays were a favourite in theatre halls, and when school drama festivals were vibrant. This golden age of Ugandan theatre was orchestrated by distinct literary figures among others Robert Serumaga, Rose Mbowa, Byron Kawadwa and Wycliffe Kiyingi in the 60s to late 70s.

These dramatists became famous for powerfully constructed topical plays that provided rich entertainment as well as biting social satire so much the Kiyingi's hugely radio series, Wokulira, which began in 1962 were later banned by Idi Amin while Kawadwa was murdered because of his highly critical play, Oluyimba Lwa Wankoko.

The annual inter-school festivals were so competitive that only the best of the best earned the honour of performing for a packed house at the National Theatre in Kampala. Kings College, Budo, set the pace in this regard with Shakespeare productions that actually inspired Kiyingi to establish the first all-African theatrical group, African Artists Association, in 1954 purposely to promote native drama.

Kiyingi's television series Buli Enkya, Buli Ekiro (1962), Gwosussa Emwanyi (1963) got multitudes hooked. In 1965, Kiyingi went to Bristol to study drama and on returning a year later continued doing what he loved most –writing and producing stage, radio and television dramas of enviable quality. His 1972 play, Lozio ba Cecilia, became a literature set book while Muduuma Kwe Kwaffe (1972) established him as playwright of indisputable distinction.

Golden Artist
It's for his tremendous contribution to the theatre industry that Kiyingi has been acclaimed by critics as "the encyclopedia of drama" and "the moving spirit behind modern theatre in Uganda." And during celebrations to mark 50 years of the existence of the Uganda National Theatre earlier this year, the 80-year old Kiyingi was crowned as "Golden Artist" and his book, Muduuma kwe Kwaffe officially launched.

The play which is a hilarious exposé of the economic exploitation Ugandans endured under Asians and the seeming inability of Ugandans to take charge of their political, social and economic affairs will starting July 3, 2010 be showing at the National Theatre as a step forward in reviving the theatrical glory that was as well as inspiring schools to resurrect school festivals.

"We want to set the trend of quality for the theatre industry in Uganda," says National Theatre Production Manager, Sam Okello. "It's a powerful production and we have heavily invested in as a way of setting the standard and provoking other theatre practitioners to promote our own plays and bring back the golden era of Ugandan theatre."

Directed by Kaya Kagimu Mukasa and featuring some of the finest performers in the land –Patriko Mujuuka Sophie Matovu, Sam Okello, Sophie Matovu, Edwin Mulazi, Agnes Nakakawa and even the National Theatre Artistic Director Mr. Joseph Walugembe, Muduuma Kwe Kwaffe will after the July 3^rd premiere continue to show twice every Saturday and Sunday at the Theatre until August 3, 2010.

Tickets are already on sale at the National Theatre Box Office for 10,000 Shillings.

Latino Flavour

The intoxicating Latin Flavour is back in the National Theatre main auditorium. We are talking the classic Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Rumba, Salsa, Mirenge, Cha-Cha, Jive, and Bachata on the same stage all evening! Sensual dancing at its best. If you love the BBC Entertainment's Strictly Come Dancing, you will certainly fall for this, and what's more, it's better by all acoounts! Come and get hypnotized for only 5,000 shillings this Wednesday, June 30th, at 5p.m., and every last Wednesday of the month.

URGENT: BBC Searching for Actors in Uganda!!

Hardly a week after three Ugandan playwrights scooped the 2010 BBC African Performance Playwriting Competition, the BBC production team is already in Kampala looking for actors to feature in these award-winning radio plays. There are eleven roles in all: 

• Seven male (all ages)
• Four female (three of them 20s, one any age.) 

Actors will be paid a daily rate between 300,000 and 700,000 Ugandan shillings depending on experience. The auditions will take place here at the National Theatre tomorrow Saturday 26th June 2010, 10 a.m.-12 noon. This is a grand opportunity; if you don't grab it don't say you didn't know!!

..................................................

In a story titled "A Chance to Reap from Uganda's Literary Heroics as BBC Arrives," Daily Monitor's Tabu Butagira reports of BBC's optimism to find great Ugandan actors. The story in full below:

A BBC director and producer will tomorrow be at the National Theatre in Kampala, auditioning and producing plays written by award-winning Ugandans.

On Monday, Nobel Laureate in Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka, picked Ms Deborah Asiimwe, author of Will Smith Look Alike, as the best at the 50th edition of the British public broadcaster's African Performance Play Writing Competition.

Hers is a story of 17-year-old Tereka, travelling to New York with his school music group after they won a national competition, setting eyes to pursue a better life overseas due to his semblance to American actor, Will Smith.

Mr Kenneth Atwine and last year's winner Julia Childs tied in second position having authored Kitu Kidogo and The Coffin Factory, respectively.

Ms Angella Emurwon came third with The Cow Needs A Wife, offering Ugandans the first sweeping chance to topple Nigerians who dominated the awards in the past half century.

The plays; Kitu Kidogo and The Cow Needs a Wife require to be cast in authentic Ugandan sound since they are set in the country, according to the producers.

"But even more important, we want to tap into local talent and are confident we will find great Ugandan actors," said BBC World Service Drama Director Catherine Fellows.

Announcing the prizes on Monday, the broadcaster said Uganda's impressive performance in this year's competition suggests a "flowering of literary talent” in the country."

Acclaimed creative writer, Prof. Soyinka, while picking the winners, said: "I don't know whether Ugandans think they want to knock Nigerians out of this competition because Nigerians used to take everything but this year, no show."

The broadcaster's Drama Producer Jenny Horrocks said this year's winning entries are "relevant to contemporary life and highly entertaining."

Director Fellows and Technical Producer Neva Missirian will drive tomorrow's midday event at the National Theatre, Ms Mary Lusiba, BBC's head of marketing and communications in Africa, announced in Nairobi yesterday.

"The BBC team will be looking out for talent with experience in radio, stage, TV or film," she said in a statement. Audiences across the world will have the opportunity to listen to the plays on BBC World Service from August 5 to September 9.

The broadcaster launched the playwriting competition, in which listeners are invited to compose a 30-minute English-language play containing no more than six characters, in 1971. And the winning entries are recorded and broadcast on BBC World Service for Africa.

That premiere competition in 1971 was judged by Prof. Soyinka, who as a way of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the BBC African Performance season, returned to judge this year's competition.

BREAKING NEWS: Ugandans Scoop All the Prizes in the 2010 BBC Playwriting Competition!!!

We are on top of the literary world after three Ugandan playwrights won the 2010 BBC African Performance Playwriting competition!

Deborah Asiimwe (in picture) took the top prize that comes with a financial reward of 1000 pounds for her play Will Smith Look Alike. The play which will be broadcast on BBC is about a student who travels to the United States with his school music group after they won a national competition, and believes that his resemblance to the American actor Will Smith will help him to pursue a better life there.

The second position was jointly snatched by Keneth Bashir Atwiine for Kitu Kidogo, a story about two corrupt policemen, and Julia Child's The Coffin Factory a hilarious play that addresses the stigma of HIV.

Angella Emurwon's The Cow Needs A Wife came third. It's a comical piece about a young man whose girlfriend discovers she is pregnant.

To scoop all the three top positions is a seismic achievement for Uganda considering that it knocked down Nigeria from the literary pedestal it had long enjoyed.

Prof. Wole Soyinka, who judged this year's competition commented: "I don't know whether Ugandans think they want to knock Nigerians out of this competition because Nigerians used to take everything but this year, no show. I am glad of course I didn't know who on earth was writing which play."

The Nobel laureate added, "Deborah Asiimwe's writing was very good, and I became really caught up with the play wondering what the final denouement would be. It was convincing."

An excited Asiimwe, told me about the day BCC called to say she was the overall winner of the prestigious competition:

"May 10th 2010, about 11:00 am, I am at my desk in the Sundance Institute Office, located on Varick Street, Lower Manhattan , New York . My phone vibrates, it does not show the number and being me, I refuse to pick it up, hoping that someone would leave a message and I would call them back! It stops vibrating, no message comes through. Five minutes later, the phone vibrates again, still no number, again, I refuse to pick it up and again no message left. An hour later, the phone vibrates again! This time, I start thinking the worst. "It must be from home! This must be bad news!..Oh God, I hope not...oh my God...my mother just went through an eye operation...Oh my God...please let this not be bad news... "Pick it up!" As if some other voice is speaking through me. I pick up.   "Hello, this is Asiimwe! "From the other side comes a strong British accent; "Deborah?"

"Yes, this is she." And I am thinking, no one in my family speaks with such a strong British accent! Now what is this?

"My name is Vera..." the voice says, "....and I am calling from the BBC."

I hesitate. Why would the BBC be calling me? As my thoughts are still racing, Vera interrupts me. "Do you have any idea why BBC would be calling you?"

I am about to say "NO. Not at all!", then, it clicks! The script I submitted a while back. That must be it! I rumble something to her...I can't quite remember what I said, but I did mention that I submitted a script to BBC. Vera laughs. Silence. I wait. We wait for either of us to break the silence. My heart in my throat, my veins popping out of my skin; she breaks the silence: "Congratulations Deborah! Your play Will Simith Look Alike won the BBC African Performance 2010 Playwriting competition!"

This wasn't a dream. This was real, I was talking to someone from the BBC telling me that my play won the 2010 competition!? That I get a financial award on top of my play being broadcast on BBC? As I am trying to absorb all this, she says, "I should also mention that Wole Soyinka was the Judge of the competition and he is the one who got to select your play!" 

Wole Soyinka! A man whose writing was introduced to me in my secondary school days, he was one of the people whose work influenced me to write plays!! The thought of Wole Soyinka holding my script and actually reading it  thrills me.

I am so thankful because God has caused me to meet amazing people on my journey as a playwright. I have been privileged to work and be mentored by wonderful, giving, loving individuals. The support I have received from my former professors, some of my employers and colleagues has been extremely invaluable and I am forever grateful to God for directing me to this path."

This is not the first time that Ms. Asiimwe is earning recognition for her drama-tic prowess. Early this year, her play, Forgotten World, premiered at The School of Theater at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) where she attained her Master of Fine Arts Degree in Writing for Performance. A few months later, her new play, Cooking Oil, about an East African girl and foreign aid meant for her village, got a public reading in Manhattan . This play will in fact be staged at the National Theatre in Kampala later this year. I'll keep you updated. 

Today at National Theatre

The re-branded Jam Session has already picked fire and is blazing hot with live performances; stirring vocals, eclectic instruments; come enjoy the masters alongside the apprentices; performances with an artistic soul that serve as a role model to the entire industry here and across the border; a variety show to take your breath away! All for free starting 8p.m.!!!

Saturday June 5, 7:30 p.m.

The classic theatre musical, Aladdin, comes to the National Theatre in Kampala, thanks to the International School of Uganda's Production of Disney's 'Aladdin Jr.' Music by Alan Menken. Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. Book adapted and additional lyrics by Jim Luigs. Music adapted and arranged by Bryan Louiselle based on the screenplay by Ron Clements and John Musker, Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio. Tickets on sale at the National Theatre Box Office; Adults -10,000Shs, Children -5,000Shs. This is one of those rare shows you don't want to miss!

SILENCE VITAL FOR EVERY BELIEVER

By Robert Bake Tumuhaise

I have no doubt the time I spent upcountry during the festive season revived my life. One of the things I enjoyed a great deal was freedom from noise. I was in a village with no telecom network, no internet, no discos, no batembeyi, and not many vehicles. The calm I felt gave me an atmosphere to evaluate my life in 2009 and to plan better for 2010. The peace I got reminded me what a gift silence can be! From the first century saints, through the ascetics of the middle ages, to the most recent saints of Padre Pio’s time, “Quiet Time” has been part of the life-style of the great men and women of God.

As you well know, today we are living in a world of noise. There are too many voices fighting for our attention at ago. While the street preacher is still assuring you of how you are soon perishing in hell, the mutembeyi will be shouting at the top of his voice to make you see his clothes. You will be fleeing from the hooting taxi, only to bump into a noisy truck marketing music. Even at places of work and at home, there will always be someone to shout at you. In the end you may never have a settled mind, unless you take a deliberate decision to withdraw from noise once in a while.

Each one of us needs to create some personal time. This is something I emphasize in my book "TOUCHING HEAVEN, RAZING HELL!" You need some uninterrupted time for yourself, if possible everyday. This is what I call "Me-Alone-Time". A time to reflect on your achievements, failures, weaknesses and strengths. A time to evaluate your past, meditate on the present and plan your future. A moment to take unrushed decisions for the good of your spiritual, marital or work life. Don’t say you have no time for silence; you have exactly the same number of hours in a day like the Pope and yet he gets time off his busy schedule to reflect on his life. 2010 is not a year of excuses; it’s a year of action.

Bake is an author, and Managing Director,

World of Inspiration.
Contact: bakerobert@yahoo.com / 0712-868424.