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Posted On: January 7th 2026, 10:27 pm
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Tickets @ watahtheatre.ca
February 17 – March 8, 2026
Watah Studio Theatre
32 Lisgar Street, Studio 14
Tkaronto
Watah Theatre proudly presents esu crossing the middle passage: orisha trilogy part one, a landmark work of dub theatre by d’bi.young anitafrika, returning to the stage for its 10-year anniversary at the newly established Watah Studio Theatre. The production launches Watah Theatre’s 2026 season and invites audiences to experience anitafrika’s biomyth monodrama work in an intimate studio setting.
Originally premiering in 2016 at the Storefront Theatre to critical acclaim—including Four N’s from NOW Magazine, a Critic’s Pick, and a Dora Award nomination—esu crossing the middle passage has since become a foundational work within anitafrika’s canon and the first chapter of The Orisha Trilogy.
Set aboard a slave ship and embodied by Esu, the Orisha of crossroads and transformation, the piece follows a womxn’s journey into the Transatlantic enslavement system of humxn trafficking, through poetry, ritual movement, and multi-media and sound. A performance installation and ode to the spirit of surthrival, esu crossing is a theatrical event that softens the contours between ritual, performance, and representation.
Originally created during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, esu crossing the middle passage emerged as a politically charged intervention in contemporary theatre, opening space to confront the enduring legacies of colonialism, enslavement, and racial violence. Nearly a decade later, the work speaks with renewed urgency. In a present moment shaped by global unrest and cultural reckoning, the piece affirms theatre as a necessary site for collective witnessing—where history is remembered, embodied, questioned, and re-futured.
#pantodubtheatre #anitafrikamethod #monodrama #blacktheatre #feministtheatre
February 17 – March 8, 2026
Watah Studio Theatre
32 Lisgar Street, Studio 14
Tkaronto
Watah Theatre proudly presents esu crossing the middle passage: orisha trilogy part one, a landmark work of dub theatre by d’bi.young anitafrika, returning to the stage for its 10-year anniversary at the newly established Watah Studio Theatre. The production launches Watah Theatre’s 2026 season and invites audiences to experience anitafrika’s biomyth monodrama work in an intimate studio setting.
Originally premiering in 2016 at the Storefront Theatre to critical acclaim—including Four N’s from NOW Magazine, a Critic’s Pick, and a Dora Award nomination—esu crossing the middle passage has since become a foundational work within anitafrika’s canon and the first chapter of The Orisha Trilogy.
Set aboard a slave ship and embodied by Esu, the Orisha of crossroads and transformation, the piece follows a womxn’s journey into the Transatlantic enslavement system of humxn trafficking, through poetry, ritual movement, and multi-media and sound. A performance installation and ode to the spirit of surthrival, esu crossing is a theatrical event that softens the contours between ritual, performance, and representation.
Originally created during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, esu crossing the middle passage emerged as a politically charged intervention in contemporary theatre, opening space to confront the enduring legacies of colonialism, enslavement, and racial violence. Nearly a decade later, the work speaks with renewed urgency. In a present moment shaped by global unrest and cultural reckoning, the piece affirms theatre as a necessary site for collective witnessing—where history is remembered, embodied, questioned, and re-futured.
#pantodubtheatre #anitafrikamethod #monodrama #blacktheatre #feministtheatre
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