Canadian playwright, actor and director
Djanet Sears is a Canadian playwright, actor and director, nationally recognized for her work in African-Canadian theatre. Sears has many credits in writing and editing highly acclaimed dramas such as Afrika Solo, the first stage play to be written by a Canadian woman of African descent; its sequel Harlem Duet; and The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God.[1] The complexities of intersecting identities of race, and gender are central themes in her works,[2] as well as inclusion of songs, rhythm, and choruses shaped from West-African traditions.[1] She is also passionate about "the preservation of Black theatre history,"[2] and involved the creation of organizations like Obsidian Theatre, and AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival.[3]
Early life and education
Born (1959) in England, to a Guyanese father and a Jamaican mother,[3] Sears lived there until 1974 when her family moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and then settled in Oakville, Ontario in 1975.[1] Her birth name was Janet — she added the D after a trip to West Africa where she came across a plateau called "Djanet," inspiring her to change her name as a nod to her African ancestry.[3]
Sears attended York University where she obtained an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre in 1999, followed by studies at the Canadian Film Centre and New York University.[1]
Career
After returning from a trip to West Africa, Sears wrote her stage play Afrika Solo, which premiered in 1987, and sparked the creation of many other full-length plays like Double Trouble, and Harlem Duet.[1] Sears is not only a writer for theatre, but also has many credits in acting, directing, and editing multiple volumes of an anthology of Canadian African plays called Testifyin': Contemporary African Canadian Drama.[4]
Sears contributed to the creation of the AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival in 1997, which is a culmination of African centred plays on the Canadian stage.[1] It was held in Toronto in 2003 as well as 2006.[5] Sears also belongs to and is a founding member of the Obsidian Theatre "dedicated to producing works by authors of African descent living or working in Canada."[3]
Sears as an educator worked as an adjunct professor teaching drama at University College, University of Toronto.[5] Additionally she has held many positions like the international artist-in-residence at Joseph Papp Public Theatre, the writer-in-residence at the University of Guelph, and playwright-in-residence at Nightwood Theatre.[4]
Awards and honours
Sears full-length play Afrika Solo won the International Armstrong Award for Outstanding Radio Play (1991), and the Silver Prize at the International Radio Festival of New York (1991); its sequel Harlem Duet has acquired multiple Dora Mavor Moore Awards, and The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award (2004).[6] Sears's other distinctions include an even more extensive list including Canada's highest literary award.[4]
