An All-Black, All-Female Shakespeare Company That Is Transforming Theater

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Maisey Bawden talks us through her experiences of tokenism in theatre, tackling difficult subjects head-on, and her vision for the company’s future.

A separate video will also feature Black key workers reading out a sonnet, highlighting Mawa’s interest in community collaborations.“It’s our way of honoring the older members of our society,” Bawden, who serves as the company’s artistic director, tells me of the latter. Mawa, she adds, is about both paying tribute to the past and inspiring the next generation. “‘Mawa’ means ‘tomorrow’ in Chichewa, which is a Malawian dialect,” she says.

As their videos continue to be released, she talks us through her experiences of tokenism in theatre, tackling difficult subjects head on, and her vision for the company’s future.“We all have experience of working in classical theatre and Shakespeare, and we saw a need for vital change in the theater industry. As a group, we’ve always had conversations about constantly having to bang down the door, especially within classical theatre and its predominantly white spaces led by white men.

Shakespeare was a revolutionary. He moved with the times, and I think he would’ve been supportive of Mawa.“It’ll always be relevant, it’s on the curriculum and is always programmed at theaters. We thought, rather than fighting against that, why don’t we lean into it? There are so many opportunities within his stories to tackle issues that are present within the Black community. Visibility is also important to us.

, there have been studies recently about Black maternal mortality rates, so we can explore the child loss themes in that play. The possibilities are endless.”“During the pandemic, there was so much digital theater and it was great, especially because theater isn’t always accessible to everyone. We wanted to make these resources freely available.

 

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