Kenya’s theater director Saheem Ali was 15 years old when his father, a pilot from the Kenya Airways airline, took him a trip to London. There, he saw a stage adaptation of the musical coming from the people Grease. From the moment the curtains opened and the audience was introduced to their American Dreamscape Dreamscape, Ali was hooked. And has been stuck since then.
In the decades that have passed since seeing Grease In London, Ali has become an innovative voice in the New York Robust Theatrical scene. Has directed several succes of Shakespeare, including Romeo and Juliet, Enric Vand Twelfth nightIntegrate diversity in these productions. Organized an award -winning production of Fat hamwritten by James Ijames (who won the 2022 Pulitzer Award to hang the Shuttle-They of inspired play), who marked the first time that a Kenyan has directed a play on Broadway (not to mention a 2023 Tony nomination for the best direction of a play).
Ali is now preparing to carry GoddessA Kenian musical inspired by the myth of Queen Marimba, about a young man who is his life for an enigmatic singer who throws a spell on a mombasa jazz club. In front of the debut in the public theater of the musical, Blavity spoke with Ali about the staging Grease In his nairobi high school, his passion for reimaginating Shakespeare’s work with black and brown voices and perspectives at the helm, what to wait GoddessAnd much more.
Explain -more information on how to carry Grease in your nairobi high school.
I went to this trip and was only obsessed (Grease) I saw when I was in London. I returned to Kenya and did not know that there was a movie (version) at that time, but I was so obsessed that I wrote the script of my memory of watching the show on stage. And then I convinced my friends in Jamu (Jamhuri High School) to consider a show and we were like for KSPCA. I had all my angle.
(Jamhuri High School) is a school of all boys, so I had to find that girls were in the program. So I went to the girls in the State House and talked to the director. She agreed. From there, I only fell in the direction. He had seen the show in London and someone had to tell everyone where to go and what to do. It was very ad hoc, very fed by passion and full of love, such as this thing. I just bite the error.
What was your major to take away from that production?
It made me have the courage to take initiative about things and support -in things that I was passionate about. At that time, I wanted to do a show and I just had to find out how to do it. I guess this was one of the biggest lessons: that if I care about something, I can convince others so that they also care and together we can do something special.
How did you get involved with the Phoenix Players, an old prestigious Nairobi -based theater company?
Someone of Phoenix players came to see my production Grease And they wrote a letter to me. They wrote: “Hi, as I saw you Grease. I thought you were very well in the program. Do you want to be in a show of my players in Phoenix? It is said Romeo and Juliet. The paper is Mercutio. Let me “. And Thought, Oh, Great. And Knew Nothing About Shakespeare. And Knew Nothing About Theater, Actally. But and Said Yes, and Went in, and I Just Completely Had My Mind Blown Again. All of of Sudden, Now and Was an Actor in a Company A PLAY BEING PUT TOGETHER.
You are known for your diverse approach to reimaginating Shakespeare’s work. Where does this passion and commitment come from?
When I made Shakespeare to Phoenix players, they invited me to a world where we were all the black and brown children who were dedicated to Shakespeare like us. No one told us that you have to talk about it with a certain accent. We were talking like the Kenyans (i) who acted as Kenyans. Then, when I arrived in the United States and suddenly, every game of Shakespeare I see are mostly white. If there is any person of color, it is on the periphery. They are not in the center and at that time they spoke like British and non -American. He only felt so inclined and so out of the invitation he had had as Kenyan to relate -to me to the material.
Shakespeare is a language that expresses an emotion. That’s everything. Therefore, to constitute some rules about who is allowed to be in the center or how to present it was only antithetical to what I had been introduced with Shakespeare. So I did my mission not only to focus the color people on the Shakespeare I do, but also to find ways to interrogate the language and authenticity of the expression.
We talk about Goddesswhich is about to debut in the public theater. What has been your trip by making this story for the stage?
I read about the myth (by Queen Marimba) in high school and they really took me. I was like, Wow, this goddess of music: she was beautiful and cursed to never find love. And I thought about how convincing it is and hooked me. Did not leave me. So when I moved to the states and exploring what kind of director I wanted to be and what kind of material I wanted to do, I decided after the postgraduate school that I would like to do an original musical and I would like to be established in Africa.
At that time, it would be established as a village in pre-colonial Africa, in a city that did not need to be named, and I had some collaborators and started leaving it as a story and I tried to write it myself. At one point, I was exploring what would mean creating an original musical from scratch that had some themes and resonance with my birthplace, without being Kenya. After many years, this evolved into a modern environment, to establish it in Mombasa and give it as a contemporary sensation, and) establishing it in a jazz club instead of in a village. I really allowed the piece to be as a director and artist.
As this is for a mostly western audience, what elements of the show were the most important when translating Africa and African experiences on stage?
What was key was to find a story and a container and a world that expressed it for me. As I said, the original piece was established in the past and expressed a moment in history that is not contemporary. I found that I was not satisfied with that. Part of the challenge was to find out, because this myth, of course, is old and prehistoric. It is a moment of the gods and goddesses and the creation of music. So I found out how I can keep this part as I expanded the story so that he created conflicts and drama and all these ingredients you need in a successful show.
He also wanted a generational conflict in the piece. These are two young people who meet, finding their voices and have to come against the pressures and expectations of tradition and society. I wanted to find a way to be true for, like the culture of which I come. The theater is about empathy and the theater is trying to show how we are more equal than different. So I wanted someone to be Kenyan to look in this very Kenyan personal struggle. Because for me it translates.
The western media and entertainment have fought with African representation since … well, forever. What do you think can do both the West and those of the continent to improve the representation and give a seat to the African table at the table?
I think it’s about supporting African voices and wanting to tell African stories in their own way. This has always been my mission (Goddess) From the beginning. I have been fortunate to have producers who have supported all this. So, you know, it is the initiative of which I was talking about my Grease Days: I had to have a vision, I had to articulate it, and then I had to convince others to buy it and passionate about it. But, if I had not been so lucky, I would not have been fortunate to have a father who could bring -me to London, come to the United States and study the theater, have the opportunity to be in the public theater and have an institution that supports me as an artist, it would not be where I am right now Goddess. I think it is just a matter of cultivating and supporting truly African voices and that they want to create pieces that reflect their particular relationship with the continent.
What do you expect the audience to take away Goddess?
I hope Goddess It will give (public) a little taste of my Kenya, because we all have our own versions of Kenya, right? Let’s experience mine, which is a dance floor with eclectic music, where a passion and experience that changes life can occur, because this is my version of what I have experienced when I was in Kenya. I hope you make people want to go to Kenya and love to be in a place like motorcycle motorcycle to capture this energy. I hope it is only entertaining, illuminating and allowing audiences to travel, even mentally, to a different part of the world.
Goddess It will work from April 29 to June 1 in the public Theater of New York City.
