Welcome to Obaaberima. We are thrilled to introduce you to Tawiah M’carthy – one of Toronto’s most exciting young artists.
We are proud to be launching our 34th season with this important new work. Despite the fact that our city is composed of a diverse population, queer stories from people who have recently immigrated to Canada are rarely heard. The pervading image of homosexuals in the media remains predominantly male, partnered, white and privileged and yet this homogenized image of the “out and proud” homosexual does not come close to representing the realities of the people who actually make up our community. The vast majority of us are caught having to navigate multiple cultural, racial, economic and religious identities on top of our sexual identities– identities that are often directly at odds with one another. For queer immigrants, invisibility within Canadian culture and discrimination in their new country means that their struggle to manage these conflicting identities is lived out in silence and isolation.
At Buddies, we believe there is infinite power in sharing personal stories through theatrical expression. The more complex our world becomes and the more isolated we become from one another as a society, the more we need the theatre to bring us together. With Obaaberima, Tawiah M’carthy shares a story of someone desperately trying to reconcile different identities: black, immigrant, Ghanaian, male, female, gay, spiritual, to name but a few. His attempt to positively and holistically embody all the clashing identities that exist within him speaks to the arduous journey that everyone must undergo towards self-acceptance. By sharing this story in a collective forum such as this theatre, Tawiah is creating a space for us all to celebrate the complexities that make us human.
We hope you will join us.
Brendan Healy, Artistic Director
