“[A] memory play that is grounded in Ladi and Hasana’s time held captive by Boko Haram.”
Excerpted from press release:
In July, AnOther Theatre Company will present All Our Yesterdays. A new play written and directed by Chloé Hung, it centers on the kidnapping of the Chibok school girls by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria in April 2014. All Our Yesterdays features Chiamaka Umeh (Hairspray, Into the Woods) and Amanda Weise (Pon Broadway,Soundclash). The play will be presented at the Factory Studio Theatre from July 1st to 12th as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival. AnOther Theatre Company has teamed up with Plan Canada’s Because I Am A Girl campaign making the first two performances of All Our Yesterdays a fundraiser for their global initiative.
All Our Yesterdays follows two sisters. Ladi (Weise) is eighteen and attends Chibok government girls secondary school, and Hasana (Umeh) is sixteen, and is unable to attend school because of her undiagnosed Asperger’s. All Our Yesterdays is a memory play that is grounded in Ladi and Hasana’s time held captive by Boko Haram, and goes back and forth to the events leading up to their kidnapping. The memories move from Ladi’s leaving home for the first time to go attend school, to a devastatingly selfish decision that has tragic results.
On April 14, 2014 Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from their school in Chibok, Nigeria. While in recent weeks the Nigerian Army has liberated women and children from several Boko Haram camps, to date the 276 Chibok girls have not been found. Initially, the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls spread quickly and ignited global outrage. A few months later, however, the story of the Chibok girls had disappeared from the media narrative. As a student herself Hung felt compelled to write a piece for these girls, both to keep their story alive, and because their desire to learn was the main reason Boko Haram attacked their school.
All Our Yesterdays began as a short five-minute piece written by Chloé Hung for an assignment at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. It was well received which led to workshops of an hour-long play under the supervision of Gary Garrison and Peter Parnell. Hung also conducted extensive research for the play, including speaking with Pablo Idahosa (York University), Wumi Asubiaro-Dada (Voices 4 Change Nigeria), Hadiza Aminu Dorayi (Save the Children Nigeria), and accessing special reports such as Julian Eaton’s advisory report Services available for people with Autism in Nigeria.
In an effort to support Plan Canada’s global initiative, the first two shows of All Our Yesterdays will be a fundraiser for the organization’s Because I Am A Girl campaign. Proceeds from these performances will go towards supporting programs aimed at providing education for girls around the world.
Showtimes:
- Wednesday, July 1 at 8:45pm
- Sunday, July 5 at 8:15pm
- Monday, July 6 at 10:00pm
- Wednesday, July 8 at 4:00pm
- Thursday, July 9 at 1:45pm
- Saturday, July 11 at 9:15pm
- Sunday, July 12 at 12:00pm
Venue: Factory Theatre (Studio) at 125 Bathurst.
Tickets for all Fringe productions are $10, $12 in advance. Tickets can be purchased online, by phone (416-966-1062, business hours only), in-person from the festival box office located in the parking lot behind Honest Ed’s, (481 Bloor West), or — if any remain — from the venue box office, starting one hour before showtime. (Cash-only.)
The festival offers a range of money-saving passes for committed Fringers; see website for details.
Be advised that Fringe shows always start exactly on time, and latecomers are never admitted.
Photograph of Chiamaka Umeh and Amanda Weise provided by the company.