About the Playwright

George Seremba is a Ugandan actor and playwright. He began writing and performing as a student at Makerere University, but he really flourished as an artist during his time in exile in Kenya. He went on to get his PhD from the Samuel Beckett Centre at Trinity College with a focus on the Ugandan playwright, Robert Serumaga. He has performed on stage, in films, and on television.

In 1980, Seremba fled Uganda after Milton Obote’s military intelligence attempted to assassinate him. He was tortured and shot seven times, then left for dead in a forest full of dead bodies--all because he was a student leader for those who were opposed to the new presidency. This story is the basis of his Dora Award winning play, Come Good Rain.

After he escaped Uganda, he moved to Kenya, then Canada, then Dublin, Ireland. In Kenya, he was well known for his performance in Athol Fugard’s Blood Knot. In Canada, he played the same role in the Edmonton Fringe Festival and Prairie Theatre Exchange (Winnipeg), to much critical acclaim. He performed in multiple of Athol Fugard’s shows, including My Children My Africa, Blood Knot, Sizwe Bansi is Dead, and Master Harold and the Boys. Sermeba has acted in theaters across the country. He was in a production of Our Country’s Good at Alberta Theatre Projects (Calgary), Separate Developments at the Great Canadian Theatre Company (Ottawa), Majangwa at the Manitoba Theatre Centre Warehouse (Winnipeg), and Master Harold and the Boys at the Centaur Theatre (Montreal), to name a few. He performed Come Good Rain in different theatres across Canada. In Ireland, he acted in many different plays, including Asylum! Asylum! (1996) by Donal O’Kelly and his own one man show, Come Good Rain. Seremba was nominated for an ESB-Irish Times Theatre Award for best male performer as Sam in a Calypso production of Master Harold and the Boys. He was a regular in the Irish soap opera, Fair City. He is also known for his roles in the following feature films: Relic Hunter (1999), The Escapist (2008) and Beyond Reality (1991).

He is the author of three plays entitled The Grave Will Decide, Come Good Rain, and Napoleon of the Nile. He has also written poems and radio plays. Vanishing Point on CBC Radio aired an adaptation of Come Good Rain, as did BBC World Service.

Seremba has taught at Case Western Reserve (Cleveland, OH) and held an IWP fellowship twice at Brown University (Providence, RI). He continues to work on writing new plays and completing academic research.

by Victoria McIntyre