Melancholy of Barbarians
Director/Dramaturge
Through the Playwrights in Process Visiting Playwright Series, in the Spring of 2010 Professor Denise J. Hart collaborated with the Lark Play Development center in New York to offer a unique experience to the students in the Howard University Department of Theatre Arts and the Washington DC community.
International playwright Kofi Kwahule (and his translator, Chantal Bilodeau) spent a short but impactful in residency in the department for a reading of his play, Melancholy of Barbarians.
In addition, Kwahule, led one 90 minute master class for the student body. Kofi Kwahule's latest work, is a play about love, fundamentalism and women striking back.
The residency allowed Kwahule to participate in all rehearsals along with Professor Hart and the cast, table discussions with eh director and cast and the selection of actors. The process posed a unique challenge in that Mr. Kwahule spoke French. All communication with the Director and cast was done via his translator Chantal Bilodeau.
Koffi Kwahulé is a playwright and novelist originally from the Ivory Coast. He studied at the Institut National des Arts in Abidjan, at l'Ecole Superieure des artes et Techniques du Theatrre de Paris (rue Blanche), as well as the Sorbonne Nouvelle where he earned his Ph.D. in Theatre Studies.
He is the recipient of the Grand prix international des dramatureges du Monde (RFIACCT), the Prix SACD-RFI 94 and the Journeees d'Auteurs du Theatre ddes Celestines de Lyon. Most of his plays have been produced internationally and translated into several languages.
His first novel, Babyface, published by Editions Gallimard in 2006, won the Grand Prix Ahmadou Kourouma and the Grand Prix Ivoirien des Letters.
Mr. Kwahule was a featured playwright in the November 08 issue of American Theatre Magazine. To read the article click here:
http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/Nov08/eurafrique.cfm
(Playwright Kofi Kwahule)
Students in rehearsal
Audience attendees
Student actors
Production Details
Hart's Role: Production Director
Play: Melancholy of Barbarians written by Kofi Kwahule
Event: Playwrights in Process Visiting Playwright Series
Location: Howard University Department of Theatre Arts
Master Class Date: February 18, 2010
Rehearsal Dates: February 19 - 20, 2010
Production Date: February 20, 2010
Production Program - Click Here
Final Thoughts from the Playwright
1. In what way was the Playwrights in process experience beneficial to you as a writer and a person?
This workshop was too short to be able to draw conclusions. Besides, it is difficult to clearly identify the truly significant changes that an experience can effect on the way we approach artistic or literary work. It seems to me that things are much looser, less clear-cut, and that any assessment, if I can use that term, will happen much later, when I least expect it.
2. Did you discover anything new that you'll use in your future writing or teaching experiences?
What was new for me was that it was my first time working with an American university. Up until now, my experiences in the U.S. – whether in New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis or at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge – have been with actors from “civilian life.” So Howard is my first university. And the little that I saw at Howard (through our exchange of questions) allowed me to understand a little better the very internal style of acting of the American actors with which I have had the opportunity to work.
3. If you could add something to the process, what would that be and why?
In addition to the internal quality of the American school of acting – work that relies more on subtleties of meaning, the soul of the text and its internal music – it would have been interesting to explore a style of acting based on what I would call the factual, external music of the text. A music suggested by the unfolding of the words themselves, that precedes any consideration of meaning. A university – which is a place of research, of exploration by trial and error, where you’re not circumscribed by the urgency and demands of production yet – seems an appropriate setting for such a digression which, far from being pointless, could enrich the actors’ traditional acting style. But that would require a little more time and most of all, that my English be less awful.
Thank you Koffi for sharing with us all!