NICK HADIKWA MWALUKO
Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko
Waafrika 123:
1992. Kenya.
Two Womyn Fall in Love.
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About the author
Born in Tanzania and raised mainly in neighboring Kenya, Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko, non-binary transqueer, has been a reporter for Reuters News Agency and wrote feature stories, some of which developed into source material for plays. Nick attended Columbia University, earning an undergraduate degree with high honors, Magna Cum Laude, then continued as a Point Scholar in graduate school also at Columbia University. Several residencies in New York, California and Florida include Resident Playwrights Initiative with Playwrights Foundation in San Francisco, Public Theater’s Emerging Writers’ Group, Just Theater Lab, Freedom Train Productions, TerraNova Groundbreakers, Djerassi Residency, Thinking Cap Theater (artist-in-residence), and others. Other plays include: Silence Is A Sound, S/He, 37, Gayze, S.T.A.R.: Marsha P. Johnson, THEY/ THEM / THEIRS, Cock Tales for Christmas, Asymmetrical We, Blueprint for an African Lesbian Planet, A Love Letter to My Gay Black Brother, To Dyke Trans, Homeless in the AfterLife, Good Grief, Life Is About the Kill, Trailer Park Tundra, Once A Man Always A Man, Queering Mama Afrika, That Day that God VisitsYou, and more. Nick’s recent creative non-fiction essay, XXYX Queer Africa: More Invisible, a companion piece to Waafrika 123, was in Best American Essays 2020 as “Notable”. Nick’s other essay was nominated for a Pushcart Prize (final results currently pending).
About Waafrika 123:
1992. Kenya.
Two Womyn Fall in Love.
Foreword: “The Foreword to WAAFRIKA” by Ginni Stern
Afterword: “The Afterword to WAAFRIKA 123” by Naomi Rosen
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Full Description
1992. Kenya. On the eve of the country’s first democratic elections, everyone is
brewing with expression, even in the tiny, rural village, Luoland, with no electricity or running water some 250 kilometers northwest of Nairobi. There, although queers and lesbians and lesbian queers ‘don’t exist’ in Kenya, two queers fall in love: Bobby, an American development worker and Awino from the Luo tribe. To complicate matters, Awino’s father is also the Chief who enforces traditions and codes. So when famine strikes, the villagers blame the queer lesbians for the many, many deaths by starvation. To regain equilibrium, to make everything “normal” once again, Awino – non-binary queer trans – must be “circumcised” – by force – so s/he can act like a real woman rather than a woman “who wants to be” a man, and Bobby must leave. Will Awino and Bobby agree to separate for the good of their community? Or will the village itself change?
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Short Description
In a Kenyan village northwest of Nairobi where queer lesbians 'don't exist', two queers fall in love: Bobby, an American development worker and Awino whose father is Chief. When famine strikes, the villagers scapegoat the couple, forcing Awino – queer and trans - to be cut. FGM's motive is explored.
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WAAFRIKA 123 Reviews below:
THEATRIUS: WAAFRIKA 123 Transfixes with Fire
https://theatrius.com/2018/05/13/waafrika-123-transfixes-with-fire-at-theatrefirst-berkeley/
MERCURY NEWS: Thorny Kenyan trans story debuts in Berkeley
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05/23/review-thorny-kenyan-trans-story-debuts-in-berkeley/
TALKIN' BROADWAY: WAAFRIKA 123
https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/minn/minn790.html
WAAFRIKA 123 VIDEOS below:
Waafrika 123 Video Clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPNURvAMd5U
Waafrika 123 Director's Cut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO-lTueZ2Wo
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WAAFRIKA 123 Images below:
Waafrika 123 images:
https://theatrefirst.com/waafrika123/press/