Canadian Theatre Made for Black Women

Naila Keleta-Mae will speak to women-identified and non-binary faculty, graduate students, postdocs, and staff at Waterloo Women’s Wednesdays about “Canadian Theatre Made for Black Women.” For close to two decades Trey Anthony has carved out a successful career as a published and produced playwright in Canada in a national theatre scene where few playwrights enjoy sustained success. This talk will discuss how Anthony–a Black queer woman–has done so even as Canadian theatre scholars, practitioners and administrators voice perennial concerns about dwindling numbers in theatre audiences in Canada.

Naila Keleta-Mae is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo who has expertise in race, gender, performance, theatre and Beyoncé and whose research is supported by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2018). Keleta-Mae has published in Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice, won the Mary McEwan Award for Feminist Research (York University), and appeared as a commentator for media outlets including the BBC, The Globe and Mail, Business News Network, The Fader, and The Canadian Press. If you haven’t seen her talk about Beyonce in the local newspapers, get inspired by her TED talk at Waterloo and her publications listed on her uWaterloo profile page.

Students in SPCOM 220 have spent the term thinking about how performance shapes human interaction and fuels social change. Inspired by W3, instructor Jordana Cox has invited them to imagine how performance might advance gender equity at UW. As the term draws to a close, Jordana's students will create artworks that reflect, resist, and re-imagine gender dynamics on campus. Come see their work at W3's Nov. 28 meeting!