They Say I Am: Play At The Michael Joseph Center October 10th

It has been a minute since I was on stage. I have been performing poetry for the last six years and it has been an amazing journey. I took a break from active performance about a year ago. It’s been an interesting year as I’ve focused more on developing my writing and expressing my creativity through other forms of art such as film.

The break seems to be coming to an end and I’m pretty excited. I met up with a good friend and fellow writer, Anne Moraa in September last year and shared my dream of staging a play that explores the stereotypes of women. I came up with the concept and Anne wrote the play that was titled, ‘The Edge of Womanhood’. I approached four women poets that I thought would be great for the play: Raya Wambui, Namatsi Lukoye, Amare Poeta and Rein. The play needed a narrator and I approached Brenda Wambui. The play was staged as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations at Alliance on March 8th this year. The reception was fantastic and we set plans in motion to stage the play again later in the year.

It has been an interesting journey as we reworked and rewrote the play. I am looking forward to this new journey of exploring theater and fusing it with other art forms like poetry and film.

The reworked play is titled, ‘They Say/I Am’. The play is intertwined with monologues of poetry exploring the stereotypes of women with the intention of shattering them, revealing stereotypes as the fallacies they are.

The Cast and Crew of They Say/I Am

Mwende Ngao

Mwende Ngao is a filmmaker, blogger and poet. She is also the founder of Kike Tele. She believes in the power of art to spark conversations and create change.

Rein

Rein is a student and a videographer. She is also a poet and is the 45^th slam poetry queen.

Brenda Wambui

Brenda Wambui is a writer and entrepreneur interested in women empowerment, digital media and entrepreneurship. She is the co-founder of the award winning journal Brainstorm.

Amara Poeta

Julie Amara Poeta is a Daughter, friend, sister, blogger and poet who works for an international Handset Manufacturer. A part of Hisia Zangu Poetry family, her mantra is not to waste the God-given sunshine.

Namatsi Lukoye

Namatsi Lukoye is a spoken word poet, published writer and founder of Hisia Zangu society and The Kenyan Street Poetry. She is also a Public Relations Officer for Cerebral Palsy Kenya.

Marley Nyokabi

Marley is a poet, writer and an artist with a keen interest in film and social consciousness.

Anne Moraa

Anne is a writer/editor and a graduate of the Creative Writing (Msc) at the University of Edinburgh, Anne Moraa has had her writing (fiction, non-fiction and poetry) published in And Other Stories, Brainstorm, Badilisha Poetry and others. A founding member and editor at Jalada.org, she is as ever fascinated by women.

The play is on Friday 10th October 6pm-9pm at the Michael Joseph Center. For tickets/inquiries call 0715664104.