The Swamp Dwellers

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, Wole Soyinka has published more than thirty works, and continues to be active on various international artistic and Human Rights organizations such as the International Theatre Institute, the UN Commision on Human Rights and the International Parliament of Writers of which he was the immediate past President. A Yoruba born in Western Nigeria and educated in Ibadan, Wole Soyinka continued his studies at the University of Leeds, England, earning an Honours degree in English, then joined the Royal Court Theatre, London, as a play-reader. In 1960, he was awarded a Rockefeller grant and returned to Nigeria, where he researched theatre, and founded a theatre company.

Soyinka’s first plays, The Swamp Dwellers and The Lion and the Jewel, were written in Leeds and London, first performed at Ibadan in 1959, with The Lion and the Jewel receiving its London premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London in the sixties. His later play, Death and the King's Horseman has been produced all over the world, including at the National Theater in London in 2009, at Lincoln Center in New York City and in 2022 at the Stratford Festival in Canada. Other works for theater have included The Trials of Brother Jero, Jero’s Metamorphosis, A Dance of the Forests, Kongi’s Harvest, Madmen and Specialists, The Strong Breed, The Road, A Play of Giants, Requiem for a Futurologist. He has adapted The Bacchae for the British National Theatre where it was performed under the title The Bacchae of Euripides, Opera Wonyosi from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, set in an African context, and King Baabu from Alfred Jarry’s King Ubu. His adaptation has been described as taking Ubu’s savage satire to the limits of the grotesque.

Soyinka has written three novels, The Interpreters, Season of Anomy and Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth was published in 2023, listed as a NY Times Notable Book of the Year. Autobiographical works include The Man Died: Prison Notes and Aké: The Years of Childhood and IBADAN, The Penkelemes Years. Literary essays are collected in, among others, Myth, Literature and the African World and Art, Dialogue and Outrage while his political and other thematic writings are contained in The Open Sore of a Continent and The Burden of Memory, Muse of Forgiveness. His poems are collected in Idanre and Other Poems, Poems from Prison, A Shuttle in the Crypt, Ogun Abibiman, Mandela’s Earth and Other Poems, SAMARKAND and Other Markets I have Known. Wole Soyinka has held several university positions and still lectures extensively.

Ato Blankson-Wood (he/him) is best known for his starring role in Jeremy O. Harris’ critically acclaimed Slave Play, for which he was nominated for a 2021 Tony Award. He has also earned nominations for the Drama League Awards and the inaugural Antonyo Awards for playing “Gary,” a role he originated for the New York Theatre Workshop production, where his performance earned him a Lortel Nomination. This past summer, Ato played the titular role of Hamlet in Shakespeare in the Park’s production directed by Kenny Leon. Prior to this, Ato starred opposite Bill Camp and Elizabeth Marvel in Long Day’s Journey Into Night for Audible, which reunited him with Slave Play director Robert O’Hara. Ato had his breakout performance in the Public Theatre musical The Total Bent (Drama League and Lucille Lortel Award nomination) which explored the life of a black musical prodigy in a nation on the verge of social upheaval. Ato has also been seen on Broadway in Hair and Lysistrata Jones, as well as in The Rolling Stone for Lincoln Center (Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Performance). Films include Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit, Spike Lee’s BlacKKKlansman, Worth, opposite Michael Keaton, and Peter Hedge’s The Same Storm. Television includes The Good Fight, She’s Gotta Have It, and Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us.

Broadway: Misery and The Trip to Bountiful, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, On the Waterfront, Prelude To A Kiss. Off-Broadway: Soft Transfers (MCC); Painted Rocks of Revolver Creek, The Train Driver, Master Harold, Two Trains Running (Signature); As You Like It (TFANA). Television: The Penguin, Chicago Med, Evil, Law & Order and series regular on The Breaks and The Knick. Film: Paris is in Harlem, 40 Winks, The Whirly Girl, A Walk Amongst the Tombstones, The Surrogate, Ben Is Back and the upcoming Atrabilious, Boss (HBO) and American Rust Season 2 (Prime). He has a Drama Desk Award; he is a three-time recipient of the Connecticut Critic Circle Award and has been nominated for ADELCO Awards and Drama League Awards. Leon lives in Bloomfield NJ with his wife and their daughter and teaches 2nd-year acting at SUNY Purchase.

Theatre: King James (Old Globe), Partnership (Mint Theater Company), We Swim, We Talk, We Go to War (Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse), Henry V (Old Globe), Lizardly (Media Art Exploration/ New York Live Arts), Merry Wives (The Public Theater/Shakespeare in the Park), Romeo N Juliet (Pittsburgh Public Theater), A Raisin in the Sun/Something Happens for Joe/Soft (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Television: Elsbeth (CBS), Brilliant Minds (NBC), Bob Hearts Abishola (CBS), Dear Edward (Apple TV), The Good Fight (Paramount+). Education: B.A. from Dartmouth College, M.F.A. from NYU Graduate Acting. joshuaechebiri.com

Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Hermione Granger), The Crucible (Tituba). Off-Broadway: Julius Caesar, Henry IV (St Ann’s Warehouse), Father Comes Home From The Wars, Sweat (Public & Tour), Ruined (Arena), Her Portmanteau (NYTW). London: Way of The World (Donmar), Ruined (Critics Circle Best Actress), The Homecoming, King Lear, Big White Fog (Almeida), Moon On A Rainbow Shawl, Death and The King’s Horseman (National), A Raisin In The Sun (Royal Exchange), Born Bad (Hampstead), Fabulation, Gem of the Ocean, Wine In The Wilderness, Pecong, (Tricycle), Vagina Monologues (West End). Film: The Man Inside, SW9, Up’n’Under. TV: Death In Paradise (BBC), Skins (E4), New Amsterdam (NBC).

Jason Maina is elated to be making his Off-Broadway debut at TFANA. Born and raised in Louisville, KY, Jason began his journey in performance with local theater companies Kentucky Black Repertory Theater and Actors Theatre of Louisville before attending Fordham University—of which he is a recent graduate. You may have recently seen him as Osei in Culture Shock at Powerhouse Theater Festival, as Ulysess in There Goes the Neighborhood at the Brick Aux Theater, or as Timon in The Elif Collective’s production of Timon of Athens.

New York: Julius Caesar - Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at the BAM Harvey Theater. UK Theater includes: Multiple seasons at the RSC in Stratford Upon Avon, and London. A Matter of Life and Death, His Dark Materials Parts I & II (Royal National Theatre). Singer, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe), All My Sons. Television includes: La Brea (NBC & Peacock), Wondla, Being Mary Jane (BET) Banshee, Paradox, New Tricks. Film Includes: The Birth of a Nation (Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner) Death Saved My Life, Blindfire, Burning Sands, The Program.

My name is Michael “Olawale” Oyenola. Born in Brooklyn and shaped by the rhythms of Nigeria, I spent my childhood immersed in the culture before returning to the U.S. as a teenager. In Abeokuta, Ogun State, I got my first talking drum, sparking a lifelong journey to discovering ancestral wisdom. My love for music runs deep—Apala, Juju, and Fuji were the soundtracks to my childhood, with legends like Musiliu Haruna Ishola, King Sunny Adé, and Ebenezer Obey influencing my appreciation for rhythm and storytelling. Their music taught me the power of tradition, movement, and the deep connection between sound and identity.

Awoye Timpo is a Brooklyn-based Director and Producer. Her recent New York credits include Elyria by Deepa Purohit (Atlantic Theater), Wedding Band by Alice Childress (Theatre for a New Audience), In Old Age by Mfoniso Udofia (New York Theatre Workshop), Carnaval by Nikkole Salter (National Black Theatre), Good Grief by Ngozi Anyanwu (Vineyard Theatre and Audible) and The Homecoming Queen by Ngozi Anyanwu (Atlantic Theater Company). Regionally she has directed at the Huntington, Studio Theatre, Paradise Blue, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Rep and Marin Theatre Company. Other projects include concert performances for independent artists as well as for the NBA, Ndebele Funeral (59E59, Edinburgh, South African Tour), “Black Picture Show” (Artists Space/Metrograph), and “Bluebird Memories“ (Audible). Awoye is a Creative Arts Consultant for the African American Policy Forum and the Founding Producer of Classix, a collective of 5 artists created to explode the classical canon through an exploration of dramatic works by Black writers and Black performance history, theclassix.org.