DREAMING ZENZILE

ABOUT

Based on the life of Miriam Makeba
By Somi Kakoma
Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz
Choreography by Marjani Forté-Saunders
Music Direction by Hervé Samb
A co-production with National Black Theatre

2021/22 Season

May 17, 2022—June 26, 2022

Dreaming Zenzile ran approximately two hours and fifteen minutes with one intermission.
This production used strobe and haze effects.

Read Synopsis

At her final concert, South African musical legend and activist Miriam Makeba delivers the performance of her life, raising the conscience and the consciousness of a people. But the ancestors are calling—transporting her through the music and fractured memories of her past on a spiritual journey of reconciliation. Written and performed by international music sensation Somi Kakoma, this world premiere musical was an electrifying portrait of a revolutionary artist’s singular voice and vision.

Under the direction of NYTW Usual Suspect & former 2050 Fellow Lileana Blain-Cruz, the rolling world premiere production of Dreaming Zenzile brought together seven producers including Octopus Theatricals, National Black Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, McCarter Theatre Center, Arts Emerson, Apollo Theater and New York Theatre Workshop. The soul-stirring production included a live jazz band playing original music and reinterpretations of Makeba’s remarkable catalog.

Special thanks to The Miriam Makeba Estate, The Mama Africa Cultural & Social Trust and The Miriam Makeba Foundation for their support and permission to create this work.

Dreaming Zenzile was developed by Octopus Theatricals and the National Black Theatre, co-commissioned by Joe’s Pub at The Public and ArtsEmerson, Boston, MA and developed with the support of The Apollo TheaterDreaming Zenzile was further developed at the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab in 2019, and received residencies with SEI Innovation studio at the Kimmel Center for the Performing ArtsThe Clarice Smith Center’s Artist Partner ProgramBaryshnikov Arts CenterRauschenberg Residency/Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and UCLA Center for the Art of Performance. The original music and arrangements of Dreaming Zenzile were made possible through the French American Jazz Exchange, a joint program of FACE Foundation and Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with generous funding from Cultural Services of the French EmbassyDoris Duke Charitable FoundationSACEMInstitut Français and the Ministere de la Culture et de la Communication.

Dreaming Zenzile was a co-production with National Black Theatre.

Choreography Marjani Forté-Saunders
Music Direction Hervé Samb
Scenic Design Riccardo Hernández
Costume Design Mimi Plange
Lighting Design Yi Zhao
Sound Design Justin Ellington
Projection Design Hannah Wasileski
Associate Director abigail jean-baptiste
Dramaturgy Talvin Wilks
NY Casting Stewart/Whitley
Stage Manager Egypt Dixon

with Somi Kakoma, Aaron Marcellus, Naledi Masilo, Phumzile Sojola, Phindi Wilson, Kim Onah and Darrell Purcell Jr. The band featured Toru Dodo on piano, Pathé Jassi on bass, Hervé Samb on guitar, Flavio Silva on alternate guitar and Sheldon Thwaites on percussion.

***

Our COVID protocols are continuosuly changing and we encourage you to review the most up-to-date information at nytw.org/covid

At the time, proof of vaccination and a photo ID were required for all guests. A KN95 or similar mask was worn over the nose and mouth at all times inside the building and theatre.

  • Miriam Makeba

    Somi Kakoma was born in Illinois to immigrants from Uganda and Rwanda. Known in the jazz world simply as ‘Somi’, she has built a career of transatlantic storytelling, and is the first African woman ever nominated in any Grammy jazz category (2021, Best Jazz Vocal Album for Holy Room; 2021 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Vocal Album). Somi’s previous albums include Petite Afrique (2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album) and her major label debut The Lagos Music Salon feat. special guests Angelique Kidjo and Common. Both albums earned her ECHO Award nominations in Germany for Best International Jazz Vocalist. Somi recently released a new studio album honoring the great South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba. Somi is a Soros Equality Fellow, a USA Doris Duke Fellow, a TED Senior Fellow, a Sundance Theatre Fellow, and a former artist-in-residence at Park Avenue Armory, Rauschenberg Residency at Captiva, Baryshnikov Arts Center and UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. Somi holds undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and African Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master’s degree in Performance Studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and is the founder of Salon Africana, a boutique cultural agency and record label.

  • Sangoma Chorus / Joseph / Stokely

    Aaron Marcellus is a singer, vocal coach, writer, musician, dancer, and actor from Atlanta who got his start in gospel music and has performed around the world. He has recorded albums and was voted top 24 on “American Idol” in 2011. After a world tour, Marcellus was featured in a ChapStick commercial, NBC’s “Next Caller,” and STOMP. Marcellus also hosts a burlesque show at Duane Park. He founded Surrender to Love, LLC, a foundation that supports arts programs and seeks to feed the hungry and Adventure Voice, a training program offering vocal classes for groups and individuals.

  • Sangoma Chorus / Bongi

    Naledi Masilo is a vocalist, composer, actress and teaching artist from Johannesburg, South Africa. She cultivated her love for the arts through backyard jam sessions and endless artistic curiosity. While cultivating her passions at the intersections of music, women and development, Naledi received a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelors of Music from The New England Conservatory. Masilo has been a resident at the Kennedy Center (D.C) through Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Program, where she was mentored by the likes of Dee Dee Bridgewater and Jason Moran. She has also been selected as part of the prestigious South African Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band and has been invited to participate in the Banff International Jazz and Creative Music workshop in Calgary, Canada. Masilo is the founding director of the South African based non-profit Dreaming Girls Arts Foundation. Due to make prolific strides in the arts industry—Masilo is a young artist with a voice and story to remember!

  • Sangoma Chorus / Baba / Gooli

    Phumzile Sojola is from Gqeberha, South Africa. He originated the role of Lord Pinkleton in the Broadway production of Cinderella and made his Broadway debut as Peter in The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. He has toured with The Phantom of the Opera (Ubaldo Piangi) and appeared Off-Broadway with Three Mo Tenors. Regional: Master Harold and The Boys (Syracuse Stage). Opera: L’etoile (Herrisson) and Troubled Island (Popo) at New York City Opera; La Boheme (Rodolfo) at Missouri Symphony Orchestra; Lost in the Stars (Leader) at Skylark Opera; The Magic Flute (Monostatos) and Carmen (Remendado) at Dayton Opera; Porgy and Bess (Robbins/Crabman) at Opera National de Lyon and The Edinburgh International Festival. Orchestral concerts include Jacksonville Symphony and Knoxville Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Krasnoyarsk Ballet Orchestra. He has also performed at the famed art festival La Biennale di Venezia with pianist Jason Moran. He can be heard on the Broadway cast recordings of Cinderella as well as The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Other recordings include Treemonisha with the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and The American Spiritual Ensemble CD, The Spirituals.

  • Sangoma Chorus / Mama

    Phindile Wilson, a native of South Africa,  begin her career early on performing in theatrical productions all around the world. She performed with Michael Jackson at Nelson Mandela’s 80th birthday, performed In Mbongeni Ngema’s productions and Sarafina 2 in Europe and Australia. She was in a movie soundtrack of The Lion King in 1994 at Sun City South Africa.

    Most notable in the role of Rafiki in the US Tour, Las Vegas, Madrid and Brazil productions of Disney’s The Lion King (Helen Hayes Award Nominee) to The Festival of The Lion King in Hong Kong. Most recently Mrs. Wilson worked on the developmental lab of Mandela The Musical, The Wildflower Musical and Dreaming Zenzile. TV: “We Are New York,” “Orange Is The New Black,” and “The Widows” by Mfundi Vundla. She’s so thankful to be part of The amazing Dreaming Zenzile again and honored to share The Legend, Mama Miriam’s beautiful story and music.

  • Understudy

    Kim Onah is excited to be making her NYTW debut in Dreaming Zenzile. Her favorite credits include: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical Tour Company, Aida at White Plains Performing Arts Center, All Shook Up at Arrow Rock Lyceum, and Buddy Holly: The Buddy Holly Story at the John W. Engeman theater. For more: www.kimonah.com / @kimona93.

  • Understudy

    NYTW debut. NATIONAL TOUR: Rock of Ages 10th Anniversary. REGIONAL: The Scottsboro Boys (Helen Hayes Award Winner), Ragtime, Hairspray (New Hampshire Theatre Award-Best Supporting Actor in a Musical Nominee), Gypsy, West Side Story, Smokey Joe’s Cafe. EDUCATION: East Carolina University/New York Film Academy. Thanks to Stewart/Whitley casting and RKS Management. Socials: @WayneBomb

  • Piano

    NYTW debut. Off-Broadway: Sleep No More (pianist). Regional: Dreaming Zenzile (pianist). A Tokyo-born, Berklee College of Music Alumnus pianist, composer, arranger, producer & author, Grammy-nominated Toru Dodo has released 5 leader albums. Also as one of New York’s most in-demand sideman, Dodo has worked with jazz luminaries such as Kenny Garrett and Curtis Fuller. www.torudodo.com. Instagram: @torudodopiano

  • Bass

    Bassist Pathé Jassi is a world class jazz musicianwith a career that spans three decades. Originally from Dakar, Senegal, Jassi has traveled the globe performing and recording alongside a diverse group of musicians including legendary West African vocalist Youssou N’Dour and Grammy Award winning songwriter Luis Resto.

  • Guitar

    NYTW debut. Virtuoso guitarist, composer, arranger and respected producer, Hervé Samb has established himself as an outstanding musician worldwide, with many famous artists such as Marcus Miller and Salif Keïta. His five previous albums have all been acclaimed by the public and international critics, through which he confirms a unique style, “Jazz Sabar.”

  • Alternate Guitar

    NYTW debut. Flavio Silva is a 2019 Hot House Jazz magazine awardee as best guitarist. He is a musician who is part of a new generation of Brazilian composers and instrumentalists that has been breaking through the musical scene of different places, such as Brazil, The Netherlands and most recently, New York.

  • Percussion

    Sheldon Thwaites is an award-winning International Caribbean-American percussionist, specializing in drum-set and steel pan. Drums were his first love, but after pursuing music at the highschool level, he transitioned into composition, arranging and production. He has worked with such artists as Chris Daughtry, Lauryn Hill, Amel Larrieux, Cobi and Marina Satti. Sheldon has played drums internationally for world-renowned steel bands Witco Desperadoes, Phase II Pan Groove and Skiffle Bunch. He has studied drum set with TerriLynn Carrington, John Blackwell and Dave Dicenso. Sheldon is a graduate of Boston Arts Academy and Berklee College of Music. @sheldonthwaites / www.th8aites.com

Somi Kakoma / Creator & Performer

Somi Kakoma was born in Illinois to immigrants from Uganda and Rwanda. Known in the jazz world simply as ‘Somi’, she has built a career of transatlantic storytelling, and is the first African woman ever nominated in any Grammy jazz category (2021, Best Jazz Vocal Album for Holy Room; 2021 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Vocal Album). Somi’s previous albums include Petite Afrique(2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album) and her major label debut The Lagos Music Salon feat. special guests Angelique Kidjo and Common. Both albums earned her ECHO Award nominations in Germany for Best International Jazz Vocalist. Somi recently announced a new studio album honoring the great South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba, to be released in July 2021. Somi is a Soros Equality Fellow, a USA Doris Duke Fellow, a TED Senior Fellow, a Sundance Theatre Fellow, and a former artist-in-residence at Park Avenue Armory, Rauschenberg Residency at Captiva, Baryshnikov Arts Center and UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. Somi holds undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and African Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master’s degree in Performance Studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and is the founder of Salon Africana, a boutique cultural agency and record label.

Lileana Blain-Cruz / Director

LILEANA BLAIN-CRUZ is a director from New York City and Miami. Recent projects include: Anatomy of a Suicide (Atlantic Theater Company); Fefu and Her Friends (TFANA); Girls (Yale Repertory Theater); Marys Seacole (LCT3, Obie Award); Faust (Opera Omaha); Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (Signature Theatre); Thunderbodies and Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again (Soho Rep.); The House That Will Not Stand and Red Speedo (New York Theatre Workshop); Water by the Spoonful (Mark Taper Forum/CTG); Pipeline (Lincoln Center Theater); The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (Signature Theatre, Obie Award); Henry IV, Part One and Much Ado About Nothing (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Bluest Eye (The Guthrie); War (LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater and Yale Rep.); Salome (JACK); Hollow Roots (the Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater). She was recently named a 2018 United States Artists Fellow and a 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist. She is currently the resident director of Lincoln Center Theater. She is a graduate of Princeton and received her MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama. 

Marjani Forté-Saunders / Choreographer

Marjani Forté-Saunders is thrilled to choreograph her first production at NYTW. Saunders is a 3x Bessie Award winner, Dance Magazine Harkness Award (2020) and Foundation for Contemporary Arts Fellowship awardee. She is an inaugural recipient of the Urban Bush Women’s CCI (2017), Jerome Hill Artist (2018), and DanceUSA Artist fellowships(2019). Saunders isa founding member of 7NMS, recipients of the NDP Production & Touring award for PROPHET. Television/Film credits include “The 24TH“ directed by Kevin Willmott, “PROCESS” & “Flypaper” directed by KahlilJoseph, and “PATTERNS” for Tracee Ellis Ross.

Hervé Samb / Music Director

NYTW Debut. Virtuoso guitarist, composer, arranger and respected producer, Hervé Samb has established himself as an outstanding musician worldwide, with many famous artists such as Marcus Miller, Salif Keïta … His five previous albums have all been acclaimed by the public and international critics, through which he confirms a unique style, “Jazz Sabar.”

Riccardo Hernàndez / Scenic Design

Broadway: Jagged Little Pill (Tony Award Nomination), Indecent,The Gin Game, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess; The People in the Picture, Caroline, or Change, National Theatre London; Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, Old Vic; Topdog/Underdog, Royal Court; Bells Are Ringing; Parade (directed by Hal Prince, Tony, Drama Desk nominations); Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk, The Tempest. International: Théâtre du Châtelet, Avignon (Courd’honneur Palais des Papes);La Colline Paris;Estates TheaterPrague;Oslo, National Theatre; Abbey Theatre. Recipient, Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Design. Hernández is an Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Yale School of Drama.

Mimi Plange / Costume Design

NYTW debut. Off Broadway: Dreaming Zenzile. Award-winning Ghanaian born Fashion designer, Mimi Plange creates modern contemporary garments inspired by African body adornments such as scarification, body painting and piercings. Her designs explore identities and culture, and have been shown inNew York, Sweden, South Africa, Cote d’Ivore, Paris and Nigeria.

Yi Zhao / Lighting Design

NYTW: The House That Will Not Stand, Red Speedo. Broadway: The Skin of Our Teeth. NY: Greater Clements, Pipeline (LCT); Actually (MTC); Fabulation, The Death of the Last Black Man…, In The Blood (Signature); Thunderbodies, Revolt. She Said…, FUTURITY (Soho Rep.). In total 24 productions with Lileana Blain-Cruz. yi-zhao.com

Justin Ellington / Sound Design

Justin Ellington is an award-winning sound designer whose work has been featured on stages nationally and internationally on Broadway and off. New YorkTheatre Workshop credits: The House That Will Not Stand, Fetch Clay Make Man, The Seven. Broadway credits include: Pass Over, Clydes, For Colored Girls…, Other Desert Cities. Off Broadway credits include: Heroes Of The Fourth Turning, Tambo and Bones (Playwrights Horizons); The Rolling Stone, Pipeline (Lincoln Center); Mrs Murray’s Menagerie (Ars Nova); Merchant of Venice, A Winter’s Tale, He Brought Her Heart Back In A Box (Theatre For aNew Audience). Additional theaters: Steppenwolf,Goodman Theatre, Guthrie, Center Theater Group,The Royal Shakespeare Company (UK), and The OldVic (UK).

Hannah Wasileski / Projection Design

NYTW debut. Broadway: The Skin of Our Teeth. Off-Broadway: Anatomy of Suicide (Atlantic),Pipeline (LCT), Fires in the Mirror, The Death of the Last Black Man…(Signature),The World is Round, Sleep (BAM), Revolt. She Said…(Soho Rep.). Opera: The Magic Flute (Staatsoper Berlin), Lohengrin (Bayreuth). hannahwasileski.com

abigail jean-baptiste / Associate Director

abigail jean-baptiste (any pronouns) NYTW Debut. Currently: Soho Rep Project Number One Artist, New Georges Affiliated Artist. Previously: Bushwick Starr Reading Series (Playwright), The Mercury Store(Resident Artist). Recent Directing: Soho Rep (PN1), Clubbed Thumb(Reading), Playwrights Realm (INK’D), Le Petit Theatre – New Orleans (The House That Will Not Stand). Lilly AwardWinner.www.abigailjeanbaptiste.org

Talvin Wilks / Dramaturg

NYTW Usual Suspect. Dramaturgy Credits: Broadway: for colored girls… Other New York: Between the World and Me (The Apollo), Scat!/Walkin’ with ‘Trane (Urban Bush Women), ink, Black Girl: Linguistic Play, Mr. TOL E. RanCE(Camille A.Brown and Dancers),In a Rhythm/Necessary Beauty(BebeMiller Company).

Stewart/Whitley / NY Casting

Duncan Stewart CSA and Benton Whitley CSA. Broadway/NY: Paradise SquareHadestown (Artios Award), Chicago the Musical, Rock of Ages, Lightning Thief, Great Comet of 1812, Elf, On the Town, Pippin, La Cage aux Folles, Radio City Christmas Spectacular. TV/Film: Netflix, 20th Century Fox, NBC, Lionsgate, Disney Channel. West End/U.K.: Hadestown, Thriller Live, Menier Chocolate Factory. Tours: Hadestown, Hairspray, Waitress, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland, Into the Woods, We Will Rock You. Regional: A.R.T., Berkeley Rep, Alley, Bay Street, For The Record, TUTS, Hollywood Bowl, McCarter, Signature, RCCL. Follow: @stewartwhitley and stewartwhitley.com.

Egypt Dixon / Stage Manager

NYTW: The House That Will Not Stand, Red Speedo. Broadway: The Skin of Our Teeth. NY: Greater Clements, Pipeline (LCT); Actually (MTC); Fabulation, The Death of the Last Black Man…, In The Blood (Signature); Thunderbodies, Revolt. She Said…, FUTURITY (Soho Rep.). In total 24 productions with Lileana Blain-Cruz. yi-zhao.com

NEWS

Somi Pays Tribute to Miriam Makeba

The Washington Post

"Somi pays homage to the late vocalist [Miriam Makeba] with her album 'Zenzile,' released on March 4, on what would have been Makeba’s 90th birthday, and her musical 'Dreaming Zenzile,' which began its off-Broadway run at the New York Theatre Workshop on May 17. Through these works, Somi not only reclaims Makeba’s given name (“Zenzile”) but also deftly gives voice to what’s unspoken, the internal struggle that perhaps Makeba could never express in her public persona."

Behind the Scenes of Dreaming Zenzile

PBS

"The musical is another attempt to remember the life as well as the music. According to Kakoma, 'The play demands that I try to embody her, her voice, her body, her language, her gesture, you know, her gestures, her sensuality, her ferocity.' Set on the night of Makeba’s death, Kakoma invites audience members into the world of Makeba, embodying both the joyful and painful parts of her story."

From the NYTW Blog

MIRIAM MAKEBA TIMELINE

FIRST LOOK: DREAMING ZENZILE