Ama Ata Aidoo

One of my working projects for this coming month is directing two short staged readings by Ama Ata Aidoo, an African playwright, novelist, poet, and activist who is currently a Visiting Professor at Brown University. She was Minister of Education in Ghana and is coming to our campus for a conference on African Literature.

She'll speak on human rights in Africa.

So far I have worked with the conference director to set this up, chosen excerpts, and now I am casting the roles. It turns out that I can't use our students because it's probably during a Saturday rehearsal period and my chair and the director agree that that is more important. The upside of that is that I can recruiting students from all over campus to be in it. Three young women from one of the classes, but also some music and dance students.

The ironic thing is that the timing coincides with the very first day of our playwriting festival. So I'll miss introducing that first play; I'll have to sneak in late.

I think that's okay, however, since the Aidoo event celebrates huamn rights, women's rights, and a woman who is doing something very, very important in the world. I love bringing my students' plays to the world, but this is special.

Here she is talking about one of the plays, Dilemma of a Ghost.