Djanet Sears
| Djanet Sears | |
|---|---|
| Born | Janet Sears 1959 London, England |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Education | Bachelor of Fine Arts honours in theatre |
| Alma mater |
York University Canadian Film Centre New York University |
| Genre | Drama |
| Notable works | Afrika Solo, Harlem Duet, The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God, |
York University Canadian Film Centre
Djanet Sears is a Canadian playwright, actor and director, nationally recognized for her work in African-Canadian Theatre. Sears has many credits in writing and editing highly acclaimed dramas such as Afrika Solo, the first stage play to be written by a Canadian woman of African descent; its sequel Harlem Duet, and The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God. The complexities of intersecting identities of race, and gender are central themes in her works, as well as inclusion of songs, rhythm, and choruses shaped from West-African traditions. She is also passionate about "the preservation of Black theatre history," and involved the creation of organizations like Obsidian Theatre, and AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival.
Born (1959) in England, to a Guyanese father and a Jamaican mother, Sears lived there until 1974 when her family moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and then settled in Oakville, Ontario in 1975. Her birth name was Janet — she added the D after a trip to West Africa where she came across a plateau called "Djanet," inspiring her to change her name as a nod to her African Ancestry.
Sears attended York University where she obtained an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre in 1999, followed by studies at the Canadian Film Centre and New York University.
After returning from a trip to West-Africa Sears wrote her stage play Afrika Solo, which premiered in 1987, and sparked the creation of many other full-length plays like Double Trouble, and Harlem Duet. Sears is not only a writer for theatre, she has many credits in acting, directing, and editing multiple volumes of an anthology of Canadian African plays called Testifyin': Contemporary African Canadian Drama.
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