Blessing The Boats
A powerful solo performance that relates to Sekou Sundiatas experience with the life-threatening illness of kidney failure and his recovery through organ transplant. Diagnosed with kidney disease in 1995, Sekou lived a story familiar to thousands of people and their families. On the national list for a kidney transplant, he received dialysis for a year and half until, in January 1999, he received a kidney donated by his manager and close friend. After nearly a year in and out of hospital, the transplant finally stabilized in December 1999.
Told with honesty and humour, Blessing the Boats blends theatrical monologue, literary reading, stand-up comedy, spoken word and performance. A mix of sound, lighting and video underscores this evocative and unsentimental look into a time of profound change.
Sekou Sundiatas poetic voice spans many moods and as a stirring work of theatre, Blessing the Boats deeply affects not only people like Sekou, who have faced or are facing a life and death issue each day, but all of us.
Born in Harlem, Sundiata came of age as an artist during the Black Arts/Black Aesthetic movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He continues to writes for print, performance, music and theatre. Blessing the Boats was directed by Rhodessa Jones.
Funding for the creation of Blessing the Boats was provided by The Greenwall Foundation. It was commissioned by Aaron Davis Halls Fund for New Work in partnership with New Heritage Theatre Group; Miami Dade Community College in partnership with the Flynn Center for the Arts and the National Performance Network Creation Fund (sponsored by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation); Duke University Institute of the Arts, Durham, NC and the University Musical Society, Ann Arbor, MI.
Sekou will be hosting a talk at 14.00 on Friday 10th February