shine your eye

Volcano’s World Premiere of a play by Binyavanga Wainaina was featured as part of the main program of the 2021 Lagos Theatre Festival.

 A young Ogoni hacker in Lagos is caught between two possible futures – one Nigerian, one North American. But what choice does she really have? In this Canadian world premiere, literary giant Binyavanga Wainaina looked ahead to how a young African could make a path toward a future she actually wants…

Running time: 1 hour

Link live: March 18-21, 2021

Recorded as a part of Volcano’s The Africa Trilogy,
presented by the 2010 Luminato Festival 
(Chris Lorway, Artistic Director) at the Fleck Theatre, Toronto

“Shine Your Eye” is a Nigerian expression, meaning “wake up, look at what’s really
happening.”

Co-commissioned by Luminato Festival Toronto & the Stratford Festival. 
Presented in association with the Harbourfront Centre

2010 Show and Company Credits

Written by Binyavanga Wainaina

(“With many thanks to the original acting company for their input” – BW)

Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina was a renowned Kenyan author, journalist and playwright, who became one of the most influential voices in African literature in the early part of the 21st century. His essays include the iconic “How to Write About Africa” for Granta magazine – which became the most widely republished piece in Granta's history. His short story “Discovering Home” won the prestigious Caine Prize for African Literature in 2002. He was given a special award by the Kenya Publisher's Association in 2003, in recognition of his services to Kenyan literature. He was the founder of Kwani? (meaning “so what?”), a literary journal in Kenya that was to become Africa’s leading creative writing journal, and spur the careers of some of the most important young writers in the continent. The World Economic Forum recognised him as a Young Global Leader in 2007, an award he turned down, saying: “… although, like many, I go to sleep at night fantasising about fame, fortune and credibility, the thing that is most valuable in my trade is to try, all the time, to keep myself loose, independent and creative… it would be an act of great fraudulence for me to accept the trite idea that I am ‘going to significantly impact world affairs.” Nonetheless, in 2014, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Binyavanga’s copious essays and acclaimed short fiction appeared in The East African, Mail and Guardian (South Africa), Chimurenga, National Geographic, the Sunday Times (South Africa), Granta, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Adbusters, Harper’s Magazine, The Guardian (UK) and many more. He taught at Union College and Williams College, and went on to become the Director of the Chinua Achebe Center for African Literature and Languages at Bard College. He split his time mostly between these colleges in the USA and his hometown, Nairobi – although he traveled frequently, and spent much time in South Africa both as a student, and later in life.

Binyavanga was approached by Volcano Artistic Director Ross Manson in New York in 2007 for advice in sourcing an African playwright to become part of an international team examining the relationship between Africa and the West through a trilogy of plays. Already famous, Ross didn’t consider Binyavanga a remote possibility to write for this – but Binya put himself forward at the end of a two-hour coffee meeting at a mid-town diner – curious about the possibilities of theatre. The result was Shine Your Eye – his only play.

Binyavanga’s meteoric literary career was cut short at the age of 48 by repeated strokes. He was to submit his manuscript for a gorgeously experimental memoir, “One Day I Will Write About This Place” in 2011, weeks before his first stroke. It was to be his only full-length book. He attracted international attention as one of the most prominent Gay rights activists in Africa by adding a “lost chapter” to this memoir in 2014 – “I am a Homosexual, Mum” – a nuanced and heartbreaking piece in which he very publicly came out, after his parents’ deaths, against a backdrop of increasing anti-gay laws and state-sponsored homophobia – especially in his native Kenya. As one of the most prominent champions of Africa on the world stage, this coming-out generated a firestorm of debate about what was a taboo subject. His friend and contemporary Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote of this act: “Binyavanga has demystified and humanized homosexuality and begun a necessary conversation that can no longer be about the ‘faceless other.’ ”

Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, chairperson for the Caine prize, wrote that "Binyavanga was unbound in his imagining — reminding us with art and characteristic playfulness, what English can look like when it's an African language.”

Author Joyce Nyairo said of Binyavanga after his death in 2019: “Binya leaves an indelible footprint in the sands of that surge of creativity and production that defined Kenya in the new millennium… What immense talent; what an enormous personality.”

CAST (in order of appearance)

Beka’s father’s voice: Awaovieyi Agie

Gbene Beka:  Sodienye Waboso Amajor

Tambari:  Lucky Onyekachi Ejim

Doreen:  Karen Robinson

Naijaboy: Raïs Muoi

Office Workers/Chorus: Milton Barnes, Araya Mengesha

DIRECTION, DRAMATURGY & DESIGN

Director: Ross Manson

Assistant Director: Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu

Africa Trilogy Dramaturgy: Weyni Mengesha

Additional Shine Your Eye Dramaturgy: Ross Manson

Africa Trilogy Assistant Direction: Deanna Downes

Movement & Choreography: Teddy Masuku & Heidi Strauss

Avatar/Cyborg Design: Wangechi Mutu

Virtual World Design & Build: fettFilm Germany: Momme Hinrichs & Torge Møller

Set Design: Teresa Przybylski

Lighting Design:  Bonnie Beecher

Costume Design: Milan Shahani

Composition & Sound Design: Thomas Ryder Payne

Composition & Assistant Sound Design: Reza Jacobs

Assistant Lighting Design: Jennifer Jimenez

Assistant Set Design: Snezana Pesic

STAGE MANAGEMENT

Production Stage Manager:  Arwen MacDonell

Rehearsal Stage Manager:  Nan Shepherd

Assistant Stage Manager:  Giselle Clarke‐Trenaman

Assistant Stage Manager:  Jessica Severin

Apprentice SMs:  Paul Beauchamp, AJ Laflamme

PRODUCTION

Production Management: Nathaniel Kennedy & Andrea Lundy

Consulting PM East Africa: Steve Rukongi Jaribu

Video Projection Coordinator: Cameron Davis

Head of Props: Silvie Varone

Props Buyer: David Hoekstra

Specialty Props: The Rabbit’s Choice

Paper Props Graphic Designer: Jan Borkowski

Avatar Animation: Marcus Moore

Costume Assistants: Samiya Hashi & Leana Mukhina

Video and Photography: John Lauener

DEVELOPMENT PHASE

Production Manager: Rick Banville

Project Advisor, Research Trip: Anurita Bains

Movement: Claudia Moore

FOR VOLCANO

Producer:  Meredith Potter

Associate Producer:  Roxanne Duncan

Volunteer Assistant Producer:  Chrissi Forte

Volcano engages professional artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the terms of the Independent Theatre Agreement. 

Volcano is an affiliate member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) and a member of the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA).

MUSIC

International Thief
Written by Fela Anikulapo Kuti
Publishers FKO Music SAS EMI Virgin Music 

Naija Boy lyrics written by The Naija Boyz

SCRIPT LICENSING

The script is available for licensing. Please forward all inquiries to General Manager Steven Smits at steven@volcano.ca.

Press

THE TORONTO STAR

Awards and Nominations

2011 Dora Award Nominee (General Theatre Division) for: 

Outstanding Production: The Africa Trilogy

Outstanding Choreography: Teddy Masuku/Heidi Strauss, Shine Your Eye – The Africa Trilogy

SUPPORTER THANKS

Our renewed thanks - 10 years later! - to the following folks who supported Volcano in the development of The Africa Trilogy.

THE AFRICA TRILOGY - Major Supporters

Scott Griffin

The Scott Griffin Foundation

BMO Financial Group

The Fleck Family Foundation

David Glenn Fountain

Kishore Kapoor

Donors

Jeanne LeSage

Juniper Locilento

Chris Lorway & John Austin

G. Wallace McCain

K. McIntosh

Nina Moritsugu

Suzanne Porter

Teresa Przybylski

Lisa Ray

Joe Renda

Doug Rodger & Barbara Gordon

Erik Rutherford

Bruce Sellery

Andrew Soren

Marlene Stirrett‐Matson

David Vella

Constance Wansbrough

Liane Beam Wansbrough

Dr. Michael Wansbrough

Janine Waschuk

Nancy Webster

Melissa Williams

N.S. Wright

SPECIAL THANKS

The people we met during research in Uganda and Rwanda who generously offered us their time: Fatima, Alice and all the men and women of the National Coalition of Women Living with AIDS, Kampala; Beatrice Were; Dr. Lydia Mungherera, Anne Kaddumukasa and TASO; Dorothy Baingana; Hope Azeda; Odile Gakire Katese; Albert Nzamukwereka, Johan Deflander and La Benevolencija, Kigali; Kalundi Serumaga; Dr. Mercy Mirembe Ntangaare and the students and teachers of the Makerere University Department of Drama; Patrick Mangeni; Judith Adong; Steven Nyeko; Roselyn Nandawula and Reach Out Mbuya, Kampala; theatre artists Michael Wawuyo, Patrick Mujuuka, Philip Luswata, Richard Tuwangye, and Veronica Kiwanuka; Idah Mukaka; Florence Nightengale Mukasa and Olivia Bulega of the Silent Theatre of Uganda; Billy Kahore; James Ssebayigga; Ismail Kiganda; Honoré Gatera; Elissa and Josh Ruxin.

Stephen Lewis

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Pamela Acaye Kerunen

James Orbinski

Atom Egoyan

James Fraser

David Young

Kate Alton

Ty Templeton

Christina Zeidler

Doina Popescu

Andy McKim and Theatre Passe Muraille

And Chris Lorway for his faith and encouragement 

Thanks, also, to Volcano’s Board of Directors in 2010:

Shelagh Carnegie

Nicole Day

Barbara Gordon

Sally Han

Ron Hay

Glen Johnson

Marlene Stirrett-Matson

Nina Moritsugu

Janine Waschuk

partners

Volcano’s The Africa Trilogy was commissioned by Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity; and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Major Project Supporters: BMO Financial Group, Metcalf Foundation, K.M. Hunter Foundation, Fleck Family Foundation, J.P. Bickell Foundation, George Lunan Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Trillium Foundation, David Fountain, Scott Griffin, Kish Kapoor.

Project Partners: Theatre Passe Muraille (In-Progress Workshop Partner), Performance Space 122, (Planning Partner), University Toronto Centre for Ethics (Community Partner), Obsidian Theatre. Supported by the Goethe Institut.