I’ll be working on developing and writing a new work ‘Onwu dey Play — A WhatsApp Drama’ in collaboration with Nemuna Ceesay, Jeunée Simon, Rotimi Agbabiaka, Samuel Ademola, Asia Jackson, and Kanukai Chigamba.
Lead artist: Nkeiruka Oruche
Collaborator: Nemuna Ceesay
Onwu dey Play — A WhatsApp Drama is an Afro-urban dance-theatre piece that follows five Igbo millennials navigating the chaos of their mother’s burial through messaging apps, revealing the tensions, humor, and heart of diasporic family life. Blending traditional Igbo culture with urban music, dance, and digital storytelling, the artist draws from personal and community experiences to explore grief, identity, and connection. The artist seeks dedicated time, space, and ensemble collaboration to deepen the work’s choreography, script, and design.
Nkeiruka Oruche is a multimedia creative and cultural producer passionate about Afro Urban culture. She created Mixtape of the Dead & Gone #1 dance-theatre comedy about death and Igbo cosmology. She was on SF Playhouse’s 2023 Nollywood Dreams creative team. Oruche was a Dance/USA Artist Fellow, Kikwetu Honoree, NYFA Immigrant Artist Fellow, and YBCA 100 Honoree, with awards from Creative Work Fund, MAP Fund, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and California Arts Council. Her work has been featured in BBC Africa, Goethe-Institut, Fjord Review, Coal City University Enugu, and Oakland Museum of California.
Nemuna Ceesay (she/her) is a NY based artist. Select directing: The Kitchen (Uncle!), Playwrights Horizons (Amusements), 66th Obie Awards, Associate Director of A Strange Loop (Broadway). 2022 Clubbed Thumb New Play Directing Fellow. Select acting: New York Theatre Workshop (Here There Are Blueberries), Actors Theatre of Louisville (Loving and Loving), The Shed (Straight Line Crazy), Second Stage (Patience), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2015/2016 seasons). MFA in acting from American Conservatory Theater. Website: nemunaceesay.com, IG: @nemuna.ceesay