Canadian playwright
Djanet Sears is a Canadian playwright, 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 in the creation of organizations like the Obsidian Theatre and AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival.
Early life and education.
Djanet Sears was born in 1959 in England, to a Guyanese father and a Jamaican mother. She 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.
Career.
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 but also has many credits in acting, directing, and editing multiple volumes of an anthology of Canadian African plays called "Testifyin': Contemporary African Canadian Drama."
Sears contributed to the creation of the AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival in 1997, which is a culmination of African-centred plays on the Canadian stage. It was held in Toronto in 2003 as well as 2006. Sears also belongs to and is a founding member of the Obsidian Theatre, "dedicated to producing works by authors of African descent living or working in Canada."
Sears as an educator worked as an adjunct professor teaching drama at University College, University of Toronto. Additionally she has held many positions like the international artist-in-residence at Joseph Papp Public Theatre, the writer-in-residence at the University of Guelph, and playwright-in-residence at Nightwood Theatre.
Awards and honours.
Sears full-length play "Afrika Solo" won the International Armstrong Award for Outstanding Radio Play (1991), and the Silver Prize at the International Radio Festival of New York (1991); its sequel "Harlem Duet" has acquired multiple Dora Mavor Moore Awards, and "The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God" was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award (2004). Sears's other distinctions include an even more extensive list, including Canada's highest literary award.
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;