Amaka, who was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, takes on the role of the Danish prince in the Stratford Festival’s production of Hamlet this season, directed by Peter Pasyk. Amaka is the first Black woman to play Hamlet at Stratford. The Toronto-based actor was also the recipient of this year’s Harry Jerome Presidents Award. […]
One of the most iconic scenes from the 2000 classic Bring It On is when the cheerleading team led by Torrance Shipman — played by a peppy Kirsten Dunst — gets called out for stealing routines from a Black squad. Fast-forward to 2022 and a new web satire is rethinking that very scene — putting […]
Black Academy was founded by actors Shamier Anderson and Stephan James to support Black talent. The Black Academy’s inaugural Legacy Awards has found a venue and an air date. The Canadian award show dedicated to Black talent will be held at the Toronto live event space History and will air Sept. 25 on CBC and […]
Funded through Black Entrepreneurship Program CaribbeanTales Inc. launched the first cohort of the CaribbeanTales Black Incubator and Studio Access Project (CTBISAP) on March 15th, 2022. CTBISAP is supported by a $648,000 Government of Canada investment through the Black Entrepreneurship Program (BEP) Ecosystem Fund delivered by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). […]
A new play called Letters to Brinley Town, a fictionalized account of the original Black settlers in the Digby, N.S., area, was staged at Digby Regional High School this week. Writer and director Margaret Gray said she was inspired to write the play after reading a book on slave narratives. Gray said Brinley Town was […]
By Styephen Weir You Tube got it right. Only hours after Sunday night’s Oscars Award Ceremony ended the short message and video issued about Will Smith and Chris Rock’s Brouhaha was tagged as The Slap Heard Around World and it had done just that. Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars […]
REVENGE OF THE BLACK BEST FRIEND, a brand new CBC Gem original comedy series from award-winning playwright, host, producer, and CBC personality Amanda Parris, puts a spotlight – and surreal twist – on the familiar tropes, stereotypes and typecasting that’s been forced on Black actors. The entire six-part series debuts on the free CBC […]
When he got the call to audition for Bel-Air, Adrian Holmes was worried. Even with three separate scenes to prepare for an adaptation premiering decades after an iconic original 1990s sitcom, he knew he didn’t cut the typical Uncle Phil figure. In reality, the 47-year-old looked more like a football linebacker than the barrel-chested, strict-but-loving […]
After an impressive opening week box office on just two screens, the indie film Scarborough expanded to seventeen screens across the country this weekend. This intimate, heartbreaking and beautifully rendered tale told from the perspectives of three children from the Kingston-Galloway community has done the seemingly impossible: it’s propelled Toronto audiences to go out […]
By Stephen Weir When the 70-minute live play “Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers” ends we in the audience are invited to stick around and talk about the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin. We think about staying and apologizing for the racist murder of a 17-year-old youth but opt to go to our and […]
