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Welcome!

We're so grateful you've taken the time to look through our portfolio. We had such a fascinating and invigorating experience collecting these findings, questions and thoughts for you. Please feel free to peruse our site! Here you'll find an analysis of the play's form, context and key symbols, a short essay on post-colonial ideals in the context of Come Good Rain, production strategies including ideas and questions for designers, casting, marketing, outreach and hiring, as well as curated lists of resources for further reading.

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We hope this site will be a helpful resource for you as you dig deeper into Come Good Rain. 

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All the best,

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Chloe, Abigail, Lauryn and Colette

Guiding Questions

How do we take a piece that is so connected to a specific place and time and have it resonate to audiences in a different place, time and context?

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What is our relationship to this story as settler Canadians? How do we look at this story through a post-colonial lens?

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As students in the Undergraduate Theatre Program at the University of Toronto, what kinds of things might we need to consider should we choose to produce this play for Undergraduate Theatre Students at U of T?

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What questions do we need to be asking to ensure that we tell this story respectfully, ethically and authentically?

Chloë

When I first read Come Good Rain I was faced with a multitude of different emotions and questions. I could not comprehend the pain that Seremba so beautifully portrayed in his work, nor could I imagine how we could possibly accurately portray it on stage. 

 

I established a firm goal when beginning my dramaturgical journey with this work: I wanted to find a way to help the artistic community composed of young emerging professional creatives in Toronto that I am so familiar with find a way to connect and resonate with Seremba’s story. 

 

First, before I began any work, I made sure to establish a clear distinction in my mind: Seremba’s story is not one that anyone on our artistic team can identify with, but rather, it is one that has universal themes and points of connection. By this I mean, that no matter how much dramaturgical or creative work we put into this play, we will never truly be able to understand or relate to the immense amount of trauma and pain that Seremba experienced. However, what the story does so beautifully is introduces and explores broad topics, themes, and questions through the lens of Seremba’s personal perspective. This is the lens through which I wanted to explore. 

 

I dove into my research not only looking to understand the historical, political, and social context of Seremba’s experience in Uganda, but also trying to research and identify points of social oppression faced by contemporary Toronto students, such as the current Black Lives Matter movement. 

 

Above all, I wanted this project to highlight Seremba’s resilience and the beauty of his work. I hope that this production respectfully does it justice, and that this website may help future productions in their journey to do so as well.

Abigail

During the first reading of the play, I was saddened by the amount of violence that occured. I was even more shocked when I remembered that it is a true story.

 

Come Good Rain truly struck a chord with me, especially during this pandemic, because it reminded me of the ways that situations that are completely out of our control can have a very deep effect on our lives. It reminded me how political unrest can affect the your quality of life and how real it makes the saying “fighting for your life”.

 

George Seremba’s fight against injustice was marvelous to research. It shows how difficult it is to stand up for the right thing and how high the stakes can be if you do. Through many senseless tragedies that we see constantly in our 24-hour news cycle, it is slightly heartwarming to read a story that shows how one person can help to make a change. It has truly been a pleasure to delve into this play and learn more about activism in theatre. 

 

My process focused more squarely on the historical aspects involved in this play and it showed how much so many elements in this play are still present in our day-to-day lives. The story of politicians coming into power and causing great divisions as well as showing a darker underbelly of a nation. Come Good Rain really shocked and scared me with its relevance.

Lauryn

Before I analyse Seremba’s play through the lens of Postcolonialism in Canada, I would like to explore what theatrical theories in the context of dramaturgy actually means. Glen Odom, in his World Theories of Theatre, clearly defines a contrast between the East and the West in terms of power and culture. While the West disregarded art coming from Asia and Africa for centuries, these continents were most often “forced to adopt parts” (Odom, 104) of Western cultures, resulting in theatre and dramatic performances from the East to be “associated with both resistance to Europe and potentially with anti-modern ideas that are keeping the formerly colonised nation from advancing” (Odom, 104).

 

Naturally, theatre that originates from formerly colonised countries thus incorporate a mix of cultures – some that are endemic to their culture, and others that have been forced upon them by the coloniser. A key explanation that Odom gives that will help us in this discovery of African-Canadian drama is that “as these cultures mix and blend – sometimes harmoniously and often through conflict – new cultures are created” (104). What, in this case, can different types of theatrical and cultural hybridity entail? 

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There are several fascinating answers that Odom writes in response to this question. In South Africa, playwrights such as Lewis Nkosi used theatre “as a form of cultural and political resistance to apartheid” (Odom, 110). In Kenya, Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s used theatre as a way to allow communities to develop “their confidence and ability to express themselves” (Odom, 110). 

We can now begin to reflect on what it means for Seremba to have written a theatrical piece highlighting the torments of colonisation in Uganda, and his exile to Canada.

 

In what way is he using theatre here? We have chosen to focus on the aspect of using theatre as a way of expressing cultural and political resistance to modern violence and inequality towards the BIPOC community in Toronto.

Colette

Come Good Rain first struck me with surprise. I was shocked I had never before heard of the political unrest taking place in Uganda in the 70s and 80s. I quickly tried to soak in as much of this incredible story as I could, but found myself running into the road block of not having the context to properly connect with the material. Not only did I not have any knowledge of the political figures and contexts being referenced in the play, but as a young woman born and raised in settler Canada, I have been fortunate enough to have not experienced the kind of violent political unrest Seremba describes in his play.

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This experience left me feeling as though there was a barrier between me and the work, and my intention throughout this project was to take steps to breaking down that barrier, and hopefully in doing so, learn strategies that might assist me in bringing audiences who may have similar contexts closer to the piece.

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My biggest question of this process was "how do we take a story that is born of such a specific place, time and history and make it mean something to an audience that has no experience or knowledge with that place, time or context?"

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As discussed in our podcast, the answer I have landed on at this point in my journey is one of connection points to universal feelings. While every audience member will come into the piece with a different level of experience, ultimately, we can relate to feeling silenced, being made to feel small or powerless, and finding the strength to overcome those feelings.

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Seremba himself observed that each audience brings themselves to the story and impacts the meaning of the piece. It is our hope that this site will help you find your connection point, and help you bring your audiences to the piece so you may all discover your version of this story together.

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