Brava presents
Manifesto: A Film by Rotimi Agbabiaka
STREAMING ON DEMAND APRIL 22 - 25 & APRIL 29 - May 3, 2021
Written and performed by Rotimi Agbabiaka
Directed by Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe
It’s a new day in America! There’s a vaccine for the virus, democracy has been saved, and now, more than ever, Black Lives Matter. After a year under lockdown, a queer, black actor decides to create a manifesto for theatre in our brave new world. But just when a revolutionary artist thinks they know all the answers, that’s when they need to start asking some new questions.
Using drag, dance, music, and “an endless parade of captivating characters and scenes” (KQED), Rotimi Agbabiaka takes on the entertainment industry and a young actor’s quest for revolutionary art in a time when diversity is on trend. Hailed as a “lightening bolt of insight and delightful bitterness” (Mission Local), Manifesto shines a comedic light on the triumphs, failings, and absurdities of our current moment.
View and download PRESS RELEASE here.
HOW TO WATCH
Manifesto will be streaming on demand for two weekends only! When purchasing your ticket(s), choose which weekend you would like to stream the film. You will be emailed a link to the On Demand Video which can be accessed at any time during the designated stream period. See below for stream dates and times:
First Weekend: Thursday, April 22 at 8pm PST through Sunday, April 25 at 11:59pm PST
Second Weekend: Thursday, April 29 at 8pm PST through Monday, May 3 at 9am PST
TICKETS
Tickets are $15 (with no additional fees)
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
ROTIMI AGBABIAKA / WRITER & PERFORMER
Rotimi Agbabiaka is an actor, writer, director, and teacher who uses humor, glamor, and drama to upset the status quo. Most recently, Rotimi originated the role of Salima in House of Joy (California Shakespeare Theatre) and the role of Cellphone in If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka (Playwrights Horizons, NYC). Other acting credits include Tom Waits’ Black Rider (Shotgun Players), Bootycandy (Brava Theater, Theatre Bay Area award), originating the role of Boy in runboyrun (Magic Theatre), and several shows with the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. As a playwright, Rotimi penned the solo shows Homeless, Type/Caste (Theatre Bay Area award), and MANIFESTO, and the musical, Seeing Red—co-written with Joan Holden and Ira Marlowe. Rotimi teaches acting, movement, and play creation to students from pre-school through college and has presented work at museums (the deYoung), in parks (with We Players), on street corners (with Jess Curtis’ GRAVITY), and on nightlife stages around the world (as alter ego Miss Cleo Patois). www.rotimionline.com
EDRIS COOPER-ANIFOWOSHE / DIRECTOR
Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe is an accomplished local and national director and founder of Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience, a resident company at Brava. As a director, Edris has worked nationally and internationally at Trinity Repertory Company, Capital Repertory, Southern Rep, Mark Taper Forum, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Woolly Mammoth, Curious Theatre, and Arts Theatre, Ibadan, Nigeria. Edris’s Bay Area directing credits include the West Coast premieres of Relativity at the Magic Theatre, The Old Settler at TheaterWorks in Palo Alto, Crying Holy at Theatre Rhinoceros, and Urban Zulu Mambo and Blue/Orange at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. At Brava with BACCE, Edris directed the West Coast premieres of Sweet Maladies by Zakiyyah Alexander (winner of TBA Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble), In a Daughter’s Eyes by Oakland native A. Zell Williams, and Bootycandy and An American Ma(u)l by Robert O’Hara, and El Río by Andrew Saito. She holds an M.F.A. in Directing from the University of Iowa.
FUNDERS
Manifesto was originally commissioned by the Queer Cultural Center and received additional support from the San Francisco Arts Commission. The film version of Manifesto was supported by Brava! for Women in the Arts’ Artist in Residence program and Black Artist Contemporary Cultural Experience (BACCE).