DIDIHOOD ~ Issue 69

Hello November!

Our hearts have been incredibly heavy over the last few weeks as we watch thousands of innocent civilians, including an overwhelming number of children, be killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. There is an official petition calling on our government to call for an immediate ceasefire that you can sign here. 

For our Didis who celebrate, Diwali is coming up this weekend and we hope that we will be able to celebrate the victory of light over darkness. If you haven't checked it out yet, we did release our Didi candle ahead of Diwali. It's available for purchase here. 

We are also hosting a special event towards the end of November for Didis who work in the media and journalism space. If you or someone you know should be on our list, email us at [email protected]. 

Meet the Didi:
This month we are chatting with playwright and actor Nikki Shaffeeullah. Nikki's latest project, A Poem for Rabia, is currently playing at Toronto's Tarragon Theatre until Nov. 12. Use our promo code 10RABIA for 10% off tickets.

Nikki Shaffeeullah. Photo credit: Saba Akhtar

When did you first become interested in theatre and performing arts?
My first encounter with theatre was at Mary Shadd Public School in Scarborough when I was cast in a lead role in the school play in Grade 3. I was bit by the bug and have been making theatre in one way or another ever since. 

What inspired you to pursue the arts as your career path?
When I was in Grade 12, I was nominated for a provincial scholarship for people pursuing theatre studies. At the interview they asked why I wanted to study theatre, I 'confessed' that in truth, I didn't think I wanted to, and thus maybe wasn't the best candidate for the award. I told them I wanted to study something that could support a career working in service of social change. At the time, my experience of theatre was that it was something that I did for my own joy, and as much as I loved that, it felt limiting. Someone on the committee encouraged me to explore the ways that theatre can be a vehicle for social change. That encouragement was affirming and was part of why I finished the interview, accepted the award, and studied theatre. I have spent my career so far exploring the ways I can bring my values and politics to my creative work. 

You centre much of your work around equity, how have you integrated that with the roles and projects you take on? 
I aim to always ask myself, 'Who am I accountable to in this work?' In the arts sector, there is capitalistic pressure to focus your accountability on the bottom line. I try to remind myself to find ways to be accountable to community, to collaborators, to those who might see themselves reflected in the work, to those without access to spaces I may gain access to, to ancestors and descendants. With A Poem for Rabia, I was granted access to a great platform as a playwright and an actor — I get to share my work onstage at Tarragon, one of the most celebrated theatres in the city! It feels particularly special that this show centres on characters/experiences/stories/ideas that are underrepresented on stage and screen — Guyana, queerness, abolition, indentured labour, etc. — and so I wanted to find a way to share that platform with others in the community. 

It felt like an opportunity to build, showcase, and share community. And so through my company Undercurrent Creations, who is working in partnership with Tarragon, and also the production, I developed a parallel project called Many Waters. This brought together a cohort of queer Toronto-based Guyanese diaspora artists (Guy Anabella, Shaharah Gaznabbi, Daniel Lyght, Chantele Sitaram, Bethany Sukhnanan) to create an original installation of poetry and photography, which will be featured in the lobby of Tarragon throughout the run of the play. We are also featuring the work of an artist from Guyana, Christina Izbaşa. It is deeply meaningful for me that these artists said yes to bringing their voices and creative excellence to the work, and it is joyful to share the spotlight with others from my community. 

Michelle Mohammed, Nikki Shaffeeullah, and Adele Noronha in A Poem for Rabia, Tarragon Theatre 2023. Photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann 

Your most recent project, A Poem for Rabia, is now playing at the Tarragon Theatre. Tell us about this production. 
I have been developing A Poem for Rabia over the course of several years. The play weaves the stories of three queer women from the same bloodline: Zahra, a disillusioned activist in 2053, navigating a Canada that has just abolished prisons; Betty, in 1953 British Guiana, caught between her new secretarial job at the Governor's office and the growing national independence movement; and Rabia, an Indian domestic worker in 1853, abducted by colonial 'recruiters' and sent sailing from Calcutta to the Caribbean on an indentured labour ship. 

This production focuses on the Indo-Caribbean diaspora through both a historical and modern lens. How important was that focus for you?
A Poem for Rabia follows three characters as they navigate changing political landscapes and revolutions, and how those events impact their own lives, relationships, and bodies. My process in creating this show involved reaching back into my own history to help ground myself in self-knowledge that can support me to co-create, with others from different histories, a better future for all. As a person of Indo-Guyanese descent, exploring the social and political events that my ancestors experienced was a central part of my research and creative exploration. 

Do you have any other projects in the works that you'd like to share with us?
I have written and am directing a short film, Purgatory, which is a surreal dark comedy following a queer Guyanese character. I have been slowly developing it in the background while working on other projects — it was a finalist in the Reel Asian Festival's pitch competition in 2021 — and we begin shooting soon. I'm excited to finally be bringing it to life soon. 

What advice would you give to a Didi looking to pursue a career similar to yours?
I'd encourage others to be attentive to what works for them — not just professionally, but how the professional intersects with the personal — mind, body, spirit, community. There's no one right way to have an arts career, and success can look like many different things. Find mentors, take on mentees, lift as you climb, and resist the pressure to live in a scarcity mindset. There's enough creativity for us all! 

What we're reading:

Didi Hana Shafi's latest book, People You Know, Places You've Been

Look inside these winter coats to find a South Asian immigrant story by Aparita Bhandari in the CBC

Malala Yousafzai, Internet Queen by Didi Sadaf Ahsan in The Juggernaut

'To Kill a Tiger' Review: The Survivor Who Refused to be Shamed by Devika Girish in The New York Times. Read our interview with filmmaker Nisha Pahuja here.
 
— Nikkjit Gill

Issue 69
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