d’bi.young anitafrika

• Name — d'bi young anitafrika • Born — December 23, 1977 • Birthplace — Kingston, Jamaica • Occupation — Dub poet, performance artist, actor, playwright • Notable Works — The Sankofa Trilogy; The Orisha Trilogy; The Ibeji Trilogy; Da Kink in My Hair

d’bi young anitafrika was born on December 23, 1977, in Kingston, Jamaica to dub poet, Anita Stewart, and community organizer, Winston Young. Young spent much of their childhood in Jamaica watching their mother perform dub poetry. In 1993, they moved to Toronto, Canada, to join their parents where they completed high school.

Young's early career included the role of “Crystal” on the Frances-Anne Solomon produced sitcom Lord Have Mercy! (2003), theatre work with Black Theatre Workshop and Theatre Passe Muraille, and artist residencies with Soulpepper Theatre, CanadianStage, Obsidian Theatre, and Banff Centre for the Arts. In 2001, their breakout role as “Stacyanne” came through Da Kink in My Hair, by Jamaican-Canadian writer Trey Anthony, for which they were nominated for a Dora Award. Badilisha Poetry X-Change has ranked d'bi young anitafrika in the top ten poets. Young's early poetry, including their first dub poem entitled "once dere was a mxn" written in 1988, followed the foundational aesthetic of dub poetry's form, style, and content. In 2013, Young was one of the headline names for the 2013 Human Rights Concert in Harare, Zimbabwe. There, they collaborated with Zimbabwean musician Victor Kunonga on a song called Ruvengo (Hate) off Kunonga's album Kwedu.

Young's works, The Sankofa Trilogy, The Orisha Trilogy and The Ibeji Trilogy, explore the psychological and ideological impacts of colonization to capitalism on people of African descent, from a Black Feminist perspective. They are triptych dramas. The Sankofa Trilogy are the stories of three Jamaican women, Mudgu Sankofa, their daughter Sekesu, and their granddaughter Benu. Each play uses the women's familial bond to tell of their respective journeys of revolutionary self-determination, and transformative self-expression. The Orisha Trilogy is a series about the experiences of women characters of the past, present, and future who survived the transatlantic slave trade. In each time period, the women grapple with power, gender, and sexuality through oppression and social unrest, under the help and protection of the Orishas. The Ibeji Trilogy are three biomyth dramas about Black love as it evolves in the midst of major life changes, from friendship to romance, between mother and son, and deep self-love.

Young established the micro-press Spolrusie Publishing, a publishing house to support the work of emerging black writers, and BQTIPOC and feminist works. From 2008 to 2018, they also created and ran The Watah Theatre, the only black-focused performance art school in Canada. The Watah Theatre offered tuition-free professional development programs. Between The Watah Theatre and Yemoya Artist Residency, they mentored some of Canada's up and coming young black creatives and international artists of color including Amanda Parris, Kim Katrin Milan, Titilope Sonuga, and photographer, Che Kothari. Young's style of theatre practice developed draws from their upbringing in the performative and political environment of emerging Dub poetry in Jamaica of 1980s. They use Jamaican language and idiom as nation language, as opposed to colloquialism. They work extensively with monodrama and biomythography, or “biomyth monodrama.” They appeared on the 2021 FreeUp! The Emancipation Day Special.

Young is non-binary and genderqueer.

• Year(s) — Title — Notes • 2001 — The Sankofa Trilogy — Featuring: Benu, Bloodclaat, & Word! Sound! Powah! • 2006 — organ-eye-zed crime — Hysteria: A Festival of Women, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre • 2017 — The Orisha Trilogy — Featuring: Esu Crossing the Middle Passage, Mami Wata & the Pussywitch Hunt, & Lukumi: A Dub Opera,

• Year — Title — Role — Theater — Notes • 2001 — Da Kink in My Hair — Staceyanne/Claudette — Toronto Fringe Festival — Role debut • 2003/2005 — Theatre Passé Muraille • 2006 — San Diego Repertory Theatre California • Princess Of Wales Theatre Toronto • 2007 — Hackney Empire London