Monologue festival celebrating female actors of colour to launch at Theatre503

A new monologue festival is being launched in London to celebrate the “complexities, richness and nuances of women of colour”.

Love Sex Identity Ambition will take place at Theatre503 next month, and will feature four actors performing 16 original monologues to an audience for the first time.

The festival is curated by writer and editor Titilola Dawudu, and inspired by her book, Hear Me Now Audition Monologues for Actors of Colour, which contains audition pieces by writers and actors, published by Oberon in 2018.

The monologues will be taken from the book, and a second volume is expected to follow the festival.

Dawudu said: “It is vital that we continue the conversation that stories about black and brown women do not have to always be steeped in trauma.

“While this is important… we’re saying we also want to see more stories about love, sex, identity and ambition.”

The performances will be helmed by a different director each night, including Jubeda Khatun, Jessica Kalissa and Balisha Karra, the new co-artistic director of Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre.

The festival hosts include cultural producer and Black Ticket Project founder Tobi Kyeremetang, co-founder of TedX Brum Youth Zeddie Lewal, Roshni Goyate, co-founder of The Other Box and Amerah Selah, spoken word artist and activist.

It will run for five nights from February 4 to 8, and is produced by Theatre 503, Dawudu and BlackFest in association with Tamasha Theatre.

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