Basbousa

Young, Gifted, and Black is Obsidian Theatre’s arts training program dedicated to supporting Black theatre practitioners in non-performance disciplines. This four-month intensive explores Black diaspora theatre and performance aesthetics. YGB practitioners benefit from mentorship, masterclasses, and apprenticeships, with the program culminating in a collective-creation devised, directed, and designed by the YGB cohort.

As the April 2023 conflict breaks out in Sudan, Adama in Toronto makes urgent phone calls to her grandmother Rania living in Khartoum. Basbousa is a story about the recipes we inherit, the homes we carry within us, and the impossible choices families make in times of crisis.

25/26 Young, Gifted, and Black Cohort
Nála Simone Lendor Costume Design
Stephon Smith Sound Design
Ghislan Sutherland-Timm Set Design
Abigail Whitney Directing

Basbousa Cast

Bola Aiyeola Grandma Rania
Megan Legesse Adama

Basbousa Creative Team

Abigail Whitney Director, Co-creator
Ghislan Sutherland-Timm Set Designer, Co-creator
Nála Simone Lendor Costume Designer, Co-creator
Stephon Smith Sound Designer, Co-creator
Lilian Adom Lighting Designer (YGB 24/25)
Meryem Alaoui Movement Consultant
Mwahib Azreg Cultural Consultant
Robert Harding Stage Manager
Aden Altamirano Production Manager / Technical Director
ciaran brenneman Head of Props


Content Warnings:
Basbousa contains depictions and discussions of war, displacement, intergenerational trauma, pregnancy, family separation, and grief. The presentation includes references to armed conflict and humanitarian crisis, including sounds of gunfire, explosions, military sirens, shouting, and themes of death and loss.