Multi-talented artist Shelley Hamilton discusses her one-woman play ‘A New Hope’ and a performance with the Passages to Canada Speakers Bureau.

Highly energetic and stylish, Rachael McLaren is doing more than making moves, she’s leaving her mark. Born in Winnipeg to Jamaican parents, McLaren started taking dance classes when she was 5 years old.

Inspired by the dance and rhythms of Sub-Saharan Africa, the COBA production is part of Habourfront’s NextSteps dance series, which takes place from February 3-5 at the Fleck Dance Theatre.

Flashes of clever humour illuminate what is essentially a story about loss, and not entirely an upbeat one at that. The real highlights are the engaging and melodic score and an overall sparkling performance from a very talented cast

The ambitious project was conceived when writer André Alexis was asked to write a show for CBC Radio based on the 10 Commandments of the Old Testament.

You wouldn’t think a musical about race relations in the Bad Old South and forbidden love between a white man and a black woman would be an entertaining night out, but Memphis is hugely so, driven by the compelling storyline and powerhouse vocals all around.

Elimu Sanifu, “re-inventing learning” in Kiswahili, is a two-year-old organization started by young activists with an ambitious agenda to open the windows of learning opportunities with young Kenyans.

D’bi.young anitafrika is a mesmerizing performer, a controlled tornado of energy on stage as she fleshes out a dizzying range of roles from naive schoolgirl to strutting revolutionary and sinister cop in word!sound!powah!

In a word, FELA! is fabulous. Broadway veteran Bill T. Jones has created a unique theatrical construct that erupts on stage in a vibrant whirl of colour and movement set to the insistently danceable pulse of Afrobeat, the music created by its namesake.

Both plays take a particular view of Africa through a lens that is coloured one way or another by location and race. At the same time, neither offers easy answers or the last word on the topic, posing questions about larger issues through individual stories.