Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) will present the Off-Broadway premiere of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Wole Soyinka’s The Swamp Dwellers, between March 30 to April 20, 2025.
The production is directed by OBIE Award winner Awoye Timpo and marks a long-awaited staging of one of Soyinka’s earliest works, according to a press release.
Jeffrey Horowitz, TFANA’s founding artistic director, shared that the inspiration to stage the play dates back to 2008 when playwright Adrienne Kennedy introduced him to the work.
Written in 1958, The Swamp Dwellers is a one-act play that explores themes of tradition versus modernity, rural and city life, and the environmental and social consequences of wealth inequality.
Set in a Nigerian village built on swampland, the play follows a family confronting the impacts of rapid urbanization and industrialization. Soyinka, reflecting on the play, noted that it was written during the “season of great expectations” leading up to Nigerian independence, and though not set in a specific village, it represents the struggles of communities affected by oil extraction.
The cast includes Ato Blankson-Wood (Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Slave Play) as Igwezu, Leon Addison Brown (Misery, The Trip to Bountiful) as Makuri, Joshua Echebiri (Merry Wives, Henry V) as a Beggar, Jenny Jules (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Crucible) as Alu, Jason Maina (Culture Shock, Timon of Athens) as Attendant to Kadiye, Chiké Okonkwo (Julius Caesar, As You Like It) as Kadiye, and Olawale Oyenola as a Drummer.
The creative team includes scenic designer Jason Ardizzone-West, costume designer Qween Jean, lighting designer Seth Reiser, sound designer Rena Anakwe, and music supervisor and composer Chief Ayanda Clarke. The production will also feature voice direction by Andrew Wade, dialect coaching by Jane Fujita, and dramaturgy by Arminda Thomas.
Timpo, founder of Classix, a collective dedicated to exploring Black performance history, expressed her excitement about directing the production.
"This play is in such a deep conversation about our relationship to the ever-changing natural world, and to one another as humans," said Timpo.
