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Meghan Swaby

Meghan SwabyMeghan SwabyMeghan Swaby

Actor. Writer

Actor. Writer Actor. Writer Actor. Writer

Published Work

VENUS' DAUGHTER 

(J.Gordon Shillingford)


Venus’ Daughter is inspired by the life of Sara “Saartjie” Baartman, who was known as “The Hottentot Venus”. Baartman was a Khoisan woman taken from South Africa to be displayed on London stages from 1810 to 1815; she was then posthumously displayed at the Musee de l’Homme in Paris, France until 2002. The story follows Denise, a young Black woman guided by an ancestor to begin her journey into self-love. Exploring the intersection of myth, fable, and the reality of how women and their bodies are viewed, Venus’ Daughter peels back the layers of pop culture’s obsession with the Black female form and the silence around the infamous figure, making connections through the centuries.


Meghan’s writing was included in the anthology Black Lives, Black Words (Oberon Playwrights Press 2017). 

PARKDALE THE MUSICAL

Derailed: The History of Black Railway Porters in Canada

Derailed: The History of Black Railway Porters in Canada

Welcome to 110 Parkdale Ave, the last subsidized low rise building in the neighbourhood. It's special, but you can’t tell that from the outside. The building is far from perfect, but for the tenants who occupy its cracked walls and uneven floors, it’s home. When the tenants are faced with an eviction notice, they (reluctantly) step out of their bubbles to band together as a community in order to save their homes


Parkdale The Musical  was commissioned by Musical Stage Co as part of First Drafts in 2022.


Composer: Chris Tsujiuchi
Writer: Meghan Swaby
Director: Julie Tomaino
Music Director: Alexa Belgrave
Copyist: Adam Sakiyama
Dramaturg: Kevin Wong
Sound Designer: Kaitlyn MacKinnon
Producer, Musical Stage Co.: Ray Hogg

Listen here

Derailed: The History of Black Railway Porters in Canada

Derailed: The History of Black Railway Porters in Canada

Derailed: The History of Black Railway Porters in Canada

Produced by Myseum of Toronto.


Inspired by Cecil Fosters' They Call Me George: The History of Black Railway Porters in Canada.  


Derailed  was written and conceived by Meghan Swaby, directed by Byron Kent Wong, and filmed at Union Station. Featuring performances by Derick Agyemang, Daniel Jelani Ellis, Laurence Dean Ifill. This  digital presentation was produced in partnership with zero11zero, Iron Bay Media, and Union.


WINNER OF THE 2022 HERITAGE TORONTO PUBLIC HISTORY AWARD



Watch

IN DEVELOPMENT

SWEAT 

An adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's 1926 short story SWEAT.


BREADFRUIT

Breadfruit is a sprawling and surrealist  play that attempts to rupture and repair a Jamaican woman’s lopsided family tree before she dies. 


TAR: A Musical

Music, Lyrics, Book by: Jewelle Blackman

Book by: Meghan Swaby 


Formerly known as THE TRIALS & TRIUMPHS OF A TAR BABY

This is a  story of mental health from a Black woman’s perspective, we meet two women who on the exterior share many similarities but due to their extremely different upbringings have very different views of themselves, their beauty, and their worth. THE TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS OF A TAR BABY is a new Canadian musical by Jewelle Blackman, Inspired by Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”.


Commissioned with funding by the Aubrey & Marla Dan Fund for New Musicals

Residencies

Crow's Theatre Loughborough Lake Writer’s Retreat -2022


Crow's Theatre Podcast in Residence - 2021-2022


Gros Morne Playwrights Residency 

(Playwrights Workshop Montreal & CEAD) - 2019


The Foerster Bernstein New Play Development Program 

Stratford Festival Playwrights Retreat - 2016


Diaspora Dialogues Playwrights Residency - 2015


Development Series (Obsidian Theatre) - 2015


Yemoya International Artist Residency  (Hawaii) - 2014

(led by d'bi young anitafrika)


Obsidian Theatre Playwrights Unit - 2011-2013


Write from the Hip (Nightwood Theatre) - 2010


GRANTS AWARDED


Canada Council for the Arts - Research and Creation 

ISO  - Black Screen Office - Solidarity Fund - Professional Development 

Ontario Arts Council 

Canada Council for the Arts - Travel Grant  

Toronto Arts Council - Playwrights Program Grant

TRANSFORMATIONS: Get Some Sleep (It Speaks In Dreams)

"What would it take to transform society as a whole?"

This is a national project in which live performance companies from across Canada asked some of their favourite artists to approach the above question in whatever way they see fit.


An audio-visual dreamscape.
A resting place to reconnect to the power of the imagination.
Building on the traditions of Black radical thinkers. This is an offering. 

A possible pathway to freedom dreaming.

Created & edited by  Meghan Swaby. Vocals by Olive Swaby 


Copyright © 2024 Meghan Swaby - All Rights Reserved.

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