Mukonzi Musyoki (he/him) is a dramaturg, playwright, theatre scholar, and PhD student at University of Alberta in performance studies. Sitting down with him I had no idea what to expect but at every corner I was surprised by his insight and probably one of the best laughs I’ve ever heard. Originally from Kenya, Musyoki has been active in the Edmonton theatre scene for quite some time and is now bringing his expertise to Vic. Catch his play How You Are Found in Awakening on May 17 and May 19, 2022.

What do you do? 

I write plays, I help in staging plays. I’ve been involved in a number of projects as a director, as a dramaturg and also in writing my own plays and staging them. Sometimes my presence in the room is twofold, as a playwright and a dramaturg to give cultural context and being able to facilitate the conversation. [I’m also able] to answer the questions that come up and help the conversation and contextualize it in the space. The last project I did was a play at the Fringe called Chanzo and that was my second production here in Edmonton and it was quite an adventure. It was a play that was semi-autobiographical and had a mixture in casting. We had two Black artists and one white artist and the director was Korean-Canadian so it just had a lot of voices, experiences and perspectives.

What got you involved in theatre and playwriting?

I actually always wanted to write prose because my background is in linguistics and literature. So, I was very much drawn into [prose]. I read a lot of material that was coming from around the world, mostly the Caribbean, Latin America, different parts of Africa and it got me thinking about how you can have such a broad conversation across such different nationalities and ethnic groups. Finding commonalities but also the differences and being able to tell stories about our experiences. So I tried prose, I’ll say I’m still trying prose but I got so excited about theatre because it has that feeling of community: you have to work with people. The entire possibility of production but also the continuing of the conversation because it’s strengthened by your connection to people so that got me very much involved in playwriting. I consider myself a dramaturg first. Dramaturgy was looking at community building. For me that was appealing because it shows so many possibilities. Also ways of negotiating the ways stories can speak to us and ways of negotiating how we can build stable relationships and how we can have a collaboration between translating stories across cultural lines but also being able to look at the possibilities that come up when we bring in more people. I found so much joy in that, it makes me feel like I’m facilitating something. It’s not just about [one person] it’s about working in a group, in an association. I was also drawn to dramaturgy because of the close association between creation and teaching. And dramaturgy allows me to work along those lines. I can work as an instructor, as a creator. It helps me occupy those two things.

What stories do you gravitate towards and why?

I’m very much interested in the idea of identity and performances and particularly Blackness in a Canadian context. And what does that look like and why is it important to talk about? I’m drawn to those stories because I feel there is a very important conversation we need to have as a society but also in reminding us of our history. [It’s important] in working towards a much brighter future. It all goes back to what we began talking about with creating relationships and creating sustainable relationships. 

How do you deal with writer’s block?

It’s quite interesting because it depends on the day. There are days where I’ll read something and it will activate that part of me that I can’t access and there are days where I need to put myself in community or in association with people and it will give me the impulse that I need and there are days that I just let it be. You can’t force it. It’s how you regulate it: as organic beings we know that this manifestation doesn’t come from one place. It comes from a multitude of assets and sometimes you can’t know what is amiss so you just have to allow yourself to give into the flow. I find writer’s block has taught me how to listen more because there’s so much networking within ourselves. Maybe it’s my body telling me to listen to a part of myself. It’s a very complicated condition because you never know what happens until you do. 

What does your process look like?

[The Awakening script] was very different because it was about honouring the diversity of voices and experiences. It was informed by my Indigenous ways of thinking. We started with a circle, we started with community, we started with intention. We were working around three aspects, two of which were identity and feeling alone. We looked at how those aspects affect us in our daily lives and how we forge relationships. From those conversations we got pieces of stories so the challenge for me was piecing them together. For me some of the work was accidental, some of it was intentional, some of it was experimental. What we were really drawn to was the fear of the unknown and how do you deal with the unknown.  

What would you recommend for young people who are interested in pursuing dramaturgy, playwriting, or theatre?

There’s so much wealth in cultivating relationships. There’s people who will provide mentorship, there’s writing that will feed your creative curiosity. Read plays, see theatre, and put yourself in good company and relationships. Cultivate a knowledge of the practices that we do. All of it matters. Even the things you read in school that may not seem important will come back later. It’s investing in that creative experiment, putting yourself in that space and relationships and knowing that it will unravel. Invest in effort.

What would you say to your high school self?

I think I worried a lot. There’s something about the curriculum, I did a different curriculum in Kenya, and there’s something about it that caused a lot of challenges. I wasn’t so much of a science person but I had to do it. In different cultures you find that every aspect of the curriculum is not as equally cherished. I felt like an outsider and I was worried about that. I ended up doing a degree in linguistics and in accounting to compensate for that. What I would tell myself if I went back, I would tell myself: it gets better, be respectful of what can be, make an effort to learn and invest in people. 

How would you describe your Awakening show in three words?

Experiment. Discovery. Open-ended.

Why is Victoria School the right place for your work?

Most of my previous work has been on my own identity. As a Black person, as Kenyan, as Akamba: I’ve written from that lense. It was a good challenge for me to move away from that identity, from that lens but also being on the listening end. It was a good challenge and a first for me. I put myself in relation with the people I was working with.