Lebo Disele is a PhD candidate in the drama department at the University of Alberta. She is an interdisciplinary performer with a focus in movement, acting, directing, and dramaturgy. Most recently she created and performed The Space Between for NextFest Digital (2021). Other performance credits include Brandon Wint’s The Antidote to Violence as Care (forthcoming); Baki and Mands in Azimuth Theatre’s workshopped production, All That Binds Us (2020); Amina in Belleville (2020), directed by Amanda Goldberg at the Bleviss Laboratory Theatre; Words Unzipped at the 2019 SkirtsAfire Festival curated by Karimah Marshall; What (Black) Life Requires at the 2018 Expanse Festival and Unwoven at the 2018 SkirtsAfire Festival, curated by Nasra Adem. Lebo is focused on interdisciplinary art that places the body at the centre as a process of exploring how oppression impacts and lives in the body.
Twitter: @lebodisele
Facebook: Lebogang Disele
YouTube: Lebogang Disele
Instagram: @lebodisele
Natércia Napoleão (she/her) is a multifaceted Brazilian theatre artist and community advocate. Recently directing credits include a workshop of Jameela McNeil’s Orange Skies with the Young Playwright’s Unit at Tarragon Theatre, and Threshold with the The Lobbyists collective at the 2021 Chinook Series. Natércia is currently developing her first full-length play, Michener Park, with a workshop and public reading slated for the 2022 Chinook Series.
Natércia is also an associate producer with manidoons collective, and will be assisting in the workshop exploration of Yolanda Bonnell’s newest play, White Girls in Moccasins, in late 2021 in partnership with Buddies In Bad Times Theatre.
As a community advocate, Natércia’s work has impacted major theatre organizations, training institutions, arts media, funding bodies and artists in the theatre industry. Since June 4th, 2020, Natércia released 11 public letters to her theatre community, inviting discussion and action about systemic racism. In the midst of her public letter campaign, Natércia began an ad-hoc partnership with playwright, Hannah Moscovitch, resulting in the creation of The Playwright’s Clause Initiative. This initiative aims at devising a strategic and sustainable plan to champion racialized artists through the vehicle of a playwright’s contract. Natércia has also partnered with Ad Hoc Assembly and Donna Michelle St. Bernard in the creation of an upcoming database and website called The Abundance of Works. Set to launch this year, this free resource is an attempt to document every existing play by equity-seeking playwrights on Turtle Island. Recent explorations include an equity in theatre themed podcast called “Letter to Audiences”. Along with artist and researcher, April M. Killins, Natércia’s ongoing goal is to explore how audiences have agency and power to profoundly shift the theatre industry towards a more equitable future.
Over the past 18 years Natércia has workshopped many plays as a performer, developing a love for writing, dramaturgy, mentorship and leadership along the way. Past new work developments include: Cleave by Elena Belyea, Without You by Nicole Moeller, The Kaufman Kabaret by Hannah Moscovitch, Deserters by Kenneth T. Williams and multiple TYA developments.
Recent digital credits: Michener Park (CALTAC/NAC); until the next breath (Catalyst Theatre/ NAC); Pedro e Caterina (AMTC). Recent stage credits: Fado: The Saddest Music in the World (Puente Theatre/ Firehall Arts Centre). Television credits include: Caution: May Contain Nuts and Tiny Plastic Men. Recent published essays: “Reimagining Community and the Workplace of Theatre” (Culture Days AB); “2020:Year of the Iconoclast” (Theatre Alberta).
Natércia is also a theatre educator. Recent institution credits include: Citadel Theatre’s Young Company, The Foote Theatre School, Grindstone Theatre School and Victoria School of Performing Arts.
Natércia is a graduate from the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting Program.
Social Media Handles:
Instagram: natercia_napoleao
Facebook: Natércia Napoleão
Essay Links:
https://culturedays.ca/en/blog/reimagining-theatre
https://www.theatrealberta.com/2020/07/08/who-are-we-now-essays-from-a-new-world-natercia-napoleao/
Digital Performance Links:
https://nac-cna.ca/en/video/transformations-natercia-napoleao