Addicted

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Neptune Theatre is located on sacred land that has been the site of human activity since time immemorial. We are in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq, and we acknowledge them as the past, present and future caretakers of this land.

As artists, we are grateful to work and build community here. As stewards of culture, we commit to continuing to improve our relations with Indigenous people and upholding values of collaboration and inclusivity in all that we do.

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Neptune Theatre is a member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional Artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. Neptune Theatre engages professional technicians represented by IATSE Local 680.

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PRESENTS

DRAMATURGED D’BI.YOUNG ANITAFRIKA

PHOTOGRAPHY BY A JORDAN

CAST

RAVEN DAUDA

ARTIST / DIRECTOR / WRITER / PROPS / DESIGNER / CHOREOGRAPHER

CREATIVE TEAM

MANYIKA SOUND DESIGN

JESSICA LEWIS LIGHTING DESIGN

LEXI SPROULE STAGE MANAGER

A MESSAGE FROM NEPTUNE THEATRE

Welcome to Raven Duada’s Addicted - a unique, powerful, heartfelt, and funny performance, that we are thrilled to present this show as the final show in our Scotiabank Studio season. Our Studio Series allows us to bring smaller works to our audiences, elevating stories and voices that have been marginalized in mainstream theatre for too long.

Our 2024-25 Season Radiant Subscription features three shows featuring those marginalized storiesthe immigrant experience, surviving a Mi’kmaw winter, and the life and times of Nova Scotia’s own Viola Desmond. It is vitally important that as an artistic leader in the region we continue to elevate these voices and experiences, and we encourage

you to become a Radiant subscriber, or add it to your Spotlight subscription for next season. Our Box Office team is standing by to help you book into a theatrical season that truly invites you to Experience the Extraordinary.

Kimberlee Stadelmann Executive Director

Jeremy Webb Artistic Director

IT TAKES A VILLAGE!

From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank the following for their contributions and support throughout this process:

Anthony Adeyemo, Oluranti Akintonde, Kanna Anigbogu, d’bi.young anitafrika, behbeit burelle, b current, Kristin Casady, Jane Cotnam, Dancemakers, Lucille Hamilton-Dauda, Michel Dauda & The Dauda Family, Lucius Dechausay, Liam & Juliemae Doherty, Naomi Gaskin, Wanda Haber-Kucharsky & The North York Family Health Team, Brett Haynes, Helix Healthcare, Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Diane Johnstone, Leila Nadimi, Oyin Oladejo, Ontario Arts Council, Brian Speagle & Scooter Productions, St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Toronto Arts Council, Transcendental Meditation, Vipassana, The Watah Theatre and its PADI & TAP participants, Jeremy Webb & Neptune Theatre.

AA: WWW.AA.ORG

NA: WWW.NA.ORG

This work saved my life. It gave me a point of focus, creative expression and purpose at a time when it was a challenge just to leave the house. Words cannot even begin to express how grateful I am to d’bi.young anitafrika and everyone at The Watah Theatre for their love, guidance and support. It was during my artist~in~residency there in 2015 that ADDICTED was born. The learning and exploration of d’bi’s powerful and life-changing Anitafrika Method was the foundation that helped me to create this bio-mythological monodrama and allowed for me to look at my own struggles ~ with alcohol, smoking and sugar addictions as well as mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and PTSD ~ in a way that allowed for patience, compassion and a deep shift in my understanding to emerge. Addiction is a very personal and elusive plight and has many more faces and complexities than I can even begin to show here. This play is a love~letter to my birth family, my artistic and communal families, and you... because addiction and mental health issues touch all of our lives. It is my deepest hope that through this piece a dialogue and a shift in our views continues to grow, breaking stigmas and inspiring greater global support and change. And for all those in the struggle ~ who I cannot mention, but will never forget ~ your courage, honesty and humility inspire me to never give up!

To the program (and yourself) keep coming back!

GOD GRANT ME THE STRENGTH TO NOT LOSE MY S&*T TODAY THE COURAGE TO SPEAK UP WHEN SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THAT ALL THINGS COME TO PASS

- RAVEN DAUDA

RAVEN DAUDA*

Artist / Director / Writer / Props / Designer / Choreographer

ADDICTED TO: Woo Woo

Raven Dauda is a multiple award-winning artist.

FOR THEATRE: Addicted (Dora Award/Watah), Miss Julie: Freedom Summer (Dora Award/CanStage), Penelopiad (Dora Award/ Nightwood) Doubt, A Parable (Dora Nomination/CanStage), The Minotaur (Dora Nomination/YPT), Da Kink In My Hair (4 NAACP Awards/Mirvish), Intimate Apparel (Obsidian/CanStage/Neptune). TV/FILM: Five Days At Memorial (ACTRA Award/ABCS). Raven guest stars in Mr. Monk’s Last Case starring Tony Shaloub (Critics’ Choice Nominee/Peacock) and has recurring roles in hit series such as; The Umbrella Academy (Netflix), Star Trek: Discovery (CBS), Hudson & Rex (CityTV), The Expanse (SyFy), Suits (USA), and stars as the delightfully kooky Ginger Jones on Spellbound (Hulu)

*The participation of this Artist is arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance Opera Theatre Policy (DOT).

MANYIKA

Sound Design

ADDICTED TO: Our commitment to living a life that centers around honouring the Almighty. We are addicted to growing in the Spirit, knowledge, wisdom and the love of the Author and Finisher of our lives.

MANYIKA is a multidisciplinary arts entity comprised of husband and wife practitioners, ‘Jhikoman’ and Amina AbNa Manyika *nee Alfred*. A creative force combined, MANYIKA aims to put forward artistic works that encompasses who each artist is individually and what they can create together. It is their pure pleasure to create the soundscape and musical contribution for this inception of ADDICTED.

JESSICA LEWIS (SHE/HER)

Lighting Designer

ADDICTED TO: Chips

NEPTUNE: The Play That Goes Wrong, Billy Elliot, Ballad of the Motherland, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Alice in Pantoland, Fully Committed, The Last 5 Years, Shakespeare In Love, In A World Created By A Drunken God (Neptune Theatre), Drowning Girls (Neptune w/DMV Theatre) OTHER THEATRE: Fat Juliet (Eastern Front Theatre), WHODUNIT? (Votive Dance), The Movements, Tiny, Slowly I Turn, How Small How Far Away (Zuppa Works), Broadway on Argyle St, Under Milk Wood, Fishing (Off The Leash Productions), Pageant, The Ugly One (DMV Theatre).

LEXI SPROULE

Stage Manager

ADDICTED TO: Sleep Procrastination

Lexi Sproule is an Italian-Canadian writer, producer, stage manager, and teacher based in Tkaronto, Ontario. She is passionate about creating and supporting political, community-centric art that heals and transforms. She stage managed the workshop and World Premiere of Addicted in 2018, and is ecstatic to be part of bringing Raven Dauda’s healing play, ritualistic sense of storytelling, gorgeous puppetry, and joyous cast of characters to Halifax. Lexi is author of the book of short stories Wormhole and co-creator of the upcoming podcast Money No Get Enemy. She tutors Grades 2-12 in Math, Science, and English.

SPONSORS & PARTNERS

SEASON SPONSOR

PRODUCTION PARTNERS

FOUNDATIONS

JASON ROTH AND CHERYL STEADMAN ROTH

THEATRE PARTNERS

TIM MARGOLIAN AND DAWN FRAIL FOUNDATION

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

WINDSOR FOUNDATION

ARTHUR AND AUDREY CUTTEN FOUNDATION