Adong Judith

Activist, Artist, Change Agent, Christian, Concerned citizen, Consultant, Educator/Teacher, Filmmaker, Global soul, Idea generator, Life mentor, Potential employer, Producer, Project manager, Single, Writer/Editor

In 2006, a T. A/Masters student at Makerere University, Adong returned to her war-ravaged hometown, Gulu, to study the use of theatre in the psychosocial therapy of the children who filled the ranks of Kony’s army, one of the largest child armies in human history. Adong knew then that a dissertation that would gather dust in academic shelves would be an injustice to these war-weary yet raw defiant powerful voices that needed to be heard by the world. So, she wrote Silent Voices, a play that depicts a former LRA slave-wife’s struggle to make sense of the justice she was dealt. While working on the play at Sundance Theatre Lab, Adong met her first openly gay person. The encounter challenged her to re-assess her understanding of homosexuality and she wrote Just Me, You and THE SILENCE, partly developed at the Royal Court Theatre in London and read at Makerere University and to 300 Ugandan LGBTQ & the Diplomatic community. Silent Voices’ acclaimed World Premiere at the National Theatre of Uganda amidst fear of Adong’s arrest for her daring portrayal of the government’s role in northern Uganda war crimes was described by many a Ugandan as, ‘the spiritual rebirth of theatre in Uganda since the decline of critical theatre due to political persecution of artists during the Idi Amin Regime’. It brought together victims, political, religious, cultural, Amnesty Commission and transitional justice leaders for critical, transformative conversations about issues of war crimes. For many in the Kampala audience, the atrocities in Gulu were unfamiliar and shocking, eliciting feelings of betrayal by their Government. Without a doubt, Adong had found her calling! However, a filmmaking dream nurtured since the age of 13 after watching her first African film, Consequences (Zimbabwe, 1987) still ate at Adong’s soul. Fall of 2012, she joined Temple University’s MFA Filmmaking and Media Arts under the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship, where true to her calling, her 50mins thesis film, Right Song, Wrong C(h)ord, explores the journey of a young Ugandan woman’s search of home, recognition and respect in the face of racial prejudice and the burgeoning promise of true love in the world of the American Dream. In 2015, Adong returned home with an Acholi language production of the play whose journey started there, which this time around she directed and toured 3 towns of northern Uganda and yet again brought together stakeholders in a conversation and moved Acholi people to tears, christening Adong the ‘rebirth of Okot P’ Bitek’. “The way you captured the events of the war are so spot-on. The most truthful depiction of the war ever. So, I laughed because I recognized myself in the actors on stage. I saw the meaningless atrocities I committed and saw how stupid and meaningless it all was. So, mine was a laugh of recognition, not enjoyment”, explained a former LRA Soldier audience member when Adong expressed disappointment at a few inappropriate laughter. Adong, who is 1 of 12 global Theatre Influencer’ for the 2017 54th Berlin Theatre Meeting, has found a multiplier effect approach that blends her theatre influence goals through an annual summer Theatre Production Apprenticeship she designed that teams up 10 Aspiring Theatre Makers with Renowned Local and International Theatre Makers in a hands-on-on-the-job training under her non-profit production company, Silent Voices Uganda., whose 1st Edition commenced in 2016 upon her return from the ‘Get Lost Program’ Artists Residency in Amsterdam. She continues to write, direct and produce social change plays- Holy Maria (2017), a play that asks, ‘how free is the 21st century woman?’ & Blood (2017), Adong’s Modern Day Impression of Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs that exposes the hypocrisy of White American journalists that flock the African continent to cover stories of ‘barbaric’ acts, while ignoring the savagery unleashed on Black Americans back home. Adong uses a multi-layered storytelling approach that combines conventional and experimental styles with dark humor and a blend of music, dance and drama that exposes absurdities and layers of issues that make her plays accessible to diverse groups. Her plays have received Public Readings in New York, London, Toronto and Chicago and been studied at Ivy League Universities like Princeton, Dartmouth, NYU and UNC, where she has been invited as a visiting artist. Adong’s theatre directing style draws from her cinematic background creating stunning visuals on stage. Veteran Ugandan Art reporter, Wabweyo George described Adong’s 2016 directions of her play Ga-AD! as, “The Hand of God of Ugandan theatre, so reminiscent of Argentinian Diego Maradona's 1986 World Cup epic steal against England…” Adong recently signed a publishing contract with Methuen Publishers, UK for her play, Silent Voices and is currently in pre-production of her 2017 Summer Apprenticeship using the production of her LGBTQ Rights play, Just Me, You and THE SILENCE.

I am passionate about Women's Rights. I am passionate about Children's Rights. I am passionate about Race & Ethnic Diversity and Rights. I am passionate about Local and Global issues affecting disadvantaged groups. I am passionate about writing , directing and producing social change theatre/film/television/radio dramas. I am passionate about watching plays, films and Television Drama Series. I am passionate about Provoking/Promoting conversations and Providing Artistic Platforms for conversations about issues affecting disadvantaged groups to challenge the silence thumb-rule and taboo topics. I am passionate about being open and willing to come to the conversation table. I am passionate about knowing what you want and fully committing to it. I am passionate about not taking on a task/job that you are not passionate about or if you are not willing to give it your whole. I am passionate about being a woman. I am passionate about Fashion and African Prints. I am passionate about coats. I am passionate about shoes. I am passionate about hand bags. I am passionate about wines. I am passionate about sleep.

The Theatre Production Apprenticeship is my idea worth spreading. The Theatre Production Apprenticeship is an Annual Summer (June-August) program that teams up 10 Aspiring Theatre Makers with Renowned Local and International Theatre Makers in a hands-on-on-the-job training under the auspices of Silent Voices Uganda Productions with the mission to rekindle and develop the industry in the country and contribute to activism around key local and global social change issues affecting disadvantaged groups through its social change productions. The initiative, whose 1st Edition kicked off in Summer of 2016, is mainly focused on Theatre Creative Directors Training with consideration for between 2-5 annual dire need theatre production departments in Uganda. The focus of the Theatre Production Apprenticeship on Creative Directors has been informed by a challenge in Theatre Directing Leadership that has continued to affect the quality of theatre productions in Uganda. It is our conviction that a Director with a strong clear vision makes it viable to hire skills in other production departments from related fields, for instance Costume Designers from the Fashion Industry and Make-Up and Hair Artist from the Beauty Industry. The initiative is the first of a series of Theatre/Film/Television Production training initiatives that Adong has designed to bridge the practicum gaps in a country of limited and/or limiting, mostly theory-based performing arts institutional and/or organizational support systems. The other two conceptualized and developed initiatives that are in the pipeline to kick off as soon as all necessary factors allow are; 1) The Young People’s Theatre Creation, Development and Production Apprenticeship initiative that aims to bring together in one space disadvantaged school dropped out young people living in slums and students in collaborating art creations and productions tackling issues affecting young people, hence creating a constructive platform for young people to air their grievances. 2) The playwrights-directors’ collaboration initiative that aims at teaming up Ugandan playwrights with the directors trained from the theatre production apprenticeship to support the development of their plays and grow the culture/practice of scripting versus the current dominant practice of improvisation, thus delay the plays from being prematurely rushed into productions hence poor production qualities. Many Ugandan employers, as echoed by Richard Mugisha, Country Manager, Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (OSIEA), a funding partner that has newly come aboard with the 2nd Edition of the Apprenticeship, have and continue to complain about the challenges of receiving University graduates equipped with a lot of theories but no practical skills. The Theatre Production Apprenticeship Program is designed to aid bridging in this practicum gap in the theatre section. Aspiring Theatre Makers get ‘on the job hands-on training’ from Renowned Professional Theatre Directors under the auspices of SILENT VOICES UGANDA Productions. It is designed as a program for individuals with at least the theory-based degrees in the Creative Arts, who are struggling to acquire practical skills and making breakthroughs in theatre productions. Given the limited time, space and resources we have, due to funding limitation, this level of artistic education, helps them conceptualize and apply theories into hands-on practices much better. Though, to many a Ugandan, Creative Arts is a talent and not an education acquired knowledge and skills; a formal and/or structured education/training no matter how bad the education system is cannot be underrated. Regardless of one’s talent, it is imperative for one to learn the craft. Talent cannot be taught but the craft can be taught. Conceptualization is key to the creation, development and production of theatre projects that arouse and develop critical thinking among citizens. This is one of the goals of our Theatre Creative Directing Apprenticeship; ‘To train participants in conceptualization, structuring and packaging serious theatre that makes social commentaries on issues affecting humanity as thus provoking critical thinking among our audiences’. Theatre that goes beyond the ‘just for laughs and nudity theatre’ that renowned Ugandan Playwright, the Late Wycliffe Kiyingi lamented. Besides OSIEA, the program’s main funding partner is DOEN Foundation, a Netherlands Art Funding Organization that has unreservedly supported Silent Voices Uganda since 2012. In the African Ubuntu life philosophy, it takes a village to keep a community strong and going. So, we are seeking more funding partners to support the smooth running of the vision and continue to efficiently and effectively achieve desired results. The Theatre Production Apprenticeship 2017 call is open and details can be found on this link on Silent Voices Uganda’s website: https://www.silentvoicesuganda.org/open-call.

Inspirational Talk., Music Lyrics Writing., Poetry Writing., Research., Scholarly Paper Writing., Solo Performance., Theatre, Film, Television and Radio Dramas Directing, Writing, Producing and Teaching.

I first learnt about TED Fellowship during Fall of 2013 when working on a paper for my film history class, that would become one of my three 20-page required Comprehensive Exams papers. My paper argued that Globalization is Westernization and therefore nothing but a colorful modern colonization tool that has been sneaked in on non-western cultures. For instance, most of what is currently referred to as African films are always what I view as Afro-Western films because colonization interfered with what would have been African films as naturally evolved through a non-adulterated African evolution and/or modernity agreeing with Albert Einstein’s Multiple Modernities argument. This is when a friend shared with me Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s, ‘The danger of a single story’, saying it reminded her so much of me and my arguments. Indeed, testament to how much my friend knew me, I was blown away by Chimamanda’s talk, especially when she states that stereotypes are not necessarily always wrong but that they are usually not the only story about and/or attributes of a person and/or a culture. I binge watched TEDTalks for a week! I could have continued but of course being in American’s crazy hectic graduate film program, reality soon caught up with me as assignments began to pile up on my desk. But most importantly, I became a TEDTalks convert and dreamed about giving one, one fateful day. On October 9th 2016, Roberta Levitow, Associate Producer, Sundance Institute-Theatre Program, shared the TEDGlobal 2017 call to a mailing list of East African alumni of Sundance Institute-Theatre Program Residencies, with a ‘for you or someone you know’ note. I didn’t pay much attention to it. In fact, I didn’t even read the entire email to read details of the call because in my mind, this seemed like such a far-fetched dream for a girl of my humble background. I think quite often, from the inside, I am still the little girl from ‘war-torn town of Gulu up Northern Uganda’. On October 24th 2016, 15 days later, as the Universe would have it, (I believe sometimes the Universe fights for me more than I fight for myself), I received an email from the TED Fellow Team that said, Philip Himberg, Sundance Institute-Theatre Program recommended that I might be interested in the Fellowship (I was but trying to pretend I wasn’t for fear of rejection!) and would make a strong candidate. So, if I am interested then the application is open. Philip Himberg has been and continues to be my strongest mentor so I thought, if Philip believes I have a shot at this, then maybe I do! So, I Applied!! I was pleasantly surprised when on January 25th 2017 I received an email from TED Fellow Team stating they had reviewed my application and want to schedule an interview. “Do they have to interview? After that tough application requirement??”, I thought to myself. “And an online interview in a country where expecting stable internet is a dream sure to turn into one's worst nightmare?!” It reminded me of my interview with New York University when applying to film school, where everything that could go wrong went wrong for me, including unbearable internet connection. Interestingly, on the day of the interview, I was unusually calm about the interview, I guess thanks to age and experience. At a certain age in life, after a thousand heartbreaks, you begin to tell yourself, ‘well, it simply comes down to a no, at worst. No prison time!’ At the end of the interview, the TED Fellow Team let me know that I would be informed of my status by the end of February 2017. I thought the interview had gone well. Well, in my experience of the interviews, that is. But when February came and passed and I hadn’t heard anything, I began to doubt if the interview had gone as well as I had thought. The wait felt like a thousand years wait! Just when, in my mind, I had already dumped my application in TED Fellowship’s trashcan, Boom! On March 14th 2017, the email came in. The subject read, 'Action Required/Response Requested'. I thought, "Gosh, not another stage in the selection process, I hope!" "We are thrilled to offer you a TED Fellowship at TEDGlobal 2017!", was the first line I read when I opened the mail and I froze on that. I wanted to bask in that unbelievable feeling before I read anything more that probably asked me to do something judging by the subject. I am the kind of person that when I am asked to do something, I begin to fuse about it starting to plan it right away. So, I end up missing out on enjoying a moment that needs to be enjoyed. I have never been this excited about winning anything since 2012 when I won the Fulbright Fellowship to Graduate Film School in the USA. In fact, I am even more exicted than then. I am so excited I worry I may be setting up myself for disappointment, not because the Fellowship could turn out to be bad, but because by August 2017, I fear I probably would have raised my expectations to unrealistic levels. HaHa

People don’t know that I am good at my mother tongue (first language), Acholi Language and that I even have a degree in it. Often when I am invited to an Acholi Language forum, organizers begin to worry if I can pull off discussions in the language without code-switching to English. People don’t know that I am as good at writing Children’s Stories as I am in writing adult stories and that I am a published Children’s Stories writer with 14 Children Stories Books to my name. People don’t know that I am good at working with Children, even I didn’t know that about myself until 2015 when I directed two theatre productions, each with 10 children cast AND I was such a natural with them. It suddenly made sense to me that in fact, children have always gravitated towards me. Even a tiny baby with a reputation of rejecting everyone except their parents would be okay with me carrying them. People don’t know that I am good at spoken words performances and I used to be a strong spoken word performer that put up powerful local and international performances in Uganda (Kampala); Sweden (Gothenburg and Örebro); Kenya (Nairobi) and Ethiopia (Addis Ababa). People don’t know that I am good at cooking, especially Acholi ethnic cultural foods, which is even usually the biggest surprise because they view my life right now as very western sophisticated- a complete misconception/assumption.