Transport Group in New York City, led by Creative Artistic Director Jack Cummings III (MFA ’96) and Producing Artistic Director (MFA ’96), has been around for 4 years and in that time has been nominated for 5 Drama Desk awards.
For more information -
www.transport-group.org

Nine Lives produced by Julie Lynn (BA ’88 & Law ’92) was screened at the 2005 Virginia Film Festival. A post-show discussion included Ms. Lynn, co-producer Kelly Thomas (Darden ’93), director Rodrigo Garcia, actress Kathy Baker and actress Sissy Spacek. Nine Lives received three Independent Spirit Award nominations: Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress (Robin Wright Penn).
For more information –
www.9livesmovie.com

Alumni: Share your news with us. Email updates and links to mr2xk@virginia.edu

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UVa Alum Comes Home Again to Share His Work
by Richard Warner, Professor, Acting
rpw2z@virginia.edu

(Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine opened the‘05-’06 season with his production of Biro on the Culbreth stage and appeared at several on-grounds events focused on HIV-AIDS awareness and prevention. His visit was funded by the Ruth and Mortimer Caplin Endowment and the Provost’s Arts Enhancement Fund.)

Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine graduated from the U.Va. as a Drama major in 1989. That year he appeared on the Culbreth stage as Walter in A Raisin in the Sun with guest artist Minnie Gentry. Ntare returned to Charlottesville and the Culbreth this September as a guest artist in his own right, with his solo performance piece, Biro. His week-long residency included a screening of his documentary, Beware of Time, a mask workshop with graduate and undergraduate actors, and a panel discussion with two U.Va. doctors, Michael Scheld and Rebecca Dillingham, “AIDS in Africa: Doctors and Artists Respond.”

In the sixteen years spanning Ntare’s portrayals of Walter and Biro he has studied at the Moscow Art Theater, the Royal National Theater and New York University’s Tisch School for the Arts, where he received his MFA degree in Acting. He has played leading roles at the Steppenwolf Theater, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and the Public Theater. He received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Actor for his work in a national tour of Six Degrees of Separation. His television credits include appearances on ER, CSI, and Law and Order.

In 1996 Ntare began working with rural-based theatre artists in South Africa. This experience inspired him to return to his homeland, Uganda, to collaborate with local HIV/AIDS advocacy groups, included artists infected and affected by this pandemic. Ntare states, “Watching these individuals use theatre to restore hope and improve the quality of life reinvigorated my sense of purpose as an artist. It was this exposure to theatre in local African communities that served as a catalyst in the writing of Biro.” In 2002 Ntare traveled across Uganda collecting thousands of images and hours of recorded interviews which he used to develop the script and shape the production.

Biro had its world premiere in Kampala, Uganda at the National Theater in January, 2003. Since that first showing the play has been enthusiastically received in diverse venues: London; the N.Y.C. Public Theater; the 2004 African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa; Seattle’s Empty Space; Kenya’s National Theater; Harare, Zimbabwe; and L.A. (at UCLA).

Biro is based on the true story of a young man caught up in the 1979 Ugandan civil war. After his HIV-positive diagnosis his life becomes a battle to survive and to liberate his family. The play chronicles his journey from Africa through Cuba to America, where he is put in jail after an altercation with police. Ntare’s Biro is a wily, complicated, and captivating storyteller whose tales intertwine the Ugandan people and their leaders, American immigration, HIV-AIDS, and their devastating effects in Africa.

Community outreach has always been a goal of the Drama Department, but we find ourselves placing heightened focus on this vital area. Department chair Tom Bloom has said that “Ntare’s appearance at U.Va offers all of us an opportunity to come together in support of the significant endeavors that he is involved in. His work stands as a model for all theatre artists who aspire to make positive contributions to human well-being.”

Ntare’s energized mask workshop, filled with laughter, allowed actors to explore characters who revealed intimate, honest, personal stories to the group on the spot. Panel attendees heard Ntare and two respected physicians reveal just how significant and practical an instrument theater can be to fight and prevent HIV-AIDS. Viewers responded to Ntare’s documentary with horror and sadness, confronted by hundreds of sick, orphaned children and homeless, hungry Ugandans struggling to survive. Department faculty and staff worked for hours in technical rehearsals with Ntare to produce Biro. Six projectors bursting with slides had to be coordinated with many light and sound cues. And a sold-out Culbreth audience saw why Biro has been praised by critics around the world for its moving power.

While Ntare was here for only four days, the experiences he shared with us continue to inspire and inform our work.

Click here to learn more about Biro by Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine.

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