Uhuru

Uhuru opens at the Alley Theatre's Neuhaus Theatre on Friday, October 16, and runs through November 8. It's a world premiere, a dramedy written by Gloria Majule and directed by Shariffa Ali, and it's the kind of show that works as much as a satire as it does a character piece.

The story follows an unlikely group—a Tanzanian-American tourist, two missionaries, and their guide—on a "Tanzanian-only" ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro. As they make their way toward the "Roof of Africa," the play pushes them to confront questions of access, identity, and who actually deserves a place on the mountain. It's a sharp look at those tensions playing out in real time, and you should expect explicit language and sexual situations along the way. The production is rounded out with You-Shin Chen as Swahili dialect coach and cultural consultant and Lacey Erb on scenic design.

There's a bit of a ramp-up to the full run. Preview performances are Friday and Saturday, October 16 and 17, at 8 PM, and Tuesday, October 20, at 7:30 PM. Opening night is Wednesday, October 21, at 7:30 PM. The show runs an hour and a half with no intermission, so you're in for the whole thing in one go.

If you're into the conversation around the play, there's more than just the performance. There's a pre-show Alley Chat on Sunday, October 18, and post-show chats with the playwright, the cast, the artistic staff, and anthropologist Victoria Massie. The run also includes captioned, audio described, and ASL interpreted performances.