AfriCan Theatre Ensemble Home PageWhat's on, what's coming upSchoolEverything we've done since 1999Our scheduleKey dates in our historyPictures of people and eventsWhat we're about, and whyWe need your help!Who is supporting us nowAdvertise to a target audienceEnsemble Performance ListingsWhat our Audiences SayInterview with Femi Osofisan
Ensemble Actors
How to reach AfriCan Theatre EnsembleTolani Adeleke-Rufai, actor and dancer
StaffBoard of DirectorsContact UsPast Resident Directors

About ATE

The AfriCan Theatre Ensemble (ATE) is a not-for-profit theatre organization with charitable status whose mission is to make African theatre accessible to the public through performances of old and new creations, workshops and staged productions of plays originating from or inspired by Africa.

Founded in 1998, the AfriCan Theatre Ensemble recognizes the power of live art to inspire and renew the human spirit and to forge human relationships across cultures, creeds, ethnicities, ideologies, genders, social classes and so on. To that end, our work presents the different theatrical idioms, traditions and experiences from which the various playwrights tap and in so doing creates an avenue for cultural exchange between Africa and Canada and the rest of the world.

The opportunity of our theatrical creation and production is to demonstrate how the local experience also addresses universal themes and emotions. Hence, the policy for play selection emphasizes the breadth and depth of African theatre, which in turn renews the Ensemble’s ability to contrast treatments of themes and uses of technique.

In addition to staged productions/performances, the company creates opportunities for international collaborations and exchange of ideas. ATE recognizes Africa’s creative dialogue with its Diaspora and with other parts of the world. Collaborations that reflect this dialogue constitute a part of the Ensemble’s work. In presenting distinct African traditions, creations and techniques in the theatre arts, the Ensemble corrects the assumptions of a homogenous Black experience.

In 2002, the AfriCan Theatre Ensemble undertook a review of its operation spurred by an awareness of a growing audience interested in the organization’s work. The turning point included an invitation by the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) extended to the company to partake of a capacity building grant in the Council’s cultural diversity initiative. On the heels of this invitation was another, extended to the company by the Canadian Association for African Studies, meeting in Toronto in that year, to stage a play as the central feature for the Association’s closing event at a banquet for the delegates who came from different parts of Canada and from overseas.

Against this background, and recent Stabilization grant received from the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Ensemble recognized the opportunity to increase and enhance its profile, and has embarked on a transition from single projects to multiple projects, involving a main stage production, workshops, and at least two staged readings of new creations in a season.

To fulfill our mission, we will focus our efforts over the next three years on three important goals: We will develop the Ensemble’s administrative capacity to meet the expanded scope of operation and artistic development;

  • We will create, present and produce African drama on multiple stages and provide invigorating theatre experiences;
  • We will increase ATE’s profile and impact in Toronto and in the larger Canadian theatre community.

ATE operates from Toronto (Canada), is governed by an eight member Board of Directors and run by a small staff. Our fiscal year runs from November 1 – October 31.