Sam Kebede

Sam Kebede

Sam Kebede is a first generation Ethiopian/Eritrean Writer/Actor/Comedian based in New York City and his works center predominantly around the first generation experience and the black experience. He is currently in the process of developing a play cycle adaptation of the Kebra Nagast (the written record of the lineage of Ethiopian kings and queens) as a modern response to Shakespeare’s history plays. And he is...
Sam Kebede is a first generation Ethiopian/Eritrean Writer/Actor/Comedian based in New York City and his works center predominantly around the first generation experience and the black experience. He is currently in the process of developing a play cycle adaptation of the Kebra Nagast (the written record of the lineage of Ethiopian kings and queens) as a modern response to Shakespeare’s history plays. And he is currently finishing the last play of his Race War trilogy (1. Unite the Right, 2. Black Metamorphosis, and 3. JERICHO.).
Seperate from these cycles is his play ETHIOPIANAMERICA which was recently produced by Definition Theater Company at the Tony-Award winning Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. The show was a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference for 2019 and won the Black Theater Alliance Award for Best Play. The play is possibly the first American play to heavily feature the Ethiopian language of Amharic and is the first major American play to feature all Ethiopian/Eritrean characters.
His latest project, Black Metamorphosis is currently an O’Neill NPC ‘20 semi-finalist, and is a black adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis with the overbearing bureaucracy of Kafka’s time being replaced with the institutional racism of ours. Sam has also had a workshopped stage reading of his show Unite the Right at the B Street Theatre in Sacramento, CA (LORT theater), and it has had readings in Brooklyn as well.

Plays

  • Uncle Brown by Sam Kebede
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Chekhov Adaptation, Jim Crow South + 5 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, dark comedy, period
    Keyword: Chekhov Adaptation, Jim Crow South, Uncle Vanya, existential comedy, black theatre, black cast, Chekhov
    A Take on Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, Uncle Brown follows a black family in the 1930s south. All the existentialism and repression of Pre-Lenin Russia exchanged for the externalism and repression of the Jim Crow South. But with humor and a few other liberties
  • Whenever You're Ready by Sam Kebede
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: comedy, farce
    ·
    Keyword: black, Black comedy + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, farce
    Keyword: black, Black comedy, Farce
    Did you know there has never been an all-black cast comedy play on Broadway? There have been musicals, there have been dramas, but there's never been a full comedy. This is the story of what could be the first one. And it's a farce.
  • Souvenir by Sam Kebede
    Cast: 
    6–15
    ·
    Genre: adventure, docudrama/historic + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: Black Magical Realism, 18th century Black history + 8 more
    Genre: adventure, docudrama/historic, drama, movement/physical, period
    Keyword: Black Magical Realism, 18th century Black history, 19th century black history, Black History Month, Haiti, Haitian Revolution, Haitian, Ensemble Show, French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte
    Loosely based on the family of Alex Dumas, this story begins with the end of slavery and takes us through to the end of the Haitian Revolution. Imbued with Haitian religion, lore, language, and dance, we see the titans of Haitian history grapple with what is necessary for liberty while struggling to hold on to what they want most.
  • JERICHO. by Sam Kebede
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: drama, experimental + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: trials, White Supremacy + 5 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, movement/physical, political, tragedy
    Keyword: trials, White Supremacy, hallucinations, black, police, violence, Race
    A Black man wrote a play about killing all white people. Then someone killed white people. Now he stands trial for class A-1 felony in this examination of hate, retribution, and how far we're willing to go in the fight against white supremacy.
  • Black Metamorphosis by Sam Kebede
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 5 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, dark comedy, movement/physical, period, political, satire
    After the fall of Rome, the illuminati realizes that they can no longer tolerate the influx of foreigners and decides to set on a campaign to eliminate all people of color. But once they're successful they find that they miss the sweet sexy labor of black people, and decide to create their own from scratch. The rest is as Kafka intended in this adaptation of his magnum opus The Metamorphosis.
  • ETHIOPIANAMERICA by Sam Kebede
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, tragedy
    ·
    Keyword: Ethiopia, Eritrea + 5 more
    Genre: drama, tragedy
    Keyword: Ethiopia, Eritrea, America, first generation, abuse, violence, jeopardy
    O'Neill 2019 Semifinalist, World Premiere at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, produced by Definition Theater Company
    Winner, Black Theater Alliance Best New Play Award
    From the outside in, the american dream is not something that's given but rather something that is earned. And Girma and Elizabeth Kifle earned it. They immigrated from Ethiopia, had two kids, and even have a white...
    O'Neill 2019 Semifinalist, World Premiere at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, produced by Definition Theater Company
    Winner, Black Theater Alliance Best New Play Award
    From the outside in, the american dream is not something that's given but rather something that is earned. And Girma and Elizabeth Kifle earned it. They immigrated from Ethiopia, had two kids, and even have a white picket fence outside their apartment. But all it takes is one bad day for everything to change. In this unnervingly charming family tragedy, the heart of the first generation african experience is exposed and the blood of abuse rushes to every vein.
  • Unite the Right by Sam Kebede
    Cast: 
    9
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Race, audition monologue + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, political
    Keyword: Race, audition monologue, hate, hallucinations, KKK, northeast, black lives matter, all lives matter, Charlottesville
    After overcoming the hurdles of her race and sexuality, Lauren Yang has risen to the seat of Artistic Director at one of the most prominent theater development centers in the country. Now in her second year, she has decided to invite established white playwright Charles Lenighan to showcase his newest play about the Black Lives Matter Movement. But following the marches in Charlottesville, he has decided to...
    After overcoming the hurdles of her race and sexuality, Lauren Yang has risen to the seat of Artistic Director at one of the most prominent theater development centers in the country. Now in her second year, she has decided to invite established white playwright Charles Lenighan to showcase his newest play about the Black Lives Matter Movement. But following the marches in Charlottesville, he has decided to change his Black Lives Matter play into an All Lives Matter play, the day before the first table read. Now the theater must struggle with premiering the world's first Alt-right play.