Creating space for New Nordic Voices

Actresses in long dresses sitting in the spotlight on a dark stage

New Nordic Voices – For Colored Girls was granted funding from the Nordic Culture and Art programme in 2018.

The project New Nordic Voices presents the visibility of Nordic minorities through exploring selected theatre works of iconic Nordic playwrights and juxtaposing them with Global icons from Afro-American, African and Caribbean traditions.

The project was realised during 2019 with seven women on stage, performing a 1970s classic by African-American playwright Ntzoke Shange For colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf in a juxtaposition with the 19th-centrury classic from Finland, Worker’s wife by Minna Canth. The play was directed by Shirly Basfield Dunlap (USA) in collaboration with Ritva Siikala (FIN). The collaboration resulted in strong stories by women of color, performed at Cultural Centre Caisa and Nordic Culture Point in Helsinki, Finland; at KU.BE in Fredriksberg, Denmark and at Stockholm Fringe Festival, Sweden.

New Nordic Voices was produced by ACT, Afro Cosmopolite Thespians, a professional multi-faceted theatre company in Denmark whose vision is to have multiple cultures share a stage, in cooperation with International Culture Centre Caisa (Finland) and Intercult (Sweden).