(Thuli
Dumakude)
South African-born Thuli Dumakude will
perform for guests at the Africa America Institute’s spectacular 60th
Anniversary Gala on September 25.
An actress, singer, and choreographer, she
recently moved to the United States after many years living and working in
Durban where she was a major role player in the revitalisation of Stable
Theatre.
A powerful soul-stirring soprano, Dumakude will
be remembered by long-term Durban audiences for her role in Welcome Msomi’s uMabatha (the Zulu “Macbeth”). uMabatha premiered at
the University’s University of Natal (now the University of
KwaZulu-Natal) open air theatre in 1971 and went on to perform to great
success at the Aldwych Theatre in London and further afield.
Among her many stage successes, Dumakude played
Rafiki in Lion King on Broadway and
the lead role in Poppie Nongena in
New York, London, Toronto, Australia and Chicago. She was also a vocal coach
for Sarafina on Broadway.
For her lead role in Poppie Nongena, she is a recipient of Obie Awards in New York and
the Sir Lawrence Olivier Award in London. She’s also the winner of three
Audelco Awards in New York for writing, directing and performing her one woman
show Buya Africa.
A celebrated singer and activist, she
toured the world performing musical concerts during the apartheid era to raise
awareness about the plight of her fellow South Africans. She worked with the
late South African singer Miriam Makeba and sang before President Nelson
Mandela at his 80th birthday celebration. She was invited by New York City’s
Department of Education to tour schools teaching young people about the role of
Africa in the world through music and dance.
Her charitable work includes Broadway
Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the Lion King Companies in America, providing them
with beaded merchandise to raise funds for HIV/AIDS. She has organized a group
of 20 South African rural women to create beadwork, which is sold to theatregoers
in New York to support South African AIDS organizations.
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