Hello!

Toto Kisaku is an award-winning Congolese playwright, actor, director, and theater producer. Born in Kinshasa, he studied Education in High School and Drama at the National Institute of Arts in Kinshasa, and after university, he began collaborations with many internationally known artists including Mwambay Kalengay, Jacques Livchine, Dieudonné Niangouna, Sophie Lecarpentier, and his mentor Philip Boulay. Through these collaborations, Kisaku found inspiration through Patrice Chereau and Bernard Marie Koltes, which led to the development of his process Quatre Murs (Four Walls). READ MORE

Le Petit Studio

What: Le Petit Studio is a workshop space for dramatic readings by and for children and adolescents, with optional participation by adults, including teachers, parents, and grandparents! Le Petit Studio promotes a shared space where young people can experience and create around books, words, and sounds. A place to dramatize and recreate a universe that comes from writers from every part of the globe. Perfect for schools, church groups, community centers, nonprofit organizations—anywhere you want children to experience the fun of drama! Why: Creativity is exciting, it’s exhilarating. And creating with other people brings them into our lives in a way that is empowering--the opposite of violence, which keeps others on the outside. Creating safe spaces for young people to be creators of their own lives and experiences is vital to developing the neighborhoods, communities, and cities we dream of 

Le Petit Studio

· Helps children and Students discover the world and their own traditions through dramatizing literature.

·  Promotes general literacy including language acquisition.

·  Promotes a life-long love of reading and an understanding of literature and literary and dramatic devices like plot, character, scenes, costumes, lighting, and props.

·  Promotes socialization and collaboration between children and the community around literature, instilling an appreciation of the excitement that comes from working together.

How: Imagine in 2 hours that a group of young people (workshop maximum of 20) can recreate an entire world on stage. Imagine that they take responsibility for making artistic decisions to realize their vision and make their story come alive.

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Le Petit Studio is a staged reading that is helping kids to learn earlier about theater directing. It’s open for the school year 2023-2024

Made for Schools, Non-Profit organizations.

FEES

Workshop and Lecture

• $500 for the school and non-profit organizations;

• $1000 Talks and Lectures for Colleges and other institutions.

Toto Kisaku shares his 24 years of experience in theater as a storyteller, Playwright, Actor, Theater Producer, and Social Justice Activist. Please google “Toto Kisaku” for more information.

Toto kisaku’s STATEMENT

STATEMENT OF ARTISTIC PRACTICE

I am a theater maker, but I do not just write plays. Rather, I explore the identity and environment of a community through theatrical art. The construction of the scenic environment is the major part of my artistic work, before inventing and inviting the characters to take possession of it. Starting from this environment, I explore the « quatre murs » or "four walls": the interior of a body -- with or without life -- a constitution, a community, a political and social system, the common thought of a group of individuals or an organization. Based on these materials, I take drama, tragedy, comedy, habits, questions, silences, thoughts, new forms, and – always -- identity to create something new. It is in the depths of these four walls that I search for and find emptiness, an opportunity within each person and each community to realize their values and metamorphosis through the introduction of beauty and the principles of art. My philosophy is meant to fight corruption and manipulation. I know we are all manipulated and corrupted. Why am I saying corrupted? Because we are all material, bodies, immaterial… Corrupted by time, the climate, the environment, the political system, and the lack of awareness. Manipulated by our own passion and emotional state. All these are making us accomplices. Accomplices of falling this century, of environmental destruction, economic system, social environment…

I consider the public (audience) as a major player in all my artistic projects. He is an integral part of the show because it is about him that it is in my plays. So he is this need that the theater today must compose. He is the breath of any action in a room. The theater adds a real dimension to his daily life, saving him, sometimes, from the drama and tragic situation offered by the physical environment (« quatre murs ») and the political systems in which he lives.

That's why I take the risk of taking the theater out of the building and into the neighborhoods where people live, work, play, love. And this great need is found in this one who discovers the magic of the theater and reacts. I force myself to reinvent a theater that tells the truth in beauty, which values and rehabilitates the human.

That is who I am.

SIX FEET UNDER THE LOSERS

Toto Kisaku’s new play - Summer/Fall 2023

Six Feet Under the Losers

Frank transitions from a factory role to a serene position at a funeral home. However, the peaceful setting abruptly alters with the pandemic's arrival, thrusting him into burying thousands of bodies. What was once a calming role becomes akin to his factory job. He becomes robotic, devoid of empathy and human connection, burying bodies with a mechanical rhythm, disconnecting from humanity in the process.

….

Frank passe d'un rôle d'usine à un poste serein dans une maison funéraire. Cependant, le cadre paisible se modifie brusquement avec l’arrivée de la pandémie, le poussant à enterrer des milliers de corps. Ce qui était autrefois un rôle apaisant devient semblable à son travail en usine. Il devient robotique, dénué d’empathie et de connexion humaine, enfouissant les corps à un rythme mécanique, se déconnectant ainsi de l’humanité.