A Shadow in the Sun

Yesterday, the University of Nairobi Traveling Theatre, staged an amazing performance of A Shadow in the Sun, a play written by Vincent R. Ogoti and co-directed by the author and Kevin M. Mosigisi. The play interrogates our society, especially on how it handles complexes issues.

Our society, like any other in the world, continues to evolve. Our generation is constantly exposed to difficult issues with no easy answers. A Shadow in the Sun takes us through a journey that highlights some of these issues that often appear simple, but in practice are complicated. What we saw on stage underscores the idea that when we take a simplistic approach to solving difficult issues, we are bound to make mistakes. The play problematizes challenging issues such as gender and sexuality and their representation in art to show us that when we encounter issues that are not amenable to any easy solution, we should appeal to our moral imagination. As John Paul Lederach, a peacebuilding scholar and practitioner writes, “moral imagination requires the capacity to imagine ourselves in a web of relationships that include our enemies; the ability to sustain a paradoxical curiosity that embraces complexity without reliance on dualistic polarity; the fundamental belief in and pursuit of the creative act; and the acceptance of the inherent risk of stepping into the mystery of the unknown that lies beyond the far too familiar landscape of violence.”

It seems then that when moral imagination becomes our anchor, we become more likely to find simplicity on the other side of complexity.

A Shadow in the Sun calls into the circle to deliberate on complex issues. It trespasses normative boundaries to ask us to reconsider our contract with each other. Therefore, the question we ought to ask is: “What do we owe to each other?” There is no easy response to this question as it involves contentious issues that seek to challenge the simplistic approach to problems of the day. More than any other time in history, we are plunged into the struggle between the secular and religious and the legal. These forces intersect in ways that threaten to tear our community apart.

A Shadow in the Sun offers us a platform to consider these issues in a dialogical way, which privileges the idea that nobody’s life should be finalized. Every life is sacrosanct. Therefore, no life should be reduced to a period, comma or question mark. Let all lives flourish. More information here.