Winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama
Winner of the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award
Winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play
Djanet Sears‘ powerful drama explores the complicated relationship of a Black couple in three key periods in the American Black experience: 1860, before the US Emancipation Proclamation; 1928, during New York’s Harlem Renaissance; and in post-civil rights 1997. Each setting reframes the story of the woman, her deep love for her partner, and her sacrifices – and resilience – in the face of his betrayal. With connections to Shakespeare’s Othello, Harlem Duet explores important contemporary questions about race, privilege and relationships.
News & Reviews
“… filled with intelligence and compassion, humour and anger, outrage and understanding.” —Toronto Star
About the Author
Djanet Sears is an award-winning playwright and director. Her plays include Harlem Duet, which won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama and the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award, The Adventures Of A Black Girl In Search Of God, which was shortlisted for a 2004 Trillium Book Award, Afrika Solo, Who Killed Katie Ross and Double Trouble. Djanet’s other awards include the Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award, the Harry Jerome Award for Excellence in the Cultural Industries, and a Phenomenal Woman of the Arts Award. Sears is the driving force behind the AfriCanadian Playwrights’ Festival, and a founding member of the Obsidian Theatre Company. She is also the editor of Testifyin’: Contemporary African Canadian Drama, Vols. I & II, the first anthologies of plays by playwrights of African descent in Canada. Djanet is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto.
