Sashoya Simpson speaks with Siminovitch Theatre Foundation Community Manager Sam Woods about her new play LULU which premiered last month at the Hamilton Fringe Festival. Sashoya Simpson was selected by d’bi.young anitafrika to receive an Emerging Artist Grant in 2023 thanks to funding from The Youssef-Warren Foundation.
LULU is a project I’ve been working on for a long time. This story came about after rediscovering much about my cultural heritage while growing up in Jamaica and the consideration that many children born in the diaspora might not have access to this knowledge centred around folklore traditions and stories. This project is not just a stage play, it’s culture and it’s meant to be celebrated, inherited and shared. The Fringe is a great place to workshop the show on its feet as it gives us room to keep fine-tuning the story and make sure the message reaches our audience as intended.
Out of all the plays I’ve written, LULU created the future direction for most of my creative works, which now center on our young audience. I think about the children first before I write and in turn, thinking about them fuels my writing.
On the significance of working with d’bi, who directed LULU.
I’ve worked with d’bi on multiple occasions and in various forms. Our relationship started as mentor and mentee when I was an artist-in-residence at the Watah Theatre as well as the Associate Artistic Director. Our relationship is also quite personal as they’re the older sister I’ve never had. Working with them on this project only made sense as it brings us full circle since this project was birthed at the Watah Theatre and having my mentor support in my debut work was a natural process. Collaborating in this light has created a lot of visions for the future.
LULU is the wonderful launching point of our artist collective, The Walking Griot, which centers on theatre work for black young audiences. Creating stories for black children and youth is our purpose and passion. We started focusing on this work after noticing the lack of access to traditional cultural knowledge for many children of Caribbean heritage born within the diaspora. We’ll be telling stories and providing spaces where they see themselves on stage, so they know they are welcome in the theatre and that there’s space for their stories in the world.
Outside of theatre, Sashoya has been working on writing children’s books, one of which is set for release in 2026.
