“It’s Cold Oo” is a 30-minute solo stage play about coming to a new world, confronting fears, finding comfort in the unknown, confronting prejudice, and daring to grow as a person.
Stevie Nii-Adu Mensah's father, musician Chief Okotobridgwa, a so-called “kubulor” (nomad), travels to Sweden aboard military boats from Ghana in the 1950s. He reaches Gothenburg’s coast in 1959, at the age of thirty. He doesn’t know anyone in the city. He doesn’t speak much Swedish. The impressions he has of this new country are many. His worries are equally numerous and no less palpable. The people of Gothenburg welcome Chief with open arms, but they are also fascinated by him. A theater group snaps Chief up, and they travel together throughout the country. After a few years, Chief moves on to the capital city, Stockholm, where he is introduced to the popular jazz scene—an encounter that changes his life.
Doors open at 5:30PM. Audience members are encouraged to arrived before the start of the performance. A Q&A will follow.
This performance and Q&A can be attended in-person or via a Zoom livestream (Registration information is forthcoming.)
