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Freedom: A Mixtape is a soulful artistic response to recent and historical violence on Black bodies, presented through a collection of original songs, stories, poems, anecdotes, spoken-word pieces, and musical instrumentation from folks living in Ontario's Niagara Region. A community conversation about our complicated relationship with emancipation and the human right to be free, Freedom: A Mixtape is a compilation album that is part protest and part celebration. It is history and the present moment all at once, a reminder that this moment is part of a larger, ongoing movement. Familiar pains are felt deeply in moments both bygone and bitingly present, setting the tone—and stage—for action.

Analog field recordings and soothing talk-radio energy give voice to the residue of intergenerational trauma, the depths of colonialism, resilience amidst oppressive conditions, and a clarion call that joy is a birthright for everyone. With emotional precision and softness, Freedom: A Mixtape offers a radical reminder that in our bleakest moments, we rise up through love of self and community.

Read this opening passage from the play below.

***

There’s so much I want to say,

This is my story . . .
Hello . . .
Can you hear me? . . .
Can you see me? . . .
Look at me . . .

There’s so much ground I want to cover,

1791 . . .
1793 . . .
1804 . . .
1888 . . .
1915 . . .
1948 . . .
1985 . . .
1990 . . .

So many forgotten stories. So many lost names,

Clive Mensah
Olando Brown
Junior Manon
Eric Osawe
Raymond Lawrence
Albert Johnson
Chloe Cooley

There’s a voice in my head, wrestling to keep my mouth quiet,

You don’t know what you’re talking about!
That’s wrong!
Don’t start there!
Nobody wants to hear from you!

Freedom, to me, is Bob Marley . . .

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.”

I grew up on Bob. Sunday mornings, my dad cooking up ackee and saltfish and fried dumplings for breakfast, my mom undoing the braids in my sister’s hair, getting ready for a Wash Day. Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Bob, and the rest of the crew blessing the house with all the chunes.

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.”

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.
WE must emancipate OURSELVES from mental slavery.
We must emancipate ourselves.
We.
Must.
Free.
Ourselves.

Freedom, to me, today, starts from within.

I’m Marcel

Bahksiiiiiide
Yessuh
Yerrrrrrr
Tell em nuh!
Hahahahahahahahahaha
Come and take a walk with me.

***

This essential theatrical playlist is a must-have for all book lovers and freedom fighters. Enjoy your copy of Freedom: A Mixtape today!