@dramatistsguild @suzemallen

Theatre has long been a global forum for public and private outcry, a place to promote change, uplift the masses and to quote my esteemed colleague Faye Sholiton of Ohio, a platform to “write wrongs.” No one knows this better than Sia Amma, Artistic Director of San Francisco’s Our Little Theatre, Executive Director of Global Women Intact and producer of the San Francisco African Dance and Drum Festival.

Amma, who was born and raised in Liberia, is a comedienne, playwright, dancer, and community activist whose work supports African women and girls by addressing the horrific practice of female genital cutting through stand-up comedy, plays, dance and drumming. Her critically acclaimed play, In Search of My Clitoris, which explores her own genital mutilation with playful humor and harsh insights, has been on tour since 1998 when she graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in drama.

It is Amma’s personal and global mission to stop this brutal practice by offering new rites of passage that don’t include cutting. She has developed global curriculum and educational materials for young women called Clitoris 101 and The Clitoris Celebration – “Think Outside the Box,” to educate both Americans and West Africans about the deadly practice. She also conducts training programs to end female circumcision in Africa.

Her plays include What Mama Said About Down There, In Search of My Clitoris, Uncle Sam’s Children in Africa, and her newest work – Salute to the Vulva, which will play for Women’s History Month March 2015 at Our Little Theater, 287 Ellis St, San Francisco, CA 94102 between Mason Street & Taylor Street in Tenderloin, Union Square, (415) 928-4060.

sallen@dramatistsguild.com