United Solo, the world’s largest solo theatre festival based in New York City’s Broadway theatre district has honoured a Motswana actor Donald Molosi with an award for his record breaking contribution of non-American stories to Broadway over the past decade on Broadway.
Molosi is thus far the first and only Motswana on Broadway. Molosi’s most famous work on Broadway is his play; Blue, Black and White about the life and legacy of Sir Seretse Khama which he has toured in all six continents over the last six years. His other Broadway plays include ‘Today It’s me and Motswana: Africa, Dream Again’.
Molosi writes and stars in his Broadway productions and so this honour is two-fold, that is, for his award-winning writing and his award-winning acting. Every one of his plays over the past decade has won both writing and acting awards consistently, thereby keeping Botswana’s name flying high on international stages since almost all Molosi’s work is about Botswana.
Molosi mentioned that it feels good to be appreciated for a job well done. He said he is very passionate about theatre and drama and as a result he will continue doing what he does best. “This award is most significant than my previous ones because it’s from Broadway and am glad my portfolio did all the talking,” he said.
Molosi added that his relationship with United Solo goes back to 2010 when he was nominated for a Best Actor Award in his one man show, ‘Today It’s me’. Two years later in 2012, he won the Best Actor Award for his role in ‘Blue, Black and White’.
He said in the past five years he was one actor who had the most number of solo appearances on Broadway. This is the basis of his honour of Special Mention at this year’s award ceremony.
Molosi is currently using Botswana as his base for the next year to be with family. During that time Molosi will reduce his Broadway appearances to focus on creating new work as well as marketing his work to the African continent. The next performance on his list is to premiere Blue, Black and White in South Africa in early 2015. Last month Molosi premiered the 6-year old show in Brazil. “People will get to see my work on stage and on time now. I will be working home and I will be working mostly with Integrate Public Relation,” he said.
United Solo is a New York-based company dedicated to the genre of one-person performance. Its main goal is for both local and international artists to present solo pieces, discover original scripts; bring creators together; exchange perspectives; assemble performers, companies, and institutions, as well as other activities related to solo performance.
Through United Solo, artists are afforded an opportunity to connect and focus on the uniqueness of human beings. Through the exploration of existential themes, solo artists reflect upon political, sexual, economical, religious, and social diversity. The award ceremony will be held on the November 24th, 2014 in New York City.
