Our team
Asiimwe Deborah Kawe
Producing Artistic Director
Asiimwe Deborah Kawe was born in Kiruhura, in South Western Uganda. She is an award-winning playwright, producer and performer. Currently, the Producing Artistic Director of
Tebere Arts Foundation and Artistic Director of the Kampala International Theatre Festival.
Asiimwe has worked with the Sundance Institute Theatre Program; dividing her time between New York City and East Africa, she led the East Africa initiative, a program that covered the countries of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda for six years. Ms. Kawe received a Diploma in Music, Dance and Drama, and a B. A. in Theatre and Performing Arts from Makerere University in Kampala-Uganda, and an M.F.A. in Writing for Performance from the California Institute of the Arts. Ms. Asiimwe’s recent plays include Red Hills, Forgotten World, Cooking Oil, Appointment with gOD, Un entitled, Do they Know it’s Khristmas? The Promised Land to mention but a few. Her radio play, Will Smith Look Alike won an award with the BBC World Service African Performance playwriting competition. Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, who was the judge of the competition had this to say about the play; “I thought the writing was very good and I became really caught up with the play wondering what the final denouement would be.” Asiimwe has been a writing fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany, a guest Artist at Pomona College in California, USA and at the New York University in Abu Dhabi. She is currently one of the playwrights in residency at Residenz Theater in Munich.
Kenneth Kimuli 'Pablo
Co-Founder
Kenneth Kimuli a.k.a. Pablo is an actor, playwright and Uganda’s undisputed king of comedy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mass media, Journalism and Creative writing. Pablo was crowned at the Stand Up Uganda Mnet reality TV show in 2009 as the nation’s leading funny man. He cemented this status by providing a high quality televised comedy show “Pablo Live” complete with a dependable, hardworking crew and a bubbly audience, and this show has aired on one of the leading television stations in Uganda.
Pablo evokes laughter through clean humor and intellectual satire. He knows how to highlight the lighter side of serious issues on the social, economic, and political arena and as a result, his catchphrase “Happiness is killing me” has become a household statement to express joy, excitement, and victory.
Gladys Oyenbot
Co-Founder
Gladys Oyenbot, also known as G’dah, is a Ugandan Actor, singer, and producer. She has acted in numerous plays, Television series and Films that include; Queen of Katwe, Kafa-coh, Yatmadit, Mpeke town, Desperate to fight, Ga-ad, and The Body of a Woman is a Battlefield in the Bosnian war, among others. G’dah has worked with the International acclaimed Watoto Children’s Choir (www.watoto.com/choir), traveling extensively (United States of America, England, Australia, South Africa, Norway to mention but a few) with the children on their “Restore Tour: Child Soldier no more” (www.watoto.com/restoretour) as a performer – singing, dancing, acting, and as a Children’s facilitator and caregiver in-charge of vocal training and mentorship, and also offered post-traumatic therapy and counselling to former child soldiers, teaching behavioral change and communication (life skills), and connecting with the adults to find out how the children were doing emotionally. As a producer, G’dah has managed and produced the Internationally award-winning short film Kyenvu, and now she’s working on creating and producing more projects for screen and stage in the future.
Karishma Bhagani
Associate Artistic Director
Karishma Bhagani from Mombasa, Kenya, is pursuing a PhD in theater and performance studies at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. She graduated from New York University (NYU) with a bachelor of fine arts in theatre and a bachelor’s degree in history. In her capacities as a director, producer and scholar of the performing arts, Karishma is keen on contributing to the development of a sustainable creative economy within East Africa. Karishma currently serves as the associate artistic director for the Tebere Arts Foundation in Uganda and associate producing director for the Nairobi Musical Theatre Initiative in Kenya. She is also a fellow at the Georgetown Lab for Global Performance and Politics. While at NYU, Karishma was the recipient of the Richard Hull Fellowship, the Bevya Rosten Memorial Award, the CTED Development Impact Fellowship and the Presidents’ Service Award. She was also the Tisch Bachelor’s Representative at NYU’s All-University Commencement ceremony.
