30 Minutes with Tsige Tafesse

Photographing the artists of Intiman Theatre: 6 of 35

Special thanks to The Center for Wooden Boats for allowing us to photograph at  their beautiful waterfront location.

Q&A with actress Tsige Tafesse

Photo Sister: What do you fear the most?
Tsige Tafesse: Stagnation and complacency.

PS: Who is your favorite superhero and/or supervillain?
TT: Sailor Moon… duh.

PS: What made you want to do theatre?
TT: I started doing theatre way back in the day as a strange loud child, because it provided a safe space for me to explore the strange loudness of my adolescence with like minded kiddos. As I’ve grown so has my relationship with why I continue to do this work. Theater drudges up plenty of fodder for coming into new understandings for who you are as a person. I am constantly being challenged intellectually regarding my philosophy on just about everything as well as physically on the stage with regards to things like where I hold tension and why, how I move through space and breathe ect. Currently what really lights my fire with my one true love, theater, is the possibilities to engage communities around topics of social change with this delightful medium. I’m of the mind that theater above all other artistic mediums has the ability to engage audiences in a way that forces them to be present with the material presented. I mean you can’t deny the humanity of the people on the stage in front of you, the ferociousness of their feelings and experiences. It’s beautiful- it’s wonderful- I’m in it for the long haul.

PS: What makes you happy?
TT: I love people and dancing. If I could spend the rest of my life having deep and bizarre conversations with humans and then whisk them off to boogie with me– I would. People are just so flipping fascinating and gorgeous– how we perceive the world/ how we rationalize our brief moments on this little blue dot/ how we love and why/ all these things and more make humanity simultaneously adorable and crazy. Plus the exhilaration of uninhibited joyous dancing is unmatched.

PS: What 3 countries would you like to visit and what would you like to experience while there?
TT: Israel, Ethiopia, and India.
Israel- I would love to see the home of such religious controversy and attention. Going to the Dome of the Rock would be a dream come true.
Ethiopia- I’m Ethiopian and I’ve spent a good deal of time back in Ethiopia but I really feel a strong urge to go next summer and spend some time at Addis Ababa University studying Ethiopian history. I have this desire to have a clear understanding of my ancestors and am curious how that might manifest in my work in the future.
India- I had a funky wonky wonderful dream about India. True story.

Go see Tsige Tafesse in “Romeo and Juliet” and “Miracle!” at Intiman Theatre

Catch “Romeo and Juliet” and “Miracle!” at Intiman Theatre in Seattle, July 11th – August 25th, 2012.

Tsige has been working in and around theater since she was a wee babe, from performing in shows to most recently working as a teaching artist. Favorite performance credits include: Dog Sees God, Hairspray, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Come fall Tsige will be attending PCPA, exploring her dreams of working with theater to enact social change and to one day create safe spaces to have serious conversations about oppression in any and all forms, making moves from positions of shame/guilt to places of activity/empowerment.