MOONLIGHT
Wacuka Mungai – Book and Lyrics/Eric Wainaina - Music and Lyrics
Sabina is the nightclub singer at the famous and infamous Moonlight Club in a newly independent Kenya. Through the music and the relationships forged and broken at the Moonlight, Kenya’s history and Kenyans’ ongoing search for identity come to vivid life.
Writer & Composer Profiles
Eric Wainaina, Composer
Eric Wainaina has released five studio albums, "Sawa Sawa," "Twende Twende," "Love and Protest" and "Dreams In Stereo." However, it all began with the release of "Daima Kenya" in 2001.
He has a long-standing career in musical theatre. In 2004, he wrote and co-starred in "Mo Faya," a 21-piece musical theatre showcase inspired by the legend of Lwanda Magere, a mythical warrior in Luo folklore. The musical was staged for 8 weeks in Nairobi before a national tour spanning 52 shows. It was then selected for performance at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2009.
In 2004, he wrote and co-starred in "Mo Faya." The musical was staged at the GoDown Arts Centre, Nairobi, before being selected for performance at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2009.
In 2010, he wrote and produced the music for "Tinga Tinga Tales." The programme was later adapted into a musical and presented at the New Victory Theatre on Broadway in New York in October 2018.
In 2016, he established The Nairobi Musical Theatre Initiative with Sundance dramaturg Roberta Levitow to offer African artists new and alternative models for creating musicals. The initiative has catalyzed the creation of 11 Kenyan musicals.
Wacuka Mungai, Writer
Wacuka has over 20 years’ experience as a communications consultant, writer, editor, and performer. She started performing in school musical productions, and moved to the national stage with the Phoenix Players, starring in principle roles in numerous musical theatre productions.
Since graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, she has worked as a journalist, writer and communications specialist with nongovernmental organisations in New York City in the fields of women’s rights and press freedom.Upon her return to Kenya, she worked as a senior communications officer in the Office of the Government Spokesman.
She then started a writing and editing consultancy specialising in technical and academic documents and papers.
She has continued her involvement with the creative arts, having performed in a principal role in the Switzerland tour of Eric Wainaina’s musical “Mo Faya” in 2011.
She has also written for local and African television dramas and soap operas.