Afeni Premiered at The Edmonton Fringe in 2025 and now will tour to the Toronto and Winnipeg Fringe in 2026, returning to Edmonton in August. Website will update as tickets become available

Fringe Review:  Brutal American history comes alive in bio about Tupac’s Black Panther mom, Afeni

5 out of 5

Fish Griwkowsky

Fascists come and go in America, but institutional racism never quite gets burned off.

Returning force-of-nature Okina Henry glows and shines in this spirited portrait of a Black revolutionary up against the powers ever-determined to never make up or apologize for building their world on the blood and bones of the enslaved.

A true story set in late ‘60s New York, Henry inhabits a Black Panther named Amen — wait for it — Shakur, indeed the mother of whom you’re suddenly thinking.

“When I say his name, know the show has come to an end,” says Henry as she tells the story of Shakur’s activism, imprisonment and court battles where she decided to represent herself in a trial where she stood to be sentences to 350 years in jail after meeting her lawyer, “without any call to God in her voice.”

Nostalgia is the wrong word, but the way Henry breathes life into that rippling tides of time soon after Malcolm X’s murder are just terrific, especially underline what hasn’t changes as, as the police trick their way into an apartment by holding a fire up in front of the peephole, Shakur refrains from screaming. “Can’t startle the cops,” she says grimly. “Can’t give them any excuse to shoot.”

With bail set at $100,000 when normal accused felons were getting as low as $100 or even $50, a wild crossover is that from her prison cell, Shakur is seeing the Stonewall riots happening, which leads her to start recruiting queer folks to the Black Power cause.

Especially biting is her condemnation of writer Tom Wolfe’s “radical chic” phrase thrown on sympathetic allies as if all empathy is mere posturing.

I don’t want to give any more of this living documentary away except to say you may never hear the phrase “Dy! No! Mite!” the same way again.

Thanks to playwright Adam Bailey for the history lesson, and of course Henry for fleshing it out with such palpable passion.

‘Afeni’ is an astounding new solo show about the Black Panther Afeni Shakur

By Joshua ChongSenior Arts Critic

Afeni – Toronto Star

Gripping yet never exploitative, sincere while also surprisingly humorous, Adam Bailey’s “Afeni” is one of the most compelling new solo plays to debut at the Fringe in recent years. Based on true events, it recounts the story of Afeni Shakur, the Black Panther revolutionary who was arrested on unfounded, politically motivated charges and proceeded to successfully defend herself in court. 

Bailey’s writing is gorgeously vivid, his characters completely rounded. He also possesses the rare ability to draw his audience into a specific moment with such vulnerable intimacy, stretching and compressing time in his hands. 

Onika Henry both narrates the proceedings and steps into all the various roles, including that of Afeni herself. Even if she occasionally struggled with some lines on opening night, Henry is a magnetic performer, making this a not-to-be-missed production this year.

JENNY REVUE

WINNER – SOCIAL COMMENTARY JENNY AWARD

Despite the warning at the top of the show that audience members might be more familiar with the titular Afeni Shakurs son Tupac than the focus of the play, the Black Panthers prominence and cultural legacy run as deep, if not deeper. Exploring the state subterfuge, violent arrest and subsequent grinding trial of 21 black Panthers from the perspective of Afeni’s self representation over multiple grueling years, we get to experience the it all from the legacy of Malcolm X to the conspiratorial realities of Cointel Pro.

Adam Bailey is a master at exploring the intricacies of historical figures and their lives, and Onika Henry performs the script with supreme confidence and skill. The drama itself was real historical fact, but putting it all together into a show was all them.

Josh Fidelak

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★★★★★ – AYTC (Kylie Flanders)

More Than Her Son

What an incredibly important, significant, and powerful story to tell. Afeni, written by Adam Bailey, is an incredible single-person retelling of Afeni Shakur’s early life and trial as a Black Panther, performed by Onika Henry. Of course, she is Tupac Shakur’s, however her significance as an activist and freedom fighter extends far beyond her son’s own life. Using a simplistic set of a single black chair, the weight and impact Afeni’s life and struggles had on the progression of social justice is left to breathe and way upon the audience, making it (in my eyes) the perfect set. The simplicity of the entire show provides the same effect, utilizing a single actress in a perfect, efficient manner, never bloating or watering down the events of Shakur’s life. Empowerment and action is at the core of Bailey’s script, calling everyone to arms against the oppression we face and the injustices being committed every single day. Of the shows at Fringe, I imagine this is one of the more serious, and heavy productions, so if that is what you seek, I would highly recommend Afeni.

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Before Afeni Shakur was iconic rapper Tupac’s mother, she was a revolutionary activist and a Black Panther. In 1970, after she and 20 of her comrades were arrested on a pile of false charges, Shakur stood up against a justice system determined to destroy them, represented herself in court — and won.

Now, that chapter of Shakur’s life is given due respect in this 60-minute biographical monologue, written by Toronto playwright Adam Bailey and performed by Edmonton’s Onika Henry.

At times, one wishes the script delved deeper into Shakur’s inner world: her hopes, her fears and her motivations. But Henry, in her first- ever Winnipeg show, brings a heartfelt energy to the material that paints a vivid picture. Through the warmth of her delivery, a seminal moment in Black American history feels intimately close, like a story told to us by a trusted friend. She closes with a call to solidarity that is forever timely.

— Melissa Martin