From Uitsig to Broadway: the inspiring journey of Dolpha

FROM the stoep (porch) of her grandmother’s home in Uitsig to the bright lights of Broadway, Chesray Dolpha’s journey is a testament to the transformative power of storytelling.

- TRACY-LYNN RUITERS

The 42-year-old Tony Award-winning theatre director, who now calls New York City home, has built a career bridging continents, cultures, and causes — all through the power of performance.

Dolpha grew up in a Pentecostal church her great grandfather founded, where “you could count on dancing, shouting, visions and speaking in tongues”.

She recalled how church felt like “a version of theatre”, with the pageantry of her grandmother's and mother’s church outfits, complete with matching hats and bags, serving as her first theatre experience.

Her grandmother, considered a trusted neighbourhood counsellor in Uitsig, was often visited by community members.

These visits to her grandmother's stoep or couch would also later shape a narrative and become her first introduction to storytelling.

“The people in Uitsig are natural storytellers with a mastery of expressing a massive range of the human experience and they were my introduction to storytelling.”

Dolpha’s mother was also a major influence.

Despite a slight stutter and having to leave school early to support the family, Dolpha describes her as one of the best storytellers she knows.

“She was a feminist before her time because she knew a simple truth: that her existence, and by extension her story, mattered.”

Her schooling began at Uitsig Primary before moving to Dr Van Der Ross Primary in Belhar, and later Symphony Secondary School. It was here that her love of literature blossomed, while her first real experience of theatre came when her school visited the Artscape.