Eva Doumbia Returns to Atlanta to Prepare the English Adaptation of Le Iench (The Dog)

Written and directed by Eva Doumbia, Le Iench (French slang for “The Dog”) is the centerpiece of an ambitious, multi-stage collaboration with Spelman College. In the project’s first phase, Doumbia worked with translator Amélia Parenteau and Spelman students on the English adaptation of the play, with the support of Villa Albertine. 

This new residency marks the next step in the collaboration. Alongside creative workshops with Spelman students, Doumbia will begin casting performers for the future American production of the play.

The long-term vision for the project is to restage Le Iench with an all-American cast and to donate the original stage set to Spelman College, allowing the production to continue touring across the United States and fostering the play’s lasting presence within the college’s artistic community.

A leading voice in contemporary French theater, Eva Doumbia is an author and director whose work explores the intersections of race, gender, and class. Of Malian and Ivorian descent, she founded the theater company La Part du Pauvre and is renowned for her “theater of urgency”—and is renowned for her “theater of urgency”- an artistic approach that combines sociological insight with poetic expression. Throughout her career, her work has consistently brought forward voices and stories that have too often been marginalized in the national narrative.