Ku Kyooto runs April 18th and 19th at the Uganda National Theatre. Tickets available at the National Theatre, New Life Church Kireka or online at KariTickets.com.
Alina Camilla was dancing before she was born. Her mother performed while carrying her in the womb and theatre was never a choice she made—it was simply the air she breathed. Growing up around rehearsal spaces and recreating entire productions at home with bedsheets for curtains, she absorbed storytelling long before she understood she was being shaped by it. But when the producer of Ku Kyooto asked her to direct, she thought it was a joke. She was terrified. In this industry, she knew, your last performance is what people remember and there are no credentials that protect you from failure.
In this episode of The MuFrame Podcast, Camilla opens up about her transition from performer to first-time director—the 2:00 AM voice notes to her team, the challenge of leading a cast full of men who are also her friends, and the moment she realized Ku Kyooto was not a lost tradition but something still alive in her own family’s daily rituals. She also pushes back on the idea that African stories must be told in local languages to be authentic, asking a provocative question: what happens to the children for whom English is now their mother tongue?
This is not just a conversation about a production. It is about stepping into a role you are not sure you are ready for and discovering who you become in the process. It is about holding a vision together when everyone is looking to you for answers you are still figuring out. And it is about the quiet realization that the fireplace—the Ku Kyooto—has never really disappeared. It has only taken new forms.
🎧 Listen to the full conversation on The MuFrame Podcast to hear Camilla’s unfiltered reflections on directing, faith, friendship and the beautiful terror of doing something for the first time.
