TSEGAYE, GABRE-MEDHIN

born Aug. 17, 1936, Ambo, Eth. also called Tsegaye Gabre-medhin Ethiopian playwright and poet who wrote in Amharic and English. Tsegaye earned a degree from the Blackstone School of Law, Chicago, and studied stagecraft at both the Theatre Royal, Windsor, and the Royal Court Theatre, London. In Ethiopia he was director of the Haile Selassie I Theatre (now the National Theatre). Tsegaye wrote more than 20 plays, most of them in Amharic, and translated a number of plays of William Shakespeare and Molire into that language as well. His Amharic plays deal primarily with contemporary Ethiopia, especially with the plight of youth in urban settings and the need to respect traditional morality, as in Crown of Thorns (1959). Oda Oak Oracle (1965) is Tsegaye's best-known verse play written in English. Like his other English plays, it is based on Ethiopian history and focuses on religious conflict. Collision of Altars (1977) is an experimental play that includes mime, incantation, dance, and the use of masks. Tsegaye's English poetry appeared in Ethiopian journals and was included in several anthologies of African poetry, including New Sum of Poetry from the Negro World (1966).