Tanaka Dunbar Ngwara is a Zimbabwean American performer who comes to the Academy after completing her BA in Music with certificates in Theatre and Musical Theatre from Princeton University.
Her music degree focused on composition and Zimbabwean ethnomusicology, and in the spring of 2024, she debuted an original musical called Paivapo ’76 which she wrote and music directed at The Lewis Center for the Arts.
During her undergraduate degree she performed a variety of roles, both on and off campus, including Laertes in Hamlet, Franca in The Light in the Piazza, Sarah in Ragtime and Florizel in Princeton’s production of The Public Theater’s A Winter’s Tale musical. She has trained in classical voice as well as musical theatre, and during her junior year, completed a semester exchange at The Royal College of Music which introduced her to life in London for the first time.
At Princeton, she was involved in Trenton Youth Theater, a programme which allows university students to lead theatre workshops for local high school classes. She was also a member of Princeton University’s historic Glee Club and on the board of Princeton Opera Company.
Tanaka is a recipient of the Disney Theatrical Productions Award.