SHAWRY FOR TREES: THE ROOTS OF A REVOLUTIONARY

Nairobi, Kenya – February 2026 Too Early For Birds is back for its 9th edition – we can’t believe it either! This edition will tell stories from the life, times, twisted controversies, seminal moments and flat out -coincidences? – and pure luck that made WANGARĨ MAATHAI:one of Kenya’s greatest heroes, environmentalists, and original baddies. There will be five shows between 10th APRIL 2026 and 12th APRIL 2026 at the 800-seater auditorium inJain Bhavan (Shree Sthanakvasi Jain Sangh), in Nairobi, Kenya.

Show schedule:

Friday: 7:00PM

Saturday: 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM

Sunday: 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM
Tickets are available here.

As one of the continent’s most honoured women and figures, Wangarĩ Maathai (that’s Prof. Dr. Wangarĩ Maathai to you) stood tall in everything she did. In her roles as a mother, professor, member of parliament, assistant minister, activist, writer, farmer and ultimately, Nobel Peace Prize winner in December of 2004, Wangarĩ Maathai epitomised the best of what Kenya could and continues to offer. And now, in 2026, after a one viral Tiktok video that gave us the show title and EIGHT successful editions, 15 years after her passing, we get a chance to lionise her story on stage. The show is guided by the principles that guided Wangarĩ Muta Maathai’s life, work, and legacy. She practiced her politics through her skill in her field. Art is, to us, what biology was to her.

We consider ourselves part of her children. The African People to whom she dedicated ‘The Challenge For Africa.’ As the custodians and practitioners of the Cultural Heritage she addressed in it, it is our duty to ensure Wangarĩ’s story and mission are known and continued. Taking pride in our Oral Traditions, our practice is centred in Orature, the primary form of handing down African wisdom and kwimenya (self-knowledge). We fashion storytelling to address today’s issues, the way she advised us to do with the art of spear-making.

Most of the team is from the grassroots, raised by the women who planted trees, sang, and brought down a dictatorship alongside Wangarĩ. We now use our skills as shovels to dig to the roots of our history and plant these stories in as many minds as possible. The inspiring, bold and brazen stories told on this stage will stay faithful to these retellings, with a little bit of ancestral magic thrown in, as researched by Ngartia, Kĩmemia Macharia, Nyagũthiĩ A. Murage, Meran Randa and Mũthoni Mwangi. The show is written by Abigail Arunga, Wacuka Mũngai, and Ras Mengesha, and is edited by Ndinda Kioko. This edition is produced by Sheba Hirst, with marketing led by Mũtwĩri Njagĩ.

Join us as we collectively raise the stories of our people and our ancestors to the stuff of legends.