Dr Olalekan Balogun

Lekan Balogun is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Centre for Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies (CTDPS), University of Cape Town, South Africa, where he is working on the Andrew W. Mellon funded project, “Reimagining Tragedy from Africa and the Global South” (RETAGS). Lekan has previously taught Playwriting, Acting & Directing, Cultural and Gender Studies, and Special Authors (African & Non-African) at the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts (Distinction) in Theatre Arts. He was awarded his PhD (with full doctoral scholarship) in Postcolonial Shakespeare (Adaptation/Appropriation) and Intercultural Performance at the School of English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He also won a Visiting Fellowship of the Moore Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway, in 2018/2019. Dramatist, theatre director and playwright, Lekan has written plays in Nigeria addressing social issues including For Heroes and Scoundrel, Moremi, Beyond the Sunset, Alaafin Kanran, The Mote in the Eye, for the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC), the National Troupe of Nigeria and the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP). His international collaboration includes being part of the New Writing in Drama Project 2007—2009, by the Royal Court Theatre, London on which he wrote Farewell and Dirty Circle, and attended an International Playwrights’ Workshop/Performance at the Royal Court, Sloane Square, London with support from the British Council, Nigeria, the Arts Council England, and the Genesis FOUNDATION, UK.

Lekan was co-writer, POWER PLAY by FLINN Theater, Germany, and has been commissioned to write and produce many plays by several professional theatre companies.