There weren’t as many slashes, you know what I mean? Now, artists are like ‘I’m an artist. MO: You can imagine, though, that performers and artists get pigeonholed, not pigeonholed, but you put yourself in a box. (I am most definitely not a performer, and I tell her so). And I was just like, ‘Oh, well, that’s what I’m supposed to do.’ And that was my senior year of high school.īarely two questions in, Oyetimein starts asking me her own questions. And it was the first time I directed something. And I said f- that, so I stopped auditioning and started this program with my best friend. And I was playing maids and sub characters and side characters. Because I wasn’t being cast in the shows. Listen, like most people, I was a theater baby, right? I used to act and sing and everything and the hard, ugly truth is, I started becoming a director because of racism. As I get older, that question gets more and more daunting. One November morning over Zoom, Oyetimein, a director by trade and artist above all, sat down with me to discuss all things mentorship, Merrimack Repertory Theatre and making her way through the industry as a self-proclaimed unambiguous Black woman.Īlex Ross, CFA: What brought you to your career in theater? How did you first get into directing? Tell me about the start. “It just solidified the type of work that I meant to do, you know? And it gave me my writer’s voice back when I started writing again.

The newly minted School of Theatre lecturer co-adapted and directed Maya Angelou’s famous book for the stage almost immediately after graduating with an MFA from the University of Washington’s School of Drama.

Theatremaker Malika Oyetimein on directing BU artists & designing her own pathīy Alex Ross (COM’22) Malika Oyetimein knows why the caged bird sings.

Nobody wanna see us together cast