IFEOMA FAFUNWA
Writer/Director/Producer
Ifeoma Fafunwa is the founder and creative director of iOpenEye Ltd, a Nigerian production company driving social change through performance art. She co-wrote and directed HEAR WORD! based on true-life stories of Nigerian women, aimed at challenging social, cultural and political norms that limit the potential and contribution of women. Ifeoma’s professional experience includes creative collaborations in theatre, architecture, film and fine art in the US and Nigeria. In 2012, she directed one of Nigeria’s cultural submissions for the London Olympics and in 2014 her work was featured in the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) and showcased the Tate Modern. In 2016 HEAR WORD! had its international debut at Harvard University in Cambridge and in 2018 the same show opened at the American Repertory Theatre and showcased at the UN CSW ‘18 convention. Ifeoma is a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, a Director’s Fellow at the MIT Media Lab, and a fellow of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. She teaches a pro-bono performance art workshop building capacity for young female performers in Nigeria. Ifeoma lives in Lagos and is married with four children.
ITUEN BASI
costume designer
A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: Fela and the Kalakuta Queens; Saro the Musical; For Coloured Girls; Kakadu the Musical. Fashion Design (with her multi-award-winning label Ituen Basi): features in Vogue Italia, British Vogue, Elle (South Africa), Marie Claire (South Africa), Cosmopolitan (South Africa), Ebony (USA), Pride (UK); runway shows in Dakar, Milan, Paris, London, Vienna, Cape Town, Johannesburg (Mercedes Benz Designer of the Year, 2012), trade shows in Florence, Milan (Pitti SUPER Talents, with Vogue Italia). Presentations/Panels: Harvard African Business Club, Stanford Business Forum; Fashion Africa Conference, London. Training/Education: Theatre Arts, University of Ife; Tailoring and Clothing Technology, London College of Fashion
BLESSING IDIRERI
A.K.A. KACOMAN
Percussion, Percussion Composition
A.R.T.: Hear Word! International Tour 2016, Harvard Dance Center, Connecticut State University, Frascati Theater Amsterdam. Theater: Hear Word! Nigerian Tour 2014- 2017; Wakaa! the Musical, Lagos, London; SARO the Musical, Lagos, London; Love & Recession (dir. Ifeoma Fafunwa), Nigerian Tour; Fela Arrest the Music, Lagos; Gula; Moremi the Musical; Fela and the Kalakuta Queens; BJ Sax Live in Concert; AMAA Awards Kigali 2017.
EMEKA ANOKWURU
A.K.A. MAKE BEAT
Percussion
A.R.T.: Hear Word! International Tour 2016, Harvard Dance Center, Connecticut State University, Frascati Theater Amsterdam. Theater: Hear Word! Nigerian Tour 2014-2017; Love & Recession (dir. Ifeoma Fafunwa), Nigerian Tour; SARO the Musical, Lagos, London; Wakaa! the Musical, Lagos, London; Fela Arrest the Music; BJ Sax Live in Concert; Ajayi Write to Freedom; Dance of the Rivers; Moremi the Musical; Fela and the Kalakuta Queens.
AJA JACKSON
Lighting Design
Aja M. Jackson is a Boston-based lighting designer. Recent regional credits include Hear Word! (American Repertory Theatre), Straight White Men (New Repertory Theatre), The Leftovers(Company One – Strand
Theatre), The Last Wife (WAM Theatre), and Wit (Calderwood Pavilion – Boston Center of Performing Arts). Other credits include the Midwest tour of What The Wind Taught Me and The Biomorphic Dance Festival in NYC. Aja is Resident Lighting Designer for interdisciplinary, site-specific movement company, Nourishment. Previously she worked as a Stage Manager with the Denver Center Theatre Company and in Production Management with The Santa Fe Opera. Aja holds an MFA in Lighting Design from Boston University, a BFA in Lighting Design from the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, and a BA in Dance Performance from the Johnny Carson School of Music. Aja recently was a Mentor In Residence with Brighter Boston, an outreach organization aimed at giving urban teens practical training in event and theatre productions.
JOHNATHAN CARR
projection designer
Johnathan Carr is a filmmaker and media designer. He is the A.R.T.’s resident videographer and teaches in Harvard College’s Theater, Dance & Media concentration. Projection & Media credits include A.R.T.: Pippin, The Lily’s Revenge, Pulitzer Prize 100: Centennial. OBERON: Searching for Signal, ToUch Performance Art. Off-Broadway: H4, Theatre Row; Same River, Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble. Regional: An Octoroon, Company One; A Piece of My Heart, Wellesley Repertory Theatre; Kiss of the Spider Woman, Hold These Truths, By The Way Meet Vera Stark, Into the Woods, Red Hot Patriot, City of Angels, Lyric Stage Company of Boston. Johnathan filmed and edited the science film Humanity Needs Dreamers which recently won Best Professional Dramatic Film in the Raw Science Film Festival.