January 27, 2020 at 11am 

Taiwo Afolabi & Dennis Gupa 

Discourses on Contemporary Indigenous Theatre Practice

Please join Dennis Gupa and Taiwo Afolabi, Theatre directors, practitioners and graduate researchers for a table-talk styled lecture focusing on decolonization within the context of indigenous theatre traditions. (Africa/Southeast Asia)

Taiwo Afolabi

Taiwo Okunola Afolabi is an applied theatre practitioner and researcher with vast professional experience both within and outside Nigeria. He is an alumnus of the United States of America’s Exchange Program – International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), an International Guest at the Danish 43rd Festival Theatre for Children and Young Audience and conducted theatre-based research in the Danish Arts Council’s International Research Program, Denmark. He co-coordinates the Young Practitioner Committee of the International Theatre Institute and founded Theatre Emissary International, a theatre organization that uses the power of arts and theatre to address social issues in the society. He had his undergraduate studies at University of Jos and presently he is a Queen Elizabeth Scholar at the University of Victoria, Canada where he is completing his PhD in Applied Theatre

Dennis Gupa

Dennis’s research explores how indigenous performance and human settlements are affected by the onslaught of modernities and colonialism. He is interested in the resiliency of indigenous performance through the sacred artistic practice of master artists of the Philippines and Cambodia. He received a scholarship from the Indonesian government to study seni theatre and traditional mask dance (topeng) at Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia (STSI) in Bandung. The Asian Cultural Council’s Rockefeller Brothers Fund awarded him a fellowship to undertake a director-in-residence program in New York City, where he participated in and observed contemporary theatre directing process with Ma-Yi Theatre Co., National Asian American Theatre Co., and The Juilliard Drama School. Dennis is also a Fellow of  The Philippines’ 21, awarded by the Asia Society. His work has won support from the World Banks/Australian Agency for International Development, the Canada Council for the Arts, ASEAN Center for Biodiversity, University of the Philippines, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and various local government agencies in the Philippines.