Kene Igweonu

Kene Igweonu (19**-) [www.keneigweonu.com ] is a playwright and academic, specialising in actor training and African theatre.

Biography

Born in Nigeria, he studied for an honours degree in performing arts at the University of Ilorin, followed by a doctorate in drama and theatre from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Began his teaching career at the University of Benin, has also taught at Royal Holloway (University of London), the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (Swansea Metropolitan), and

He was the founding Coordinator of the Centre for Innovative Performance Practice and Research at University of Wales Trinity Saint David (Swansea Metropolitan).

Principal Lecturer and Faculty Director of Knowledge, School of Music and Performing Arts, Canterbury Christ Church University.

He was the founding chair of the African Theatre Working Group in 2011 and a member of the Executive Committee of the IFTR for 4 years (Jul 2011 – Jul 2015).

His interests include actor and performance training, directing, black British theatre, theatre and performance in Africa and its Diasporas, as well as cultural and performance theory.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Besides having acted as external examiner for studies from South Africa, he serves on the editorial board of the South African Theatre Journal and Jibilika: Journal of Performing and Creative Arts (published by the University of South Africa).

Editor of the volume Trends in Twenty-First-Century African Theatre and Performance (Rodopi, 2011)

Co-editor (with Professsor Osita Okagbue) of the three part volume Performative Inter-Actions in African Theatre (consisting of the volumes: Diaspora Representations and the Interweaving of Cultures; Innovation, Creativity and Social Change; and Making Space: Rethinking Drama and Theatre in Africa) published by Cambridge Scholars, 2013.

Author of an article on "Zakes Mda", published in Martin Middeke, Peter Paul Schnierer and Greg Homann (editors). The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary South African Theatre. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.