Decolonizing the Theatre Space

Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway is an award-winning arts leader and former Founding Artistic Director & CEO at Artistic Directors of the Future, Founder/CEO at Beyond The Canon and Co-founder and former Executive Producer at Black Lives, Black Words International Project. Kwame Kwei-Armah is British actor, playwright, director and broadcaster. From 2011 to 2018 he was the Artistic Director of Baltimore Center Stage and in 2018 he was made Artistic Director of the Young Vic Theatre, London. He was Artistic Director for the Festival of Black Arts and Culture, Senegal, in 2010 and conceived and directed the opening ceremony at Senghor National stadium. He was an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse and has served on the boards of the National Theatre, Tricycle Theatre and Theatre Communications Group. Kwei-Armah was the Chancellor of the University of the Arts, London, from 2010 to 2015, and in 2012 was awarded an OBE for Services to Drama. In 2012, 2013 and 2014 Kwame was named Best Director in City Paper’s Best of Baltimore Awards and in 2015 was nominated for the prestigious Stage Directors and Choreographers Zelda Fichandler Award for Best Regional Artistic Director. In 2016 he was awarded the Urban Visionary Award alongside House Representative Elijah Cummings by the Center for Urban Families for his work in the Baltimore community. In 2019 he was appointed the Chair of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. He is a patron of Ballet Black and a visiting fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University. Olivia Poglio-Nwabali is a dramaturg. After graduating from the University of Leeds in 2017, she undertook a year’s training in theatre administration at the Barbican Centre. Olivia has spent the last five years at the Young Vic, where she currently acts as their Literary & Dramaturgy Associate. She supports productions across the theatre’s three spaces, manages literary submissions and collaborates on the creative development of new work. Dramaturgy credits include The Collaboration; Further than the Furthest Thing; Beneatha’s Place and endings. Olivia has previously worked as a script reader for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a Barbican Young Film Programmer and a production assistant on several commissions for Sky Arts.

The Act of Decolonisation is this book, THIS Conversation
Olivia Poglio-Nwabali interviews Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway and Kwame Kwei-Armah

Chapter One: We’ve Been Leading! LEADERSHIP IN OUR DNA
Quotes: Sade Lynthcott, Robert Barry Fleming
-Always Willing to Leave - Timothy Bond
-It’s the Board’s Responsibility to Find the Plenty of Overqualified Black Candidates - Patrick Bradford

Chapter Two: Becoming the First
Quotes: Timothy Bond, Lydia Idakula-Sobogun-Sobogun, Yvonne Hepburn-Foster, Julia Wissert, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Deborah Sawyerr, Samora Bergtop, James Ngcobo, Stella Kanu, Hana Sharif
-If I Can’t Do The Job, I Don’t Want the Title - Hana Sharif
-I Can’t Not Apply, I Can Do The Job! - Nataki Garrett
-Are You Going To Be An Nostalgic Leader Or One That Challenges and Upgrades? - James Ngcobo
-They Said, “WE DIDN’T HIRE YOU BECAUSE YOU WERE BLACK’ I was like, “That’s the BONUS. That’s the BONUS” - Marc Bamuthi Joseph
-Leadership is Making Mistakes and Getting Back Up Again - Julia Wissert
-A Lonely Road But A Position of Authority And Trust - Yvonne Hepburn-Foster

Chapter Three: First 100 Days
Quotes: Jonathan McCrory, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Robert Barry Fleming, Deborah Sawyerr, Nike Jonah, Roy Alexander Weise, Patrick Bradford, David Bryan, Stella Kanu
Interviews
-An Unapologetic Maverick in the Workplace - Nike Jonah
-Every Board Needs New Energy And Voice To Shift The Focus And Direction Of The Organisation - David Bryan
-I Bring My Own Structure for Safety and Survival - Stella Kanu
-Asking the Hard Questions - Robert Barry Fleming

Chapter Four: Inheriting a Challenging Staff and Board
Quotes: Robert Barry Fleming, Stella Kanu, Hana Sharif, Suzann McLean
-Leaning In When They Lean Out - Stella Kanu
-Money Talks - Hana Sharif
-Board Support Matters - Patrick Bradford

Chapter Five: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
Quotes: Maria Oshodi, Lydia Idakula-Sobogun, Deborah Sawyerr, Suzann McLean, Jonathan McCrory
Interviews
-Allies Are The Greatest Vaccination - David Bryan
-I Doubt The Work Environment NOT My Abilities! - Stella Kanu
-I Am A Warrior But I Am Human Too! - Hana Sharif
-Be The Best Servant Leader For Nobody But Yourself - Robert Barry Fleming

Chapter Six: Leading in a Pandemic at the Height of The Black Lives Matter Movement
Quotes: Marc Joseph Bamuthi, Timothy Bond, Roy Alexander Weise
-Artistic Director Role Turned Into A Crisis Manager Role Overnight - Julia Wissert
-Whose Fight is Racism - Yvonne Hepburn-Foster
-We Took Care Of Our People First - A Mass Redundancy Was Never An Option - Hana Sharif
-STAND On A New Foundation - Gregory Maqoma
-Letting Go, Making Cuts & Evolving Into a Transmedia Leader - Robert Barry Fleming
-A Perspective On Tokenism - Taiwo Afolabi

Chapter Seven: Leading From the Front and The Power of Intuition
Quotes: Marc Bathumi Joseph, Gregory Maqoma, Timothy Bond, Asiimwe Deborah Kawe, James Ngcobo, Patrick Bradford, David Bryan
-Our North Star is Black Liberation - Sade Lythcott
-The Juggling Act: Leading From The Front AND The Back - David Bryan

Chapter Eight: Transforming the Culture and The Art of Negotiation
Quotes: Timothy Bond, Gregory Maqoma, Samora Bergtop, Taiwo Afolabi
-Funders Cannot Dictate Our Artistic Programming - Asiimwe Deborah Kawe
-To Make Art That Matters, You Must Be A Rebel - Lydia Idakula-Sobogun
-We See You White America, In Action! - Timothy Bond
-A world Stage in Africa: Centering Diverse Voices and Indigenous Languages - James Ngcobo

Chapter Nine: Recovering from a Setback
Quote: Robert Barry Fleming, Deborah Sawyerr
-No More Appeasing The White Gaze - Samora Bergtop
-Knowing When It’s Time to Let Go - David Bryan
-The Impossible Rubik’s Cube - Hana Sharif

Chapter Ten: The Importance of Wellbeing
Quotes: Lydia Idakula-Sobogun, Natasha Bucknor, Robert Barry Fleming, Jonathan McCrory, Sade Lythcott
-Learning To Speak To Myself With Kindness - Asiimwe Deborah Kawe
-Leaders Are Readers - David Bryan
-Setting Healthy Boundaries - Stella Kanu
-Solo Vacations - Hana Sharif

Chapter Eleven: Succession & Legacy
Quotes: Nataki Garrett, James Ngcobo, Nike Jonah
-Mentorship Is Legacy - Asiimwe Deborah Kawe
-Building Something That Survives Long After You - Patrick Bradford
-The Legacy Is The Village and Building Institutions For The Future - David Bryan
-Succession of Skills - Stella Kanu
-Opening Doors and Holding Space - Hana Sharif
-A Model of Anti-Racist Multicultural Theatre - Timothy Bond