16 Facts About Lekan Balogun

Lekan Balogun was born on 3 March 1973 and is a Nigerian dramatist and theatre director.

Lekan Balogun wrote and directed a play about Zulu folklore and history in 2008 with the title Shaka, the Zulu legend.

Lekan Balogun studied English and Social Studies, gaining a Nigerian Certificate in Education at the Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta.

Lekan Balogun holds a Bachelor of Arts and master's degree in Theatre Arts from the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria.

Shortly after graduation from the Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, in 1996, Lekan Balogun joined the Centre for Cultural Studies, University of Lagos, Akoka, as an Associate member as well as a member of Akuro Theatre, owned and managed by late Professor Bode Osanyin, playwright and theatre director, under whose tutelage he received professional training as an actor and playwright.

Lekan Balogun was a member of University of Lagos, Akoka contingent, which went on performance tour of Ghana on the invitation of the Nigeria High Commission in Ghana, to mark Nigeria's 48th Independence, 2008.

Lekan Balogun has worked variously as a researcher, writer-in-residence and cultural officer for Songobiyi African Creation, established by Princess Adetokunbo Abimbola, wife of Professor Wande Abimbola; as freelance researcher, writer and performer with the Centre for Black and African Art and Civilization; writer and director for the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts' Practitioners, Association of Nigerian Authors among others.

Lekan Balogun has done extensive research on African myth and legend, Mask, philosophy, religion, metaphysics and has particularly expressed his bias for Yoruba folklore, myth, legend, and history, which have all been reflected in his works.

Lekan Balogun is the artistic director, Legendaire Theatre, a professional theatre company based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Lekan Balogun has had a very long professional relationship with the actor and theatre director, William Ekpo, Tunji Sotimirin and few others.

Lekan Balogun has begun a new style of writing he calls "the theory of contradiction", which was inspired by the Absurd Theatre, but drawing from African history, myth and legend.

Lekan Balogun collaborated and wrote dialogue for an international production of The Power Play, by the German-based theatre company, FLINN THEATER, which opened to public viewing in September 2012 at Kulturhaus Dock 4, Germany.

Lekan Balogun is an essayist, cultural ambassador and columnist for a number of journals.

Lekan Balogun has been invited as speaker, panel discussant and facilitator in several workshops on art, literature and theatre.

Lekan Balogun has essays on EDAOTO, among others, and been invited as speaker in several national and international seminars and workshops including Write Associates' The Africa Century International Writers Conference programme, 2012 at the University of the Free State, South Africa and the African Studies Institute International Conference on Africa and its Diaspora with the theme Africa and its Diaspora: Expressions of Indigenous and Local Knowledge, University of Georgia, Athens, USA, 2012.

Some of Lekan Balogun's plays have received critical acclaim, among them the following:.