An actress, dancer, singer, total performer, acting and dance coach, cultural producer and consultant, arts manager and marketing communications expert, Bukola Sanu Opeyemi is a passionate project manager and marketing specialist with wide ranging hands-on experience and a track record of success in delivering high-quality results in various capacities within the creative industry and other related industries.

She started her acting career with Roberto Zucco produced by the French Cultural Centre and directed by Felix Okolo in 1999 and has since been involved in series of productions directed by a wide range of professionals nationally and internationally. She worked with the National Troupe of Nigeria on the World AIDS Day Celebration performance in 2001 and was a part of the contingent to the Commonwealth Games Youth Drama Festival Contacting the World by Contact Theatre in Manchester in 2002 with the National Troupe of Nigeria. She returned to the Contacting the World Festival in 2012 as a workshop facilitator and performer with the Crown Troupe of Africa.

On her journey to the make belief world, she says: “It was a long story. In primary and secondary school, I took part in every dance, drama or poetry presentation. I got admitted into the University of Lagos to study Creative Arts when the intention was to study Mass Communication and the plan was that I would process a change of course to the desired course at the end of the first year. By the end of my first year as a theatre major, I was so immersed into the performing arts that I discarded that initial plan. I got cast for a role in the production of Roberto Zucco, produced by the French Cultural Centre and directed by Felix Okolo during my first year in the university and that marked the beginning of my involvement in numerous professional productions.”

Sanu has performed in over 200 productions with the Crown Troupe of Africa, a dance-theatre company where she was a strong member of the group for over eight years working as a performer and a project manager.

She says, “I work with Osun Arts Foundation in Liverpool coaching African traditional and contemporary arts and cultural practices in schools and community centres across the UK and Europe. These projects are not aimed at imparting knowledge alone, but focuses also on the physical, mental and social well being of the participants. It is always satisfying to see the joy on their faces after the sessions and more so when they feedback about what they have learnt or the impact the session has had on their lives.”

She was part of the production company’s United Kingdom tour of Igbekun, an improvisational creation on slavery and Moremi.

Sanu has worked on a number of festivals – theatre festivals and a film festival as well. However, Lagos Theatre Festival is one project she is always proud to talk about. “I joined the team as a customer and production associate when the festival was launched by the British Council in 2013. I had then worked in different roles over the years – co-producer, front of house manager, box office manager and I have been the festival coordinator since 2017 till now. As the festival coordinator, I am responsible for the coordination of the festival programme, ensuring logistics and requirements are managed effectively and all festival events run smoothly.”

She was also the Festival Director for Quramo Festival of Words, a literary arts festival in 2020 and Front-of-House Manager for Lagos Fringe from 2018 to 2020. She has also been a college member of the Africa Academy Movie Awards (AMAA) College of Screeners at different levels over the years.

Apart from the other productions she was involved in at the time; she was also a key member of Adefila’s Crown Troupe of Africa.

The lady reveals, “being part of Crown Troupe of Africa at the time was a joy. I joined right from when I was a student in the university and we were creating scores of good theatre – traditional, modern, social and impactful. We were more purpose-driven than finance driven and all we really wanted to do at the time was to perform every opportunity we got. And, perform I did! We had performances so often that we lost count. We performed traditional dances from the different parts of Nigeria like Bata, Apepe, Akoto and also created dance-theatre performances like Aluta, Exodus and so many others, and drama productions such as Wole Soyika’s Death and the King’s Horseman and Lion and the Jewel, Bode Osanyin’s Omo Odo, among others. I was also a member of Isioma Williams Gongbeat Productions at some point, learning and performing more traditional dances and percussions from Mr. Williams.”

According to her, “we were creating and performing relevant, thought-provoking and empowering works for social re-engineering, and presenting several performances every month – traditional dances, dance drama, poetry dramatisation etc. If I remember accurately, we never went a week without a performance.”

She has acted in a number of roles and every one of them has been unique in its own way. “I really wouldn’t say there was one in particular as I pay the same level of attention to every role or performance I am involved in, and work on the characterisation and delivery with the same vigour and dedication. I put in a great deal of effort to understand the role in relation to the whole plot of the performance, the directorial approach, who the character is and what the director is trying to bring to life. Have I played really tasking roles? Yes I have,” Sanu retorts,

However, one that comes to mind was when she played the main male character as Balogun in a stage play, Olu-Aiye. “It was not easy to achieve but I worked very hard on the characterisation and delivery of the lines. I did enjoy playing that role,” she notes.

How does she balance dancing and singing with her work as an actress?
She smiles, “these are all related and are key components of the African Total Theatre, which is the aesthetical basis of most of our theatre productions, combining various art forms to create explosive experiences for the audience. Training and practice make the transitions easy. It might take a while to smoothen and make perfect but then that is the essence of the rehearsal process – it is when the polishings are done to create the perfect work. I believe that part of the test of a good performer is in their ability to combine their acting, dancing, singing and other aspects successfully. When the art of combining these various performance arts is perfected, it becomes a lot easier when you have to do just one of them.”

She continues: “I have found each role influence the other. Nothing exists in isolation, really. The power of creativity cannot be undermined as it is the foundation upon which a lot can be built, regardless of the industry. Art (or creativity) is a very broad parlance, which involves various aspects and inputs to bring it to life. I find the Arts as a platform to be myself and express my intrinsic thoughts – as a performer, writer or producer.”

Sanu says: “My hands-on experience with performing arts is an additional leverage when I work in any managerial or administrative capacity on a creative project. My experience in other industries also provides me further experience and knowledge in administration, marketing and programme management, which I have been able to channel back to my roles in the creative industry.”

She enjoys the process of transferring any sort of knowledge as much as she loves learning too, formally or informally. So, everytime she gets opportunity to do something structured, she puts her all into it.

The versatile actress confesses: “The most satisfying part for me is the finished work – when everything is put together and you can see what the participants have learnt either when they do a presentation of what they have learnt, on a feedback survey or when they apply to their works. I worked with Lufodo Productions on a project to teach acting and dance as after-school activities and I worked in a number of schools at the time including Corona Schools and Vivian Fowler School for girls. Meadow Hall is another one of the schools that I coached at as well.”

According to Sanu, one thing she has always wanted to work on is the documentation of Nigerian traditional arts and cultural practices. She admits, “I am sometimes worried about how much and how well they have been documented for reference now and for the later generations. I’m concerned that a time might come when we will no longer be able to see unadulterated traditional performances from the various tribes and people may no longer know or understand the background of some of our cultural practices.”

She adds, “I think we need to pay more attention to the content we have in the archives already and to figure out how to get some more materials that can be added. Go through the existing archives, brush them up and beef them up! If nothing, a good starting point might be figuring out what state the existing archives are in and work towards improving on the content and how they are stored. Posterity will be glad we did it. This is one thing I would like to work on at some point.”

There have been loads of challenges along the way but there was never a time when she wasn’t involved in the creative industry and practising the arts in some form or the other – as a performer, trainer or a manager.

“Once I am involved in anything, I make sure to put my very best into it and no matter how difficult it might be, I get things done even if I have to overextend myself. I tend to be very determined and focused and when there is something to be done, I get it done. I am a multi-disciplinary performer, an arts manager and a marketing specialist. There were times when I was engaged in other industries and it was not easy to manage my schedule between my creative responsibilities and my other activities. But the art finds me all the time and pulls me in. I am very passionate about the arts and it is my place of solace,” she quips.