MALIKA OYETIMEIN Malika Oyetimein is a director, writer, and educator working at the intersection of theatre, television, and new play development. A member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and an MFA graduate of the University of Washington’s School of Drama, she currently serves as an Assistant Professor at UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film, and Television.
Her directing credits span regional and national stages, including Clyde’s (Arden Theatre Co.), Teenage Dick (Seattle Repertory Theatre), The First Deep Breath (National Black Theatre), and Eclipsed (Southern Repertory Theatre). She received the Barrymore Award for Best Director for Clyde’s, and her acclaimed productions of Bootycandy, Hoodoo Love, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings have all earned Gregory Award nominations. She served as Associate Director on the US premiere of Inua Elis’s Half God of Rainfall ( New York Theatre Workshop ).
As a writer, Oyetimein is developing (s)laughter: a play on pain, supported by the UCLA Faculty & Career Development Grant and the Dean’s Research Fund Award, as well as The Homefront, a new musical she co-wrote and directs. The Homefront has been workshopped at Theater Latté Da’s NEXT Festival, named a Pipeline Arts Foundation finalist, and twice recognized as a semifinalist for the O’Neill National Music Theater Conference.
She was previously Artist-in-Residence at Merrimack Repertory Theatre (2021–2023) and recently directed Donja R. Love’s What Will Happen to All That Beauty, Part 1 & 2 at the Contemporary American Theater Festival.
