Akin Babatunde
Mr. Babatunde’ is an accomplished actor, director and writer whose theatrical career spans regional theatre, Broadway, the international stages of the world, film and television. He has been a resident company member of several prestigious theatrical institutions throughout the country such as: the Trinity Repertory Company (Providence, Rhode Island), the Alley Theater (Houston, Texas), La MaMa Experimental Theater Club (New York, New York), and the Dallas Theater Center(Dallas, Texas). He was the founder and artistic director of Vivid Theater Ensemble of Dallas and presently founder of Ebony Emeralds Classic Theater Company. Mr. Babatunde is a native of Brooklyn, New York. Although Mr. Babatunde has a national presence, he chooses Dallas as his artistic base and continues to mentor aspiring artists throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. He has served as a theater specialist consultant for Dallas Independent School District and acting coach for celebrated recording artists such as Regina Belle, David Peaston, Allyson Williams and the late great Phyllis Hyman.
Akin was the first African- American to direct for the Dallas Shakespeare Festival in the celebrated diverse production of Taming of the Shrew in 1993. As a writer Mr. Babatunde’s work has been commissioned by Florida Stage, Florida Humanities Council, La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, Brown University, Black Academy of Arts and Letters, Documentary Arts, Inc. and Core Ensemble (internationally celebrated chamber ensemble). His work “Shakespeare-Midnight Echoes” tours throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex paying homage to black performing artists who performed Shakespeare from slavery to the present. In the South Florida area, he has performed at Florida Stage, Caldwell Theater, and Duncan Theater and toured extensively with Core Ensemble in his one man show “Of Ebony Embers - Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance.” His one-man show he wrote along with his brother, celebrated Emmy Award®-winning actor Obba Babatunde entitled “Before the Second Set – A Visit with Satchmo” had its world premiere at The Black Academy of Arts and Letters and received critical acclaim at theaters across the country.
His direction of Blind Lemon: Prince of Country Blues at Addison Center Watertower Theater, starring national recording artist the late David Peaston, garnered him a best director nomination, and along with co-writer Dr. Alan Govenar, the 2001 Leon Rabin Award for best new play. Their new version, Blind Lemon Blues toured successfully throughout Europe in Paris, Switzerland, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Mount Jolie. Blind Lemon Blues received rave notices in its New York premiere at Central Park’s Summer Stage and off-Broadway at the York Theater for which he won the 2010 Audelco award for “Best Director of a Musical” and was nominated for a 2015 Audelco for his direction of Texas in Paris at the York starring Tony Award® winner Lillias White.
His work has been awarded with a Dallas Observer Best Actor Award (the first African-American to receive this distinction),1991 and 2004 Dallas Critics Forum Award, the 2004 Legacy of Success, the 2008 Jubilee Theater Mendie Award and the Alvin Ailey Performing Arts Award. He received the prestigious Individual Artists Grant from the Palm Beach County Cultural Council to create a new work Harvest of Voices based on oral histories.
Mr. Babatunde’ holds a Masters of Arts degree in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas and was honored with the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award. Mr. Babatunde serves as adjunct professor at Mountain View College, Eastfield Community College, lecturer at UTD and in the spring of 2016 the inaugural recipient of the Theodore U. Holger distinguished artist in residence for the school of visual and performing arts at Lehigh University. He is the coordinator/stage director for seven seasons of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters Sunday staged readings and early Spring will direct starring Liz Mikels The Life and Music of Fannie Lou Hamer, a collaboration of Teco Theater and The Dallas Theater Center.