Kwame Kwei-Armah’s imposing face has just been splashed all over the news. Last week he was appointed artistic director of Young Vic in London, one of Britain’s most prestigious theatres. It’s a great job, make no mistake. But there was something more to it than that. He is the first African-Caribbean director to run a major British theatre.

In America, I am the only black male artistic director of a major theatre. And we’re talking about 100 top regional theatres. And in Britain, I will be the only African-Caribbean director of a major. And in Europe, I don’t know of any, which tells me that in the western world there is only one diasporic African artistic director of a major theatre, and that is what I mean by sinful.

Earlier this year he handed in his notice in Baltimore, where he is artistic director of the Center Stage theatre. In the US he is out on his own, too. Last year he described the situation as “almost sinful”. Today, if anything, he feels even more strongly about it.

Read the full article at Naija Upgrade