Ahamefule J. Oluo

Ahamefule J. Oluo (they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, writer, comedian, and creator of live performance and theater. They were a founding member of the award-winning experimental jazz quartet Industrial Revelation, a Mellon Creative Research Fellow, a recipient of a Creative Capital Award, a recipient of the ArtistTrust Arts Innovators award, and a semi-finalist in NBC’s Stand Up for Diversity comedy competition. Oluo co-produced comedian Hari Kondabolu’s albums Waiting for 2042 and Mainstream American Comic for Kill Rock Stars, and the album Who the Hell is Dwayne Kennedy? by the eponymous stand-up legend. They have premiered two autobiographical music-based performances at The Public Theater’s prestigious Under the Radar Festival: Now I’m Fine (2016), which New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley described as “a New Orleans funeral march orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg,” and of which Time Out New York said, "A day later, it's as though I grabbed a live wire; I can still feel the electricity in my skin"; and Susan (2020), which Brantley called “virtuosic” and “crackerjack.” Oluo has written for television, including the stop-motion animated comedy Santa Inc. on HBO Max, starring Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen. They have also appeared on This American Life. Now I’m Fine was adapted into the film Thin Skin, starring Oluo, who also wrote the script and the score. Thin Skin won Best Director at the Harlem Film Festival. Oluo's work has been commissioned, presented, or invited by On the Boards, PICA, the Meany Center, the Clarice, Seattle Theater Group, and REDCAT.