Black, female and making theater. And she’s damn good at it

A college campus building. A late summer evening so a soft light fills the space: a rehearsal studio. There’s a bed, bookcase, a bench. A charismatic Black woman holds court at the front of the room.

What does the act of imagination look like? Malika Oyetimein — blue toenails, bright pink Tinkerbell T-shirt, a few dreadlocks adorned with gold ribbon — sitting on the edge of a table, leaning forward to take in actors rehearsing a scene. She takes a quick sip of a Starbucks iced tea before working the sidelines, NBA-coach style, one corner to the next, scrutinizing the action on the makeshift stage.

In a strong voice, she instructs actor Eva Abram. “It’s the desperation of you not wanting him to hurt you or the baby,” Oyetimein tells her. The scene is devastating: Abram plays an old woman named Candylady, her arms rocking an imaginary infant as she recounts one of the worst nights of her life. Rehearsing the scene again, Abram’s quivering is a lot more palpable.

The Philadelphia-raised Oyetimein, 34, started out as an actor. She was a kid “always singing and performing.” Then after being cast as a maid three years in a row in her high school productions, “I was forced to become a director.” In her senior year, Oyetimein directed one-act plays with her best friend.

“It was a passion I had never had,” she recalls.

That passion is now undisputed talent, talent that has anointed Oyetimein as someone to watch.

“She’s having a bit of a moment,” attests Valerie Curtis-Newton, the theater director and UW Drama educator. “She’s in the right place at a time when the place is interested in diverse representation.”

Adds Intiman Theatre’s Andrew Russell: “She is what Seattle needs more of — women P-O-C — having a role in deciding what work needs to be made.”

While still a graduate student at the UW’s School of Drama, Oyetimein directed “Bootycandy” for Intiman and “Milk Like Sugar” for ArtsWest. Both productions …

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