Black Queer Actors’ Playground + Bootycandy

malakaï sargeant (they/them/kaï) is an artist, educator and producer from pre-gentrified Hackney, London. Led by curiosity and care, malakaï works across theatre, literature and live performance, creating and interrogating through an unapologetically Afroqueer lens. As a director and dramaturg, malakaï’s work has been staged at venues including the Royal Court, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Guildhall School of Music & Dance and the National Gallery. malakaï has worked extensively with young people in community settings and in higher education; co-creating, devising, scripting and facilitating cross-disciplinary work with organisations including UAL, Mountview, Hackney Empire, Unicorn Theatre, Serpentine Gallery and South London Gallery. They co-founded and were Artistic Director of producing theatre company The S+K Project between 2014-19. Aged 21, they were appointed Associate Director at Theatre Peckham, responsible for cultural programming, nurturing young artists and developing new writing. malakaï now works as Literary Associate for Talawa, Britain’s primary Black-led touring theatre company, and as Senior Producer for Poet in the City, connecting people and places through poetry. They are Co-Creative Director of Afro-diasporic literary arts organisation BORN::FREE and is currently studying for their MA in Black British Literature.