iOpenEye: Theater and #MeToo in Nigeria

In 2014, Ifeoma Fafunwa, an award-winning playwright and director, founded iOpenEye, a commercial production company dedicated to driving social change through performance art. iOpenEye’s flagship theatrical production was called “Hear Word! Naija Woman Talk True,” which shared narratives of Nigerian women's struggles. By 2019, “Hear Word!” had debuted internationally, playing sold-out shows at distinguished venues like the American Repertory Theater and at the renowned Edinburgh International Festival. By spring 2020, COVID hit and venues closed, offering Fafunwa new possibilities, such as streaming content and reconsideration of production scale. What steps would it take to have iOpenEye and "Hear Word!" be successful five years down the line? Fafunwa contemplated her next move knowing that whatever it was, it had to be an iOpenEye 2.0 business model.