Michael Omoke
EN Dansk DK

Cultural Strategist • Artistic Director • International Creative Leader

Architecting Cultural Diplomacy Across Continents

Cultural Director, Consulate of Tanzania (Zanzibar) — Denmark • Artistic Director, ACT: New Nordic Voices. I work at the intersection of performance, spatial storytelling, and cultural diplomacy—reimagining classic texts as theatre and immersive scenographic installations, and building long-horizon cultural collaborations across the Nordics, East Africa, and North America.

“I take the heavy stone of Europe (cathedrals, Ibsen, Blixen, Strindberg, Canth) and liquefy it into sensory experience.”

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Projects Actor stills Works Partners Contact
ACT: New Nordic Voices Flagship: THE DREAMERS — From Zanzibar to Milan Reach: Nordic Region • Africa • North America Method: Immersive theatre • Installation • Scenography 150+ artists • 46 nationalities Denmark • Sweden • Finland • Norway • Kenya • Tanzania • Canada • USA
Michael Omoke

About

Creative leadership, Cultural Strategist, and producer—built through complex international work. I design, convene, and advance cultural partnerships between Tanzania (Zanzibar) and Denmark on behalf of the Honorary Consulate.

What I do

I am Cultural Director, Consulate of Tanzania (Zanzibar) — Denmark. I operate at the intersection of arts and cultural diplomacy, shaping institutional partnerships between Tanzania (Zanzibar) and Denmark while advancing long-horizon cultural frameworks across continents.

I am also Artistic Director of ACT: New Nordic Voices—Denmark’s transnational theatre company. I devoted 2014–2015 to establishing ACT with a clear vision: expanding who is seen on Nordic stages and beyond, without excluding anyone. Since its inception, ACT has engaged 150+ artists from 46 nationalities across Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Kenya.

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In 2016, ACT debuted at Baltoppen LIVE with a Danish premiere of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare—produced by me, with me in the lead role as Shylock.

In 2025, I hosted Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah for a private literary salon, in collaboration with the Tanzanian Consulate in Denmark.

I’m also a retired DJ—though I can’t promise the remix is gone for good.

What I Bring

I operate with a cultural perspective shaped by life and work across Europe and East Africa. My practice centres on designing frameworks for cultural exchange — bringing artists, institutions, and audiences into meaningful international dialogue.

“Here, literature is not only represented; it is spatialised and encountered—through scenography, sound, scent, light, materials, and atmosphere.”

Production still — phone close-up
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Institutional Engagements

Selected collaborations and public cultural partners.

  • Consulate of Tanzania (Zanzibar), Denmark
  • Royal Norwegian Embassy, Copenhagen
  • Royal Swedish Embassy, Copenhagen
  • Consulate General of Denmark in New York
  • European Union
  • Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces
  • Nordic Culture Fund
  • Nordic Culture Point
  • Danish Embassy in Kenya
  • Theatre Academy — University of the Arts Helsinki (Uniarts Helsinki)

Flagship projects

Current and developing works across Denmark, the USA, and Kenya.

Installation Denmark → USA → Kenya Nordic Classics Reimagined

SEVEN GOTHIC TALES — THE GLOBAL PROJECT

Supported in part by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Danish Ministry of Culture.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark Danish Ministry of Culture

In partnership with Karen Blixen Museum, Rungstedlund, Denmark and the Consulate General of Denmark in New York.

THE DREAMERS — From Zanzibar to Milan — by Michael Omoke

A transformation of Karen Blixen’s “The Dreamers” (from Seven Gothic Tales, 1934)— transfigured into an immersive spatial labyrinth.

The first chapter in a long-term sequence translating all seven tales into multisensory installations.

Chapters:

  • Syv Fantastiske Fortællinger — En Sanselig Genkomst til Danmark
  • A Literary Return to America
  • A Sensory Return to Kenya
Seven Gothic Tales — A Literary Return to America (USA)
Source text — opening of The Dreamers (1863)

“On a full moon night of 1863, a dhow was on its way from Lamu to Zanzibar, following the coast about a mile out. She carried full sails before the monsoon and had in her a freight of ivory and rhino horn. This last is highly valued as an aphrodisiac, and traders come for it to Zanzibar from as far as China. But besides these cargoes the dhow also held a secret load, which was about to stir and raise great forces, and of which the slumbering countries which she passed did not dream.”— Karen Blixen, The Dreamers (Seven Gothic Tales)

Download pitch pack (PDF)
Theatre Global

SILENCED NO MORE

A suite of cultural productions and public dialogue addressing SGBV, FGM, and mental health stigma—combining performance, workshops, and civic partnership.

Supported by the European Union, Danida, the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces, and the Danish Embassy in Kenya.

European Union Danida Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces Danish Embassy in Kenya
40 Kenyan artists employed
4 NGO collaborations
Public dialogue + workshops
3000+ audience
Partnership inquiries
Theatre Cold War noir adaptation Nordic Classics Reimagined

Hedda Gabler in France (Work-in-Progress)

A reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, set against a secretive, sealed world in France—the moment before exposure.

Co-production interest
Platform Nordic premieres

Tropic Classics — Nordic Premieres

Introducing landmark plays from the tropics to Nordic stages—often for the first time. Building repertoire, dialogue, and exchange across regions.

Institutional partners

Actor stills

Selected images from productions and tours.

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Portrait still — black & white
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Credits: Set design: Emilie Lykke Bisgaard · Photo: Anis Dhiman · Graphic design: Ida Marie Krog · Costume / styling: Mia Fasmer Schønemann

Production still — vocal performance
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Portrait — on stage (sepia)
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Workshop / rehearsal
Workshop / rehearsal
Portrait — black & white
Portrait — black & white
Talk at podium
Watch video
Portrait — Michael Omoke
Portrait — Michael Omoke
Portrait
Portrait
Panel / Nordic Culture Point
Nordic Culture Point / New Nordic Voices (video)
Miss Julie’s Happy Valley — credits (program extract)
Credits (program extract)
The Merchant of Venice — cast & production team (program extract)
Cast & team (program extract)
Portrait — black & white
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For Colored Girls — ensemble
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Silenced No More — production still
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Silenced No More — audience engagement
Talk / audience engagement
Silenced No More — video
Silenced No More — Nairobi · Kisumu · Mombasa (Kenya). Photo: Saiba Sehmi.
Silenced No More — still
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Silenced No More — partnerships / portrait
Partnership / portrait

Silenced No More — Nairobi • Kisumu • Mombasa (Kenya). Photo: Saiba Sehmi.

New Nordic Voices — Helsinki • Copenhagen • Stockholm

Selected production stills and moments from the Nordic circuit.

For Colored Girls — still 1
For Colored Girls — still 2
For Colored Girls — still 3
New Nordic Voices — still 1
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New Nordic Voices — still 2
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Nordisk kulturkontakt
ACT: New Nordic Voices — production still.
ACT: New Nordic Voices — production still.
ACT: New Nordic Voices — production still.
ACT: New Nordic Voices — production still.
ACT: New Nordic Voices — production still.
ACT: New Nordic Voices — production still.
New Nordic Voices — still 9
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New Nordic Voices — Helsinki • Copenhagen • Stockholm.

Selected works & milestones

A compact record of productions and leadership work.

2026–2027
THE DREAMERS — From Zanzibar to Milan
Flagship installation of Seven Gothic Tales — The Global Project.
Tri-continental installation pathway (Denmark → USA → Kenya). An immersive spatial labyrinth inspired by Karen Blixen’s “The Dreamers” (from Seven Gothic Tales)—into an operatic labyrinth of chambers carrying secret cargoes.
Work-in-Progress
Hedda Gabler in France
A reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, set against a secretive, sealed world in France—the moment before exposure.
2025
Seven Gothic Tales: A Literary Return to America
Immersive, multi-sensory installation project reimagining Karen Blixen’s debut Seven Gothic Tales (1934).
2024
Nordic Classics Reimagined
International platform supported by the Nordic Culture Fund — research, development, and partnerships across continents.
2023
Silenced No More (Kenya)
Funded by the European Union, the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces, and the Embassy of Denmark in Kenya. Staged For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange across Nairobi, Kisumu, and Mombasa, alongside public dialogue and youth engagement.
Press & reviews
2021
Miss Julie’s Happy Valley
after August Strindberg’s Miss Julie (1888). Nordic debut as a playwright—premiered at Folketeatret (Copenhagen) and at the University of the Arts Helsinki (Uniarts Helsinki). Nordic Classics Reimagined.
Press & reviews
2021
Miss Julie’s Out of Africa
Project framework—workshops and seminars built around Miss Julie’s Happy Valley.
2019
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
By Ntozake Shange—first staged in the Nordic countries by ACT; premiered in Helsinki, then toured Denmark and Stockholm; later re-invited to Nordic Culture Point (Helsinki).
Press & reviews
2018
New Nordic Voices
Concept + development platform connecting Denmark, Finland and Sweden (ACT • Caisa • Intercult).
2017
Share Experience Workshop + Conference
Malmö — co-produced collaboration across Sweden–Denmark–Norway.
Video
2017
An Enemy of the People
By Henrik Ibsen (adapted by Arthur Miller)—produced in Ballerup, in Nordic collaboration with Nordic Black Theatre (Oslo) and Södra Community (Malmö), alongside ACT’s Denmark-based ensemble. Nordic Classics Reimagined
Press & reviews
2016
The Merchant of Venice
By William Shakespeare—producer and lead actor (Shylock). ACT’s debut production at Baltoppen LIVE (Denmark).
View full timeline
2016
Founded ACT: New Nordic Voices
Company leadership and artistic direction. Debut production: The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare.
Curtain call from ACT’s debut production, The Merchant of Venice (2016)
Ensemble curtain call from ACT’s debut production, The Merchant of Venice (2016)
The Merchant of Venice — William Shakespeare (c. 1596–1598)
ACT debut production · Baltoppen LIVE (2016)
2002
Professional debut as an actor
Servant of Two Masters (Carlo Goldoni) — Phoenix Players, Nairobi.
Role: Silvio. Directed by Phoenix Players founder James Falkland.
Goldoni (1707–1793): an 18th‑century commedia dell’arte landmark. Servant of Two Masters (1746).
Phoenix Players production still, Nairobi (2002)
Phoenix Players, Nairobi — archival still (2002).
2001
First play written, directed & performed
Sitting On Me — premiere at Nairobi Baptist Church, Nairobi (Kenya).
(Later: 2002 — Kenya National Theatre, Nairobi — Mavuno Festival.)
2001–2016
The “gap years” are explored in the forthcoming memoir-poem Post Gothic Perfume.

Partners & Support

Institutions, collaborators, and funders connected to the work.

Institutional hosts & collaborators

University of the Arts Helsinki (Uniarts Helsinki) · Danish National School of Performing Arts · Folketeatret (Copenhagen) · Karen Blixen Museum Denmark · Icelandic House (Copenhagen) · Caisa — International Cultural Centre (Helsinki) · Intercult (Sweden) · CKI — The Danish Centre for Arts & Interculture . De Kreative Kontor . KU.BE Frederiksberg, ACT Kenya

Funders & diplomatic support

Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs · Danish Ministry of Culture · European Union · Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces · Danish Consulate General in New York · Embassy of Denmark in Kenya · Nordic Culture Fund · Nordic Culture Point (Nordic Council of Ministers) · Royal Swedish Embassy (Denmark) · Royal Norwegian Embassy (Denmark) · Danish Embassy in Helsinki · Svensk-Danska Kulturfonden · Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond · Tuborgfondet . Arts Council Norway, Consulate of the United Republic of Tanzania in Denmark, Kenya Embassy Stockholm

Writing & Research

Essays, concept notes, and long-form artistic development.

Post-Gothic Perfume

A memoir-poem through fragrance, architecture, and memory.

Read more

A memoir-poem through fragrance, architecture, and memory—written as a sensorial descent through broken mirrors of belonging and becoming.

Available excerpt / proposal on request.

Plays by Michael Omoke

Plays available for staging. Rights & enquiries: artisticdirector@thespians.dk

Sitting On Me

Premiere: 2001 — Nairobi Baptist Church, Nairobi (Kenya).
Later: 2002 — Kenya National Theatre, Nairobi — Mavuno Festival.

A political satire set in Nairobi at the turn of the millennium. A young man makes a private bargain for power—and returns years later as a polished public figure on the edge of national leadership. But the higher he rises, the more he “sits on” everyone beneath him: staff, allies, truth, and finally his own home. As religion, patronage, and intimidation become tools of control, the cost lands where it always lands first—inside the family—until a public ambition becomes a private catastrophe.

Rights & enquiries: artisticdirector@thespians.dk

Miss Julie’s Happy Valley

World premiere: 25 Aug 2021 — Folketeatret, Copenhagen (Denmark).
Also staged: Finland (in collaboration with Uniarts Helsinki).

August Strindberg’s Miss Julie reimagined through Kenya’s “Happy Valley”—the colonial settler enclave around Lake Naivasha. Over one night, Julie and Jean negotiate desire, class, and power inside a world built on land and labour, where intimacy becomes a weapon and escape is an illusion.

Rights & enquiries: artisticdirector@thespians.dk

Artist Toolkit

Dramaturgical scores, scenography concept notes, and working methodology.

View document types
  • Dramaturgical scores & multisensory libretti
  • Scenography concept notes
  • Transnational methodology: Text → Atmosphere → Architecture → Experience

Patron Circle

A patron invitation hosted by Michael Omoke (Artistic Director).

Why support ACT: New Nordic Voices?

ACT: New Nordic Voices is Denmark’s first theatre company led by a person of colour—and the first to consistently open Nordic classics to performers from all walks of life who might otherwise never be given access to these stages and roles.

This work expands who gets to enter the canon—on stage and in the audience—and broadens how Nordic classics can be understood, embodied, and performed.

Where your support goes

Your contribution goes directly to ACT: New Nordic Voices (CVR 35935177). It is not a personal donation to Michael Omoke.

Additional donations help us to:

  • Supplement artist fees
  • Invest in development and touring across borders
  • Strengthen long-form capacity: production, administration, documentation, and outreach

You are welcome to contribute any amount—one-time or ongoing.

The vision is to see multiple cultures shape a stage.

How to contribute

Request the partnership deck, or contribute via bank transfer.

Request Partnership Deck
Bank transfer details

Bankoverførsel (DK)
Bank: Spar Nord Bank A/S
Reg.nr.: 9385
Kontonr.: 1110182488

IBAN: DK9393854583767806
SWIFT/BIC: SPNODK22XXX
Reference: Patron Circle (add your name/organisation if relevant)

I’ve sent a transfer (optional)

Questions: artisticdirector@thespians.dk

Contact

Invitations, partnerships, commissions, speaking, workshops.

Write to me

Best for: museums, theatres, embassies, municipalities, foundations, curators, producers.

Email Michael

Email: artisticdirector@thespians.dk

Links