Masterclass: Producing

Shawab Iqbal was born and bred in East London, Shawab graduated with a first class honours degree in Sociology from the University of Kent.  He is an experienced and versatile producer having worked across theatre and dance over the past decade. Shawab is currently Executive Producer at Eclipse Theatre and Senior Artistic Associate at the Bush Theatre. Prior to this, he was Producer at Theatre Royal Stratford East, Learning & Participation Producer at the Olivier award winning hip hop dance company, Boy Blue and Administrator at Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures. He also has an extensive freelance portfolio working with both established and emerging artists. Shawab is a trustee at Tamasha Theatre Company and a former independent governor at Newham Sixth Form College, where he sat on the Audit and Scrutiny Committee and was the lead for equality and diversity. He is also a qualified teacher and former ChildLine counsellor

Tobi Kyeremateng is an award-winning Cultural Producer with 8 years’ experience in live performance, festivals, film and community engagement. She started her career in 2011 as a Young Associate Producer at Ovalhouse Theatre, assisting in producing The Street - a promenade performance in Camberwell. In 2013, she began an apprenticeship at Battersea Arts Centre in Community Arts Administration and was offered the role of Junior Producer in 2016. In the same year, she was accepted onto the Old Vic 12 programme out of 1400 applicants, and given a year-long attachment to the venue where she produced Joe White’s play Pagans, performed by Simon Kunz, Lolita Chakrabati, Gary Wood, Sophie Melville and Geoff Breton.  In 2017, she was part of the Runner Up team for the JMK 2017 Award with debbie tucker green’s random and became Executive Producer (UP NEXT) at Bush Theatre, conceptualising and delivering BABYLON Festival - a week-long celebration of Black and Brown peoples’ influence on London culture. Tobi has produced short films Wishbone and Secret Life of Gs, written and directed by Caleb Femi, has worked for and collaborated in producing and programming exceptional British talent at cultural events such as AFROPUNK London, gal-dem: women’s international weekender, Brainchild Festival and #MERKY Books Live, and is currently produced J’Ouvert at Theatre503.  As well as delivering workshops, keynote speeches and panel discussions, Tobi is the founder of Black Ticket Project - an initiative creating access to the arts for Black young people, and was named as part of The Stage 100’s 2019 ‘Most Influential Figures Working in the UK Theatre and Performing Arts Industry’. Tobi won the ‘Inspiration of the Year’ Award at Stylist Magazine’s first Remarkable Women Awards, received recognition from The Mayor of London as part of the Hidden Credits campaign and has delivered a talk for TEDxSussex University.