Alan Parker

Dramaturg, Researcher (South Africa)

Alan Parker is an established performance maker, dramaturg, researcher and senior lecturer, teaching and supervising research in the fields of Physical Performance and Interdisciplinary Performance Praxis. He holds a MA in Drama from Rhodes University, and a PhD in Theatre and Performance, specialising in Live Art, Interdisciplinary and Public Art from the University of Cape Town. As a performance maker, Alan has presented a wide range of work at various festivals and platforms, such as the National Arts Festival, the Dance Umbrella, the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees, the Cape Town Fringe and the Live Art Festival. His creative practice has garnered several awards and recognitions, including three Standard Bank Ovation awards. Over the last fifteen years, he has also collaborated as a dramaturg and performer on projects that have been presented in Canada, Wales, Scotland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United States of America and Brazil. Alan has been both a Live Art Fellow and a Writing Fellow at the University of Cape Town’s prestigious Institute for the Creative Arts and, since 2019, has been the resident dramaturg for the Live Art Arcade, a non-profit company focused on the mentorship of early-career or emerging artists working in the field of live art and performance art. Alan currently heads the Network for Embodied Research in Africa (NERA), a body-based research and community-building initiative, established in 2022.