Jazmine Simone Logan

Jazmine Simone Logan is a fifth year PhD candidate in the Department of Theater and Dance with a BA in Theater Arts and Politics from University of California, Santa Cruz and a MA in Theater Arts from San Francisco State University. As a performance studies scholar and practitioner, Jazmine’s research focus deals with the intersection of dramaturgy, West African performance and cosmology, black identity, and  black performance theory. Her dissertation focuses on the use of Yoruba orishas in black performance to imagine the black body beyond violence and trauma and as a source to re-configure notions of black identity. This project is part of her overall passion of using theater arts as a vehicle for social change and uplifting underrepresented communities which was deeply inspired by her work with UC Santa Cruz’s Cultural Arts and Diversity Resource center and as an Alumni Advisory Board member for the center’s African American Theater Arts Troupe.

Jazmine has presented research at conferences for Association for Theatre in Higher Education, American Society for Theater Research, and the Black Theater Network Conference. Her research project, Yoruba Theater in the UC and CSU Campuses: Analyzing the Pedagogy of Yoruba Theater in California’s Public Universities was the featured winner at SFSU’s 2020 Research Competition in Creative Arts and Design and was selected to compete at the 35^th Annual CSU Systemwide Student Research Competition. Jazmine was also rewarded SFSU’s 2021 Graduate Award for Distinguished Achievement and Black Theater Network’s 2020 S Randolph Edmonds Young Scholar’s Award. 

Jazmine is also an active dramaturg, who has dramaturged for several productions in the San Diego community such as La Jolla Playhouse’s POP Tour, San Diego’s Latinx New Play Festival, and UCSD’s Department of Theatre and Dance’s Wagner New Play Festival.  Recent credits include: In the Red and Brown Water (UCSD), Dance Nation (UCSD), Thicker Than (UCSD’s WNPF), The Half Sibling Play (UCSD’s WNPF), Manning (LNPF), The Weather Busters of Beachcastle (LJP’s POP Tour), Abeba in the Tall Grass (LJP’s POP Tour), and The Rogues Trial (UCSD). 

Her credits include Spring Awakening: The Musical (Assistant Director/Dramaturg) at San Francisco State University; Crowns (Mabel/Assistant Director), The Children’s Hour (Peggy Rogers), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testimonies (Co-Director), A Raisin in the Sun (Ruth Younger), Zoot Suit (Guera/Ensemble), Detroit ’67 (Bunny “Bonita”), The Odyssey (Trojan/Hecuba/Suitor), A Dream Play (Victoria/Ensemble), and The Waiting Room (Brenda) at UC Santa Cruz. UC San Diego Credits: In the Red and Brown Water (dramaturg).

Research 

Yoruba Theater in the UC and CSU Campuses: Analyzing the Pedagogy of Yoruba Theater in California’s Public Universities (M.A. Thesis, 2021)

Black Air/Winds, Black Hair, Black Legs, Kinks, and Flesh: An Afro-Black Annotation Framework to Analyze West African/Yoruba Orisas Through Emi, Ori, and Ese (Dissertation In-progress)

Research Areas: West African and African American/Black theater, race and performance in theater pedagogy, dramaturgy, black performance theory, Yoruba cosmology and mythology, and dance

Working Groups/Panels/Presentations

“Oshun: Weaving, Braiding, and Wearing Hats on Ori as Generative Acts of Healing and Survival” (“Speculative Acts: Black Feminist Performances of Re/Generation” Working Session, ASTR 2025)

“Tap Dancing as a Site of Utopian Futurity of the Here and Now” (Muñoz-Initiative Sponsored Session titled “Disidentifying Borders: Coalitional Futurity and Migration Utopias”, ASTR 2022)

“Reclaiming and Reimaging Theatre for an Inclusive Industry” (Conference Session, ATHE 2021) 

“People Who Look Like Us: The Struggle for Accurate Representation in Theater” (Panel, SFSU: Graduate Works Celebration Week 2021)

“Yoruba Theater in the UC and CSU Campus: Analyzing the Pedagogy of Yoruba Theater in California’s Public Universities” (BTN 2020; Theater History Focus Group Debut Panel, ATHE 2020; SFSU/CSU Research Competition 2020)

Education 

BA in Theatre Arts and BA in Politics from University of California, Santa Cruz

MA in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University