BAM Blog Questionnaire: Anna Nicole's Segun Akande

by Susan Yung

Akande (center) in Anna Nicole. Photo by Stephanie Berger.

This inaugurates a new series, the BAM Blog Questionnaire, in which we'll chat with visiting artists. Segun Akande, who plays a news reporter in Anna Nicole, is from Fort Greene, and came to BAM as a child. After performing in regional theater productions, he has moved back to the neighborhood, and is extremely happy that family and friends can see him on BAM's stage.

Which artist do you admire from a field other than your own?  

I admire any artist, as Don Was said, who reaches the height of their creativity, their freedom, their experimentation, and their fearlessness. Right now, I'm digging on The Funk Brothers, who basically created the musical foundation of Motown. Yet they aren't widely known today because they went uncredited during Motown's heyday. For example, the bass player, James Jamerson, was a musical genius who changed the chorus of bass forever. He received little recognition for his work, and still created something that never existed before. I admire that!