Eleven productions, seven from Nigeria, and three international performances from Jamaica, Romania and Ukraine, are scheduled to premiere at the Abuja International Theatre Festival & Awards (ABITFA).
Themed Performing Arts, Peacebuilding and the Society, the festival organized by the Arojah Royal Theatre (ART), and set for October 31 to November 5, 2023, focuses on the power of the performing arts in peacebuilding process in Nigeria and across the globe.
Inspired by the conspicuous absence of Nigerian and African productions at international festivals, and the latter’s lack of access of a pool of resources to find African productions, Artistic Director, ART, Jerry Adesewo, after much persuasion from his now deceased brother and former ART Director of Productions, kickstarted plans for the festival in 2020.
Initially, intended to be a project of consortium of theatre producers in Abuja, the lack of alignment of interests, saw ART going it solo, at least with this event. Besides, the challenges of funding, the onset of COVID 19, saw the festival shelved till 2023.
Although, challenges of funding lingered, Adesewo said the festival received largely in-kind and pledged support from government and corporate institutions, the rest was self-funded.
“For the type of festival, we had in mind, we had a budget of N240 million, but we would have been able to deliver effectively for around N50 million. It has been more of using our own resources, and of course, getting some partnerships (in-kind support),” said Adesewo.
Originally meant to hold fifteen productions, four productions were dropped owing to ‘funding fatigue’. Scheduled plays include a stage adaptation of Theresa Ameh’s novella, The Torn Petal, ART’s adaptation of Machado De Assis’ The Alienists, Afrodervish Performance by Husayn Zaguru, Innervasion Hub’s Vice Versa, Spurs on Stage’s Ask The Almighty, and Makinde Adeniran’s I Confess staged by ART.
International performances like Nijinsky (Romania), and Who Will Sing for Lena (Jamaica/UK) are live performances, whilst Ukrainian play Love At Times will be livestreamed from Kyiv.
Other activities of the festival include, three masterclasses on The Art of Storytelling, Monetizing and Maximizing Your Arts, and Dance Workshop; and two panel sessions on Theatre and Livelihood and Inclusivity In The Performing Arts.
The festival winds down with awards ceremony, awarding winners in several categories: The Arojah Student Playwrighting Prize (TASPP), ABITFA Biodun Abe Scenography Prize, ABITFA Olalekan Ogunlalu Theatre Bill Prize, and a special recognition awards to professionals and non-professional who contribute to the arts and culture.
Designed as annual event, set in the month of November, Adesewo is optimistic that despite challenges of funding will remain a constant.
“I do believe it is possible to keep (it) going with proper planning and execution, and with sustainable partnerships as well. We have in the course of putting this together learnt a lot of lessons that will become instrumental in planning subsequent editions. ABITFA has come to stay.”
ABITFA will hold across several venues from October 31 to November 5, including the opening ceremony at the Brazilian Embassy Theatre, Abuja; Korea Culture Center Nigeria (KCCN); and Mambaah Café.
