• Hausa Edition
  • Podcast
  • Conferences
  • LeVogue Magazine
  • Business News
  • Print Advert Rates
  • Online Advert Rates
  • Contact Us
Monday, August 4, 2025
Leadership Newspapers
Read in Hausa
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Leadership Newspapers
No Result
View All Result

Lena Mae Baker Comes Home In Style

by Chinelo Chikelu
2 years ago
in Entertainment
Share on WhatsAppShare on FacebookShare on XTelegram

Last Saturday, at the Abuja International Theatre Festival (ABITFA), Janice Lidell’s Who Will Sing For Lena? a monologue about a black American woman Lena Mae Baker who was unlawfully sentenced to death by electrocution in 1940s Georgia, US, was first performed on an African soil. It was a coming home, a laying to rest for the protagonist – a true to life person – as well as for actress, Makeda Solomon, who has played the character for the past 18 years.

Advertisement

When actress, acting coach, motivational speaker and psycho-therapist, Solomon took up the role in 2005, she promised Lena Mae, she would return her home to her motherland, Africa.

As she took her final bow, at the Brazilian Embassy Amphitheatre in Abuja, main venue of the ABITFA, sweat dripping off her shiny black skin and elegant bald head, Solomon has kept the promise she made to Lena in grand style, as the production is also scheduled to premiere at Kininso International Theatre Festival (KIFT) 2023 Lagos, The Lagos Book & Arts Festival (LABAF) 2023, and at the Lagos Fringe Festival, 2023.

Delighted with the reception and the performance’s milestone, Solomon, described it as ‘amazing experience’.

“I have been doing this for eighteen years now and I have thought about starting a new project because it’s been seen in different part of the world – Dubai, Belize, England, and America. But it was important for me as an African woman, and as someone who identifies as an African woman, though I was born in the UK, and my parents were born in Jamaica, I am seeing that wherever we are in the world, we are African women, and to me, it was a homecoming for me. Bringing Lena home is saying, “Look, sister, I have now represented your story, where we originated from. So, you can now rest in peace,” she said.

RELATED

Veteran Producer Kayode Peters Buried In Canada Amid Tears

Veteran Producer Kayode Peters Buried In Canada Amid Tears

12 hours ago
Afrobeat Star Dremzee Rises From Ughelli With Hit Singles Panadol, Hustle Anthem

Afrobeat Star Dremzee Rises From Ughelli With Hit Singles Panadol, Hustle Anthem

12 hours ago

At KIFT, Solomon’s presentation will take the form of a motivational workshop featuring a young Lena Mae suitable for her children and teenage audience.

“Obviously, there is adult content in the play. So, we talked about doing excerpts from the play showing Lena as a little girl, but I will primarily work with the children, doing motivational learning practices and learning performance. For KIFT, it will be a motivational workshop than the full-blown play.”

With Lena laid to rest, Solomon is moving on to her next project, working with traumatized children and young women in building back their confidence and self-worth.

“I am thinking of establishing a theatre group for young girls, have them go through personal development where they can shine, and then, they go out into their communities, and keep it going so that each year, there are new groups of girls, in – Jamaica, England and Africa, and we will have them go out to help uplift others.

“We often think we can’t change the world. My mother said to me once, “but you can’t change the world. You are acting like you want to change the world.” And I tell her, “but mama, I have to try.” If my bit of work can affect so many lives, they then, will affect more lives, and it will spread like wildlife,” said Makeda.

A one-woman act written by Janice Lidell, Who Will Sing For Lena? was first directed by an African Jamaican, Faye Ellington, and performed by UK-born Jamaican actress, Makeda Solomon.

 


We’ve got the edge. Get real-time reports, breaking scoops, and exclusive angles delivered straight to your phone. Don’t settle for stale news. Join LEADERSHIP NEWS on WhatsApp for 24/7 updates →

Join Our WhatsApp Channel




SendShareTweetShare
Previous Post

BIMS: Unlocking Educational Frontiers In Nigeria’s Academic Landscape

Next Post

GuarantCo Provides N20.23bn Counter-Guarantee To Infracredit For LFZC

Chinelo Chikelu

Chinelo Chikelu

You May Like

Veteran Producer Kayode Peters Buried In Canada Amid Tears
Entertainment

Veteran Producer Kayode Peters Buried In Canada Amid Tears

2025/08/03
Afrobeat Star Dremzee Rises From Ughelli With Hit Singles Panadol, Hustle Anthem
Entertainment

Afrobeat Star Dremzee Rises From Ughelli With Hit Singles Panadol, Hustle Anthem

2025/08/03
Flavour Celebrates 15 Years Of Highlife Album That Changed His Game
Entertainment

Flavour Celebrates 15 Years Of Highlife Album That Changed His Game

2025/08/03
Blessing CEO’s Fiancé, IVD, Arrested At Lagos Airport
Entertainment

Blessing CEO’s Fiancé, IVD, Arrested At Lagos Airport

2025/08/03
Directors’ Guild President Condemns MovieBox Piracy
Entertainment

Directors’ Guild President Condemns MovieBox Piracy

2025/08/03
Yul Edochie Urges Igbos To Leave Ghana, Invest In Southeast
Entertainment

Yul Edochie Urges Igbos To Leave Ghana, Invest In Southeast

2025/08/03
Leadership Conference advertisement

LATEST

‘Obi’s 6m Votes Will Vanish If He Joins Atiku’, Says Tinubu’s Minister

‘You’ve Written Your Names In History,’ Tinubu Celebrates Victorious D’Tigress

‘A Golden Chapter For Nigeria’, Remi Tinubu Celebrates D’Tigress

Bandits Kill 11 Residents In Zamfara Villages

N712bn Lagos Airport Renovation Misplaced Priority — ADC

Federal Gov’t To Recoup N712bn Lagos Airport Renovation Spending In 3 Years Keyamo

JUST-IN: Nigeria’s D’Tigress Clinch 5th Consecutive FIBA Women’s AfroBasket Title

‘We Are Rebuilding Lagos Airport To Become West Africa’s Aviation Hub,’ Says Federal Gov’t

Ex-Katsina Central Senator Dumps APC For ADC

North Not Marginalised Under Tinubu, Kaduna Gov Insists

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.