The National Troupe of Nigeria marked the World Theatre Day (WTD) with Internally Displaced Children at the IDP camp, Kuchingoro, Abuja.
The event which took the form of a folklore competition amongst internally displaced children from across the FCT – Bethharbel Elementary School for IDP, Durumi; Interfaith School, Malaysia Garden ID, Apo; Sharing Prosperity School, IDP camp, Kuchingoro, and students of Junior Secondary School, Karmajiji, was targeted at keeping the children rooted in their culture, who through no fault of theirs were uprooted from their place of origin and heritage owing to conflict. It was also a means of showing the children that they are not forgotten, and intrinsically help them build a healthy respect and tolerance for each other’s cultures.
The competition saw the children perform dance, drama and song presentations, in addition to presenting a few speeches on the importance of peace. Their performance was judged by a three-man jury, comprising Deputy President of National Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP), Esther Omale Onwuka, Director Media & Publicity, NANTAP National, Jerry Adesewo, and NANTAP Abuja Chapter Chairman, Kayode Aiyegbusi, based on six criteria – originality (25), presentation (25), costume (10), audience appreciation (10), timing (10) and thematic relevance (20).
First place winner, Junior Secondary School, Karmajiji received a cash prize of N100,000, second place winners, Interfaith Schools were awarded N75,000. A N50, 000 cash prize went to third place holders, Sharing Prosperity Schools, while fourth place winner, Bethharbel School won a N20,000 naira cash.
Similarly, the two best dance acts from the event received additional individual N5000 cash prizes from the General Manager and CEO of National Theatre, Nigeria, Mr Sunday Ododo, alongside a pledge to support their talent in the creative industry.
Ododoh who described the National Troupe gesture of marking WTD with the children said it has elevated the IDP camps to a global platform of awareness. He noted further that the National Theatre will showcase the identified talents on its popular platform. “National Theatre has an annual talent hunt platform called The Festival of Unity. We will see how we can showcase them on that platform. It is a huge platform where talent hunters in the creative industry come to scout talents to engage. Don’t be surprised within the next few years they would be appearing as child actors in Nollywood movies.
Meantime, beyond the competition, the artistic director/CEO of the National Troupe of Nigeria, Mr Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed said the cultural institute is liaising with Nigeria Television Authority and National Broadcasting Commission for television programming for children that will develop the theatric potentials of the children.
Meantime, the jury has suggests that the national theatre to take into consideration several details such as sending out the laid rules ahead of the competition to schools, and separate the contestants in their corresponding age range, to make for a better competition.
“None of them presented what a folktale is but we had to have a winner. They wouldn’t be a winner if we follow the rules strictly, which the children weren’t even aware of until the competition began. We had to give the schools equal mark on timing,” said Onwuka.
The Folklore Performance Competition is an initiative of the National Troupe’s Children’s Creative Station Workshop, and held in a few states of the country including Bauchi, Abeokuta and Abuja, since the current director’s decision to make it a mobile event in 2020.
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