National Troupe of Nigeria hosts 32nd Play Reading edition

After what has been roundly described as a successful hosting of the Children’s Creative Station Workshop with Children of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Abuja and after an equally successful hosting of a capacity building and empowerment workshop in Benin City, Edo State facilitated by the Chairman of the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Culture and Tourism, Omoregie Ogbeide Ihama, the National Troupe of Nigeria is set to hosts its 32nd Play Reading Session (PRS).

The PRS was institutionalised in 2001 in furtherance of one of the Troupe’s mandates to encourage creativity to achieve excellence in the performing arts.

This edition will feature the reading of Beggars’ Opera, written by Makinde Adeniran FTA. The play reading session which will feature open reading of the play and dramatisation of an excerpt of the play takes place on Thursday April 13, 2023 at the National Theatre Marquee between 3.00 pm and 6.00 pm and it will be chaired by Professor Tunji Azeez of the Theatre Arts Department, Lagos State University (LASU).

The guest playwright, Makinde Adeniran, is a dramatist, and broadcaster who has worked with reputable organisations and individuals. His writing credits include Abiku (An adaptation of Ben Okri’s the Famished Road); Agbara, Sodom and Kolombia, Abinibi (A memoir – Still in progress); Alamori (the play that Nigeria took to Cairo International Experimental Theatre Festival 2005); Small Boy (an award-winning movie) and several other HIV/AIDS drama skits for BBC, a radio drama project, tagged, Voices. He is currently the Secretary General of the National Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) Nigeria.

The Artistic Director/CEO of the National Troupe, Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed, said he is delighted that under his watch, the PRS has been revived to continue to highlight the need to use the Play Reading Session to promote good literary works of Nigeria across the country and beyond, thereby encouraging playwriting and play development through critical analysis.

“The importance of the Play Reading session cannot be over-emphasised. We intend to continue to use the platform of the reading session to spot playwriting talents, bridge the gap between theatre practice and dialectics and encourage people to cultivate the idea of reading plays. The aspect I like about the PRS is the platform it provides to expose the works of playwrights to theatre critics and experts so that they can suggest how the play can be improved upon. I am happy that the PRS is back and it will be sustained,” the artistic director said.