A webinar celebrating the life and achievements of foremost playwright and director, Professor Ola Rotimi will happen on Tuesday, August 2020 from 10 am to 12.30 noon.
Themed’ Remembering Ola Rotimi, A Complete Man of the Theatre, 20 Years On’, the webinar being hosted by the Theatre Arts Programme and College of Liberal Studies, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, is happening on the exact day Rotimi died 20 years ago.
A statement signed by the convener and moderator, Dr Bisi Adigun, disclosed that there would be two main panel discussions, performances and readings.
Performance artist and member of the Ori Olokun Theatre founded by the late Professor Rotimi, Tunji Ojeyemi, will kick off proceedings with a chant from the playwright’s ‘Kurunmi’. The Vice-Chancellor of Bowen University, Professor Joshua Ogunwole, will give the welcome address.
Acting Provost of College of Liberal Studies, Dr Grace Olutayo will give a brief address while the Aladeokun of Alade, Oba Olusegun Ayodele Akinbola, will give a royal blessing.
The first session will involve Professor of Theatre and Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Bowen University, Iwo, Akanji Nasiru; Professor of English and Dramatic Literature, Olu Obafemi; former Director-General, Centre for Black African Arts and Civilization, and Professor of Theatre, Duro Oni as speakers.
Head of Department, Technical Theatre and Design, School of Drama, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, Kingston, Jamaica, Dr Dike Nwachuku is the discussant.
The second-panel session will feature renowned choreographer and member of Ori Olokun, Peter Badejo (OBE); Professor of Semiotics and Performance Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Julie Okoro; and Professor of Theatre, University of Port Harcourt, Emanuel Emasealu as speakers. Actor, writer, director and Rotimi’s former student, Bimbo Manuel, is the discussant.
Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka is also billed to deliver a goodwill message while there would also be reading/showing of extracts from one of Rotimi’s play. The academic’s first son, Enitan Rotimi, will deliver the vote of thanks. Coordinator, Theatre Arts Programme, Bowen University, Iwo, Dr Stanley Ohenhen will give the closing remarks.
People interested in the webinar can join by clicking https://zoom.us/j/91624075854?pwd=MC9HakRRK2lyQ0NkU2ZFVU1SemN4Zz09
The ID is: 916 2407 5854 and Passcode: 832536
The late Professor Olawale Emmanuel Gladstone Rotimi, better known as Ola Rotimi, was born on April 13, 1938. He was a prolific playwright the founder of the Ori Olokun Theatre.
The dream project he was working on before his sudden death at the age of 62, was a play that would have been staged by a revived Ori Olokun Theatre with a strong cast of 3000 performers.
He wrote ‘The Gods Are Not to Blame’, ‘Kurunmi’, ‘Ovonramwen Nogbaisi’ and ‘Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again’. The others were ‘Holding Talks’, ‘Grip Am’, ‘If: A Tragedy of the Ruled’ and ‘Hopes of Living Dead.’
His most significant contribution to the development of Nigerian theatre, according to Adigun, “was how he domesticated the English language to foster linkage between the town and the gown. His raison d’ être as a theatre maker, therefore, was to bridge the gap between the so-called popular theatre tradition [exemplified by the likes of Hubert Ogunde and Duro Ladipo] and the literary theatre tradition [epitomized by the works of Wole Soyinka and JP Clark] by creating a populist theatre that resonated not only with university dons on campus, but also the entire populace of the community of Ile Ife town.”
