THE amphitheatre of the green-themed Freedom Park, Lagos, will once again come alive today with theatrical performances by the Act 1 Summer Camp kids, as a follow-up to their show last month. Organised by the UK Theatre Professionals, in collaboration with Ink Marks, the event marks the climax of a six-week summer acting camp for kids and teens in Nigeria.
The programme will see the children put into practice, the skills of acting, singing and dancing they had acquired during the camp, in the presence of the audience, which will include their parents, friends, mentors and other lovers of theatre arts expected to grace the event. It is the belief of the initiators of the project that all these rudiments taught would play a vital role in grooming of the leaders of tomorrow, who were drawn from different parts of the world.
In a chat with the coordinator of the project, Ita Hozaife, the Theatre Arts and Communications graduate informed that the participants had been taught how to incorporate the craft of theatre into their everyday lives, developing concentration, imagination, professionalism, character, and self-confidence in their daily activities.
?We use performing arts to develop the kids? imagination because if you can imagine something, then you can put it into action. What we do at the end of each camp is to put up a performance; either created by the children or an existing piece of work. We?ve had one, which was cute. This is the second one we are having, and I think we?ve really stretched these guys and they?ve not disappointed us.?
Expected at the event are mentors, who will have one-on-one sessions with the participants as a way of encouraging them.
?These are people, who have excelled in their fields. We had people like Ade Bantu at the last programme, but this one, Jimi Solanke and a host of other artistes have promised to make it worth the while. So, we want to let them know that at an early age, they can be celebrated just like these ones, who are mentoring them.?
As against popular opinion that children usually lack the ability to face challenges, Hozaife, who has been working with kids for years, noted that they have all it takes to execute tasks when given opportunity to do so.
?They?ve got energy, they?ve got capacity; they do not understand the word fear or limitation; these are words that are still alien to them. When they grow up, they begin to understand and then begin to restrict themselves. For now, nothing is impossible to these children, so, we don?t want them to get older and start thinking otherwise; we want them to think more about possibilities. These are the kind of children we are trying to groom.?
In their first performance last month, the play wasn?t scripted; yet, the kids had a good outing.
?We made it up; they brought their dance steps and movements, we only encouraged them. Over time, you will be amazed what these kids can do; they know how to use these things in them. They are already in them; it?s about uncovering it. Teachers are not meant to teach and tell alone; they are meant to discover what?s in you and help bring it out. The imagination is there; the confidence is there. So, don?t say these children can?t concentrate; they do. This thing is very important to me because we really need it.?
Though operated in art form, the idea of the initiative is to use the theatre to develop certain traits in children, which they will need for the rest of their lives.
?A child or an adult will always need an imagination; not just imagination to write stories, it goes beyond that. We can?t just sit in the classroom and be fed of these stuffs, and not be able to interpret it in a creative way. We need imagination and we are not placing a premium on imagination in this country.?
One of the reasons for poor performance by the children in academic exercise, according to Hozaife, has a lot to do with the method of teaching adopted by Nigerian schools.
?I think right now, the way we handle the academic is two-dimensional; it?s flat. Here, we are making it three-dimensional. When last did a Nigerian invent something? It?s not that we are incapable, we are capable, but we?ve not been able to adopt the three-dimensional academics; we need to bring in creativity. Programmes like this will help the child do that,? she said.
Based on the success so far, plans are afoot to expand the programme to accommodate much younger kids.
?We had parents calling us to accommodate children under the ages of 2 to 5, because we are working with children within age bracket 6 to 18. We are now also looking at having Act 1 Angels for them; we want to engage them from a younger age and also following them through their academic years. We are trying to get the right people that know how to take those classes with kids of such age.?
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