Cheta Igbokwe enriches Nigerian Literature and Theatre with innovative stories

By Emmanuel Daraloye

Sixtus Chetachi Igbokwe, better known as Cheta Igbokwe in the Nigerian literary world, is slowly making his mark with his thought-provoking plays.

Cheta Igbokwe was born in 1996 in Owerri, Nigeria. His parents, Dee Joseph Ifeanyichukwu Igbokwe and Dee Eunice Adaku Igbokwe, who recently passed away, raised him in Mbieri, Cheta’s native town. From a young age, Cheta displayed exceptional reading and writing abilities.

His fascination with his mother’s typewriter as a child led him to excitedly scribble and type words, an excitement that never left him. This lifelong passion for writing his own stories was further fueled by the books passed down to him from his older siblings, a family tradition that fostered a deep love of reading and knowledge. Being four years younger than his closest sibling also meant spending time around older people, even eavesdropping on their jokes.

In Igbokwe’s acclaimed play Homecoming, there are clashes between modernity and tradition that reveal the writer’s rich understanding of African-Igbo traditional customs. This understanding stems from Igbokwe’s upbringing in Owerri, where his father participated in Umunna meetings while his mother, known by her stage name “Ihu Di Na-Ele” or “the beautiful face a husband beholds,” led the local Chiburuzo Choral Group. Igbokwe’s siblings were also involved in their community’s youth activities, all of which exposed the writer to traditional practices from an early age.

These diverse experiences, including the complex dynamics between families, individuals, and groups, the intricacies of co-wife conflicts and failed marriages, inadequate healthcare, and corrupt politicians, served as an awakening for Cheta Igbokwe. They enabled him to grasp the nuances of tradition versus modernity, the impacts of war, and the faces of death and grief. Traces of these profound insights are scattered throughout his body of work.

Igbokwe’s social media posts reveal his well-rounded educational background. He first attended Bright Nursery School in Umuodu and Holiness Primary School in Umudagu, both in Mbieri. Later, from 2008 to 2014, he went to Assumpta Minor Seminary in Naze for junior secondary and St. Peter Claver Seminary in Okpala for senior secondary school.

In 2018, Cheta Igbokwe wrote the screenplay for Agwaetiti Obiuto (Island of Happiness), a film that Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka described as a “magnificent work of art.” That same year, Igbokwe began working with the Africa Film Academy, curators of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) film ceremony. He served as the show scriptwriter for the AMAA ceremonies.

In 2019, Igbokwe participated in The Purple Hibiscus Trust Creative Writing Workshop, taught by acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The flash fiction piece “Once Upon a Fire” earned him a coveted spot at the workshop, where he joined twenty-one other African writers.

Cheta Igbokwe graduated with a BA in English and Literary Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2021. While at Nsukka, he served as the editor of The Muse literary journal, founded in 1963 by Chinua Achebe.

In 2022, Cheta Igbokwe was honored with several prestigious awards and fellowships, including a full scholarship to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in playwriting at the University of Iowa, where he is now a graduate student. He also teaches two undergraduate playwriting courses there. His honors include the 2022-2023 David and Jean Schaal Professional Enhancement Fellowship Award in Playwriting and a 2023 Summer MFA Fellowship from the University of Iowa Graduate College.

As an avid reader, Igbokwe frequently revisits the works of acclaimed authors such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Esiaba Irobi, James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams, and Anton Chekhov.

Since winning The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for Drama 2021, Cheta Igbokwe’s acclaimed play Homecoming has remained a subject of academic study and garnered further acclaim, including a 2023 Nigeria Prize for Literature nomination, Africa’s largest literary award. This warm reception has also been extended to other plays by Igbokwe, such as Awele (Maestro Theatre, 2023) and Brother-Brother (Alan MacVey Theatre, 2023).

The play Homecoming by Igbokwe premiered at the University of Nigeria Arts Theatre from May 6-8, 2021, under the direction of Ugochukwu Ugwu. It was recently restaged at Wole Soyinka Theatre at the University of Ibadan on December 1-2, 2023, this time directed by Waheed S. Olamilekan.

Cheta Igbokwe’s impressive achievements and accolades demonstrate his years of dedication and hard work. His story illustrates that perseverance and diligence are eventually rewarded. Yet, he has many more stories to share that can inspire social change and progress.