It was a parade of young, vibrant playwrights at the 6th edition of the Beeta Playwright Competition, nurturing talents in the performing arts sector.
THE 6th Beeta Playwright Competition themed ‘No Limits’ climaxed on a high note on Wednesday, February 7, when art enthusiasts, industry luminaries, and aspiring playwrights converged on the Agip Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, to witness the winner’s emergence.
The contest is organised by the Beeta Universal Art Foundation (BUAF) and recognises unpublished young playwrights. It nurtures talent in the performing arts sector through production, competition, education and outreach. It provides a platform for playwrights with remarkable stories and elevates the nation’s creative output on the global stage.
Olaide Nurat Mohammed won the top prize with her play, ‘Abinsiwin’, at the colourful finale. Cheta Igbokwe was 1st runner-up for his entry, ‘Dimkpa’, and Alemoh Victory Omomei emerged 2nd runner-up for ‘Dance of the Masquerade’.
The other finalists were Elias Ozikpu (‘Bride and Widower’), Efe Ronald Chesterfield (‘Of Love and War’), Olalekan Fadare (‘Awawu’), Matthew David (‘One Dagger Two Souls’) and Ayoola Adesewa Akinyemi (‘Life In Many Shades’).
Mohammed received the grand prize of $3,000, a laptop, and a workshop session at Utopia Theatre, Sheffield, United Kingdom, for her efforts. She also got a publishing deal with Beeta Universal Arts Foundation’s partner, Paperworth Books, while all the 10 finalists will participate in a capacity-building workshop.
Speeches from the competition’s founder and some sponsors, including the MTN Foundation, Chairbone Global Services Ltd., and Five2Media Ltd, preceded the finalists’ unveiling by two jurors, theatre director Kenneth Uphopho and Ibiso Graham-Douglas,
Uphopho congratulated the finalists, noting their stories were phenomenal and challenging to judge. “We’ve been here since the beginning, but this one was tough because the stories were amazing. I want you to know that as writers, nothing is lost. If you don’t win today, it doesn’t mean that story won’t become a movie tomorrow.”
Ibiso Graham-Douglas also commended the finalists. She assured them that BUAF would always be available for them and that they didn’t have to win to benefit from the foundation’s network.
“We had a play written by someone who wasn’t in the top three, but we have produced that play twice a year since, and we’ve done it here and in Abuja. We also have another who was part of the COVID-19 anthology we just did. So once you’re a finalist, you become part of the BUAF. Our ethos is to build capacity in whatever genre you choose to dabble in,” she said
In her welcome speech, BUAF founder Bikiya Graham-Douglas disclosed her reason for starting the competition after returning to Nigeria from the UK. “We always had to refer back to our old playwrights, and I kept asking: ‘Where are the voices of my generation?’ We had none documented, so we started this competition to create opportunities for the new voices in the literary genre of drama to shine,” she said.
Graham-Douglas disclosed that over 3,000 entries nationwide and the diaspora were received for this edition. “So far, we have had five winners already, 50 finalists, and we’ve been working with several of them. We are delighted to be chosen by the Almighty to create a platform for young people, and we see how it’s changing the performing arts industry in Nigeria and contributing to storytelling.”
The Managing Director of Chairborne Global Services Limited, one of the sponsors, Adokiye Ikpoki, applauded the finalists and explained why the company keeps supporting the contest.
“I see very hardworking youths, and I’m happy we are partnering with Beeta on this. I advise Beeta to see if we can publish these plays because I’m sure there is a lot of good content here. I know playwriting is like craftsmanship, and you need your mind to be clear when writing and how hard the work is, but I want to encourage you to continue doing what you are doing. A lot of your peers have turned to a life of crime, but you decided to continue to write to contribute to this art history, providing quality content for movies and drama. I’m very proud of you,” he said.
Another of the sponsors, the MTN Foundation, spoke through its Executive Secretary, Odunayo Sanya. She explained that the Foundation enables people to birth their dreams. “We saw with Bikiya a path for arts-inclined young people, and we thought being a part of this was important. For us, it was really about the capacity building behind the stories and production when they get staged. It’s about how young talents in the rough pass through a process that enables them to become stronger in their minds and talents that they already have. So, I’ll say the relationship has been great. This is our third outing, and hopefully, we will do it again.”
President of the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners, Israel Eboh, commended Bikiya Graham-Douglas for initiating the prize and congratulated the finalists.
“There are a lot of playwriting competitions in the country, but very few recognise more than five or three. So, for BUAF to celebrate 40 of you is a great recognition. I want to congratulate BUAF. Some of your discoveries are doing great things out there. They have conquered and are still conquering, telling stories about Nigeria through the eyes of Nigerians and promoting our culture with the pathway provided by the Beeta Universal Arts Foundation. Thank you for what you’ve been doing. I want to welcome you into the professional space. We will see your works on television and on stage in the next few years. Our association would be willing to participate with some of you and provide greater platforms to project what you’re doing,” Eboh said.
The winner, Mohammed, who first heard about the contest in 2020, couldn’t contain her joy while reflecting on her journey.
“I still feel like I’m in a dream. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I had just lost my job. So, I was home doing nothing, and a friend shared the poster and said, you can write; you love writing, give it a try, and that was my first attempt at script writing. I never had any prior training in filmmaking or anything about it, but I said, let me try, and I submitted a play, ‘Indigent on the Throne’, and I was a finalist back in 2021. Though I didn’t win then, I kept pushing and submitting plays.
“Last year, it was my first week in film school, and classes were going on; it was rigorous and tiring, and I was still contemplating submitting a play or focusing on my studies. But then, it was a day before the deadline that I submitted my play, and it was just 22 pages; this story is about post-partum psychosis, and it is a story I hold dearly to my heart because it’s a true life story about a distant relative. It is called Abinsiwin in Yoruba culture, but many people are unaware of what it means.
“Most times, it’s diagnosed as a spiritual problem, and they take victims to unorthodox doctors to care for them. It’s a play to create more awareness that post-partum psychosis is real and it’s not a spiritual problem; it is an emergency, something that needs to be treated as important. And my plan is to produce the play.”
Other sponsors and guests at the event were the founder of Five2Media Ltd., Mrs. SolateAkarolo, veteran journalist and publisher of Ovation International, Dele Momodu, Nollywood star Omowunmi Dada and theatre director William Benson.