In
a release signed by Tee Abiola Oduola (Sean Polotee), the organisation’s media
consultant, new dates for the festival tour would be announced immediately
schools resume in all the affected states.
Nevertheless,
as part of its corporate social responsibility, “FEMI BRANCH PLAYFEST 2020” has
been on an advocacy drive to sensitize and reorientate Nigerians on how to
protect themselves from contracting the virus.
“In
order not to lose steam, and also in keeping with the spirit of social advocacy
needed to sensitise and orientate our people on how to protect themselves from
this pandemic, we have been creating the much-needed awareness as outlined by
the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, the Federal and State
Governments, and the World Health Organisation WHO, to help our people
understand the necessary precautions needed to protect themselves and their loved
ones from the virus. Prominent among this is the MASK UP CAMPAIGN, which the entire team has undertaken, using the social media space,” Chief Babafemi
Branch, the event’s initiator was quoted as saying.
Continuing,
Branch said, “After intense deliberations, we decided to expand the scope of
the festival by increasing our catchment figure to 100 students per school
across ten schools, making it a total of 1000 students now as against the
overall 100 formerly planned. To ease this process and make it achievable, we
have organised an online audition to enable students from all participating
schools try out for roles in the festival play.”
“It
is our hope that with this, we shall lighten the burden of the audition process
in the respective schools when they eventually open, thereby pacing up the
progress of work when we resume after the lockdown. We continue to pray that
we, as a people, and as a nation, shall survive this scourge and we wish to
assure everyone that our plan to impact the lives of these 1000 young upcoming
actors from ten Nigerian Universities across ten selected cities will still be
a reality.
“We
thank the Federal and State Governments, the NCDC and especially our frontline
workers for their selfless and tireless efforts to safely ferry us through
these trying times. We thank our Sponsors who have come on board already and
call on other corporate entities and individuals to partner with us to make
these 1000 dreams come true.”
It
will be recalled that on 15 February 2020, Chief Femi Branch had announced
plans by his entertainment outfit to tour no fewer than 10 Nigerian cities
across Nigeria, from April 3rd to June 21st, 2020.He
disclosed this to newsmen at the Excellence Hotel, Ogba, Lagos venue of a press the conference he organised to raise awareness for the maiden edition of the
Annual Femi Branch Playfest, a celebration of theatrical writing of the
Nollywood actor, one of Africa’s leading actors, playwright and poet.
At
the press conference, he had announced that the Festival was scheduled to kick
off his biggest play yet, Kunme The Musical. He had hinted that the tour
would take a one-week break in Lagos from Monday 25th to Sunday 31st, May 2020
for the Festival proper which shall feature performances by different selected
troupes of Femi Branch’s other plays, such as Poi, Shalanga, Jungle Justice,
and Ankara Committee, with final performance being of the tour play, Kunme.
Thereafter, he said, the tour would then resume from Friday 12th and end on
Sunday 21st June in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, with host cities as
Ife, Akure, Ado Ekiti, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode, Ikorodu, Badagry, Benin
City, and Abuja.
However,
the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic had put paid to the initial schedule of
the event.
The project has Lady Prevail Olayinka as its Project Director, Tee Abiola Oduola
(Sean Polotee), as Media Consultant, Ben Ogbeiwi as Music Director, Anuli
Onwuadi, as Project Coordinator, as well as a host of other professionals.
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