Meanwhile in Toronto ... / 2: Via Newfoundland and Africa

• Published in: Canadian Theatre Review
• Main Author: Payne, Rhonda
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 1987
• Subjects: Visual Arts and Performing Arts; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/ctr.53.005; https://ctr.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/ctr.53.005

Sydney, Cape Breton, May 1987 /1 am moderating a panel on theatre in Africa at the Standin’ the Gaff festival. Before the panel begins we teach the participants several African games, chants and dances. Oga Abah, who teaches drama at Nigeria’s Amadu Bello University, leads us in a round of “Che Che Kule,” a children’s game from Mali. Oga and I both learned the game in the village of Karamazonda in Zimbabwe. I taught the game to villagers in Zambia, Oga uses it in Nigeria. Ross Kidd has taught it in a popular theatre training workshop in Edmonton. This is the stuff of popular theatre workshops: sharing simple games and songs, exchanging information.