Prof. Abdulrasheed Adeoye, the Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, has said that students of the Department of Performing Arts will start stage plays across communities in Kwara .
Adeoye said this during a stage performance titled “Transport Palava”, by the 100-level students of the department at the Unilorin Motor Park on Monday.
He said that the department would take the concert to Amayo, Alapa and Oko-Olowo areas within Ilorin Emirate.
The don, who did not state when the concert would start, said stage performance always helps communities to bring their challenges to the attention of the government.
According to him, the play is an important prerequisite for students offering “Theatre for Development” as a course.
He said that the course is aimed at bringing theatre directly to the people, instead of people going to the theatre hall to watch.
“The practice is to enable affected communities partake in the stage performance as a means of presenting their challenges to the government,’’ he said.
Adeoye also said that the use of theatre had been yielding positive results as some of the challenges identified in the past had been attended to by concerned authorities.
He added that theatre could be staged specifically to raise funds from the public for projects initiated by the society.
He urged government to always show willingness to support such ventures.
He appreciated the support of the management of the University and solicited more assistance from the Federal Government to fund the course.
Also speaking, Mr Adeshina Adegboyega, a Lecturer in the Department of Performing Arts, said that the course could be used to develop rural or urban areas at any level.
Adegboyega said that the stage performance involved taking drama to the people and researching into the challenges affecting various communities.
He, therefore, appealed for logistic and financial supports from the management of Unilorin.