Invitation to Folly of Men
Ever wondered how the Art teaches and educates people on the ills and vices going on in the society? Art in itself is therapeutic and all encompassing. As an advocacy and itinerant theatre organization, some of our plays majorly focus on educating our audience and teaching on how to be patriotic citizens. As the saying goes, it starts with you.
In 2019, we premiered Join Bodi- A play about reuniting Nigerian communities and reigniting solidarity-after the elections. We first performed at Lords Bus stop Ago, Okota and subsequently at selected public venues in Lagos. It was supported by Mac Arthur and Ford Foundation. Join Bodi was created from facts and information gathered from residents about the several incidents at voting centers in Ago Okota. Snatching of ballot boxes, the clash between the Igbos and Yoruba’s, burning of bikes, residents fear of speaking up and a host of other issues.
The relevance of our research before creating the play, was to focus the theme of the performance on real issues that occurred during the last presidential election, such that we became the voice of these residents/ citizens and also proffered ways they in turn could assist in making the nation better.
We also performed in other areas such as Yaba, Alagbado, and Iyana Iba where they had similar occurrences. In attendance we had the Local Government Chairman and some members of the council at some of these performance. We believed that, to achieve our goal, some prominent people in each community had to be present and aware of the grievances and hazards the people are faced with especially during elections.
The positive feedbacks, reviews and great impact of Join Bodi performance in the different locations, gave birth to Join Bodi Reloaded. A sensitization project that cuts across 36 states in the federation. Our intention is to run a three-year tour of this work in local communities within Nigeria. Our mission is to create a chain with this performance, visit communities in states across the federation training young people who will in turn sensitize others. This project opens the eyes of the locals and elites to our individual and collective responsibilities as Nigerians and the need to uphold our values and ensure positive changes in our nation for the future.
With this work, we hope to make Nigerians think and work towards realizing a nation we would all be proud of, embracing harmony and shunning terrorism and violence.
During elections, we should remember that we are working towards the same goal. We desire competent and worthy leaders. Whenever elections are scheduled to hold, get your voters card and vote. Every vote counts. You never know the power of one vote.
Join Bodi Reloaded is still a vision and to achieve this, We need Funds, Sponsors, Partners, Organizations that see the potential and relevance of our project to collaborate and support this project for a long period of time.