Sierra Leone News: Desmond Finney Revives FBC Drama Festival

Stephen V Lansana
Sep 3, 2018 · 3 min read

By Stephen V. Lansana

The revered Sierra Leonean actor and a drama lecturer of English Unit Department, Fourah Bay College (FBC), University of Sierra Leone, Desmond Finney has revived the yearly drama festival the department usually organized for students offering the drama module, a senior lecturer of the department said Thursday.

The festival which was held on Thursday August 30, 2018, at the Mary Kingsley Hall, FBC in Freetown attracted outgoing students and other stakeholders in the country. The festival started with the year three students dramatizing improvisations called MOODS, and the second year students acted a drama titled “A Raisin in the Sun,” which was directed by the students themselves. The festival had been suspended since 2009.

A senior Lecturer, Dr. Fatou Taqi said, “We have been talking about reviving the drama festival for few years now, but we are happy that Mr Finney has revived it again.” Adding, “We are going to start a university theatre group on campus which will be open to all students within the university.”

She emphasized that the universal theatre group will not just be limited to the drama student. “We normally do this festival for three days but we are hoping that next year we will return to our usual three days,” she added.

Former Head of Department, Kenneth Osho disclosed that one of the reasons why the drama festival was not going on for the past years was lack of enthusiasm from the students. “Most of the students were not focusing on the festival because they usually say that they are not here for drama,” he said.

Head of Unit, Mrs Elizabeth Kamara pledged that the department will henceforth find a way to make the festival an annual event

Desmond Finney was among the first batch of students at the department to take part in the drama festival in 1989.

Mr Finney said that it is a challenge to raise funds to organize the festival. “In the earlier days, sometimes we will have sponsorship from embassies and other institutions but later, the sponsorship was not forthcoming. By 2009, we stopped organizing due to financial challenges,” he said.

He said that other lecturers and the department supported this year’s festival.

Speaking on the challenges, he said that the students made a lot of sacrifice to rehearse the drama, including difficulty to get space to rehearse, time and resources, among other challenges, but the students were resilient to overcome the challenges.

Speaking on the sustainability, he said “The head of department has assured me that he will try to find ways to budget for the drama festival so that it will be sustainable. Other institutions have promised to support the festival.”

He said that next year the festival will be extended to the French department.

Best Actor award recipient, Paulus Senesi, who was also the director, said “I wanted to be an actor since I was a child. Acting is my passion.” “Acting is not a child’s play. It needs a lot of commitment. It is something that is very profitable and if you take it seriously, it will benefit you greatly.”

Actors and Actresses of the Raisin in the Sun
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