THREATRE STUDENTS PLAY TO KUMASI SCHOOLS (GRAPHIC SHOWBIZ, NOV 19, PAGE 3)

By George Ernest Asare

Students of the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana visited the Dwabrem theatre at the Centre for National Culture in Kumasi last Saturday where they dished out a mix of traditional music, dance and drama to entertain and educate the youth on the effects of drug abuse, parental irresponsibility and truancy.
The programme, which attracted students from Kumasi Academy Senior High School and a number of second cycle institutions in the metropolis, saw the audience glued to their seats and totally engrossed in the performance as they watched the unfolding of various scenes.
It was a drama which involved a powerful spirit who after being thrown down from heaven, vowed to take revenge on man by putting all his powers into leaves so as to destroy anyone who uses such leaves .
A student, who became frustrated after his father refused to cater for his education, joined a gang of drug addicts, and eventually became addicted himself, destroying his future and getting arrested for various crimes committed.
Intermittent applause during the performance and the spontaneous clamour for more of such performances by both students and a cross section of the public who watched the show, was an indication that Kumasi was hungry for such shows as a way of encouraging the youth to refrain from drugs and bad company which eventually destroys their lives.
Commenting on the programme, Mr T. B. Ofosu who was in charge of the group told Showbiz about the need to use entertainment to educate the youth, especially students on the dangers of drug abuse.
Expressing concern about the problems that drug abuse was creating in the country, Mr Ofosu noted “ we want to reach out to the youth with such performances and inform them about the hazards of drug abuse, hoping that they will accept the message and refrain from such activities”.
He said the School of Performing Arts had put up a number of such shows in Accra “and with the positive response we received, we decided to extend our tentacles to Kumasi before venturing into other parts of the country”.
Mr Ofosu said their main headache was sponsorship saying “ we want to reach out to the youth, especially students in both the second cycle and tertiary institutions throughout the country, but lack of sponsorship is undermining our effort”.
He said it was therefore important for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s), firms, Institutions, and individuals to actively support them with funds to enable them start the nationwide tour as soon as possible.
On his part, the Vice President of the Association of School of Performing Arts (ASPA), Mr Richmond Amoako said using theatre as a platform to reach out to the youth was yielding positive results.
Describing their programme as a “soul winning” one to entice the youth to stay away from drugs, Mr Amoako said they would not relent in their efforts to interact with as many students as possible for them to appreciate the dangers of getting closer to any form of drug.