At the time of reading this article, some of the country’s finest theatrical practitioners will be savouring victory from the 4th edition of the Kenya Theatre Awards (KTA).
The 2024 winners were announced last night at the Kenya National Theatre, the same stage where they rehearsed and rehashed lines and orchestras took to the pit to create brilliant performances.
Less than one month ago, the nominees were announced, 36 categories in total out of 170 plays watched in 2024 by the jury. Since then, theatre companies, nominees and pundits have cast their votes on who they believe should be this year's winners. Out of the 36 categories, only 29 were eligible for voting in a poll that closed Sunday with the final seven being the judges award.
There are many favourites, if going by social media posts, but like Kenyan elections, winners are not decided by threads or posts but by votes counted.
Too Early for Birds which enjoyed rave audience reviews and was nominated in a number of categories, Lwanda Otero with its fine costuming, DaiVerse by Irooto Productions and Theca Nja are some of the favourites in this year’s category for Productions.
Who takes the best music score between the International Christian Centre (ICC) for Legacy, Mary Favour for Know your Scent, Daiverse for Daiverse or Alice Kimanzi and Niqq Kerah for Lwanda Otero? Who will take home this year’s award for the best performance for male and female actors in lead and supporting roles? It was left to the community to bring home the numbers once the jury had picked the nominees.
Suki Wanza who is the 2024/2025 KTA Jury Chairperson notes that last year’s plays saw a lot of diversification in the nature of productions showcased around the country.
“We’ve seen a lot of growth from the traditional adaptations of Western shows, like the farces of Marc Carmolletti. We witnessed many original stories on stage and adaptations of our own writing like Ngugi wa Thiongo’s Ngahiika Ndeenda which was performed in both Kikuyu and Kiswahili.”
Suki, a distinguished actress, stage performer and lecturer notes that the awards are in recognition of those doing stage plays accompanied by dance, music and spoken work. The jury handpicked from a selection of different genres and theatrical pieces.
The jury’s work is indeed a labour of love. This year's team is made up of seasoned thespians like Steenie Njoroge, Ian Mbugua, academics like Dr Emmanuel Shikuku and poet Sitawa Namwalie.
Between them, they have transversed different stages in Eldoret, Embu, Mombasa, Nakuru and Nairobi on invitation of the theatre companies to watch the 170 shows that whittled down to 36 for the awards.
Previous members include Peter Ndoria who was the 2023/2024 Chair, the late Dr Margaretta wa Gacheru and Benson Ngobia who was the 2022/2023 and inaugural chair of the awards among others.
A strong volunteer spirit and careful planning has kept the jury going for the last four years. Quarterly meetings help to pick out the shows that have made their mark, which lessens the work of quantifying everything at the last minute.
Suki believes that the nominees listed have been objectively identified and the list is not subjective, even though theatre is a fraternity where peers work closely together.
She looks forward to the growth of the awards particularly in terms of financial incentives to allow the secretariat and the jury run the objectives of the award easier.
KTA is an affiliate of the Kenya International Theatre Festival Trust, dedicated to fostering the growth and development of theatre and performing arts by supporting artists and projects. The awards ceremony was conceived in the Covid-19 years as a way of motivating theatre practitioners who faced the brunt of income loss as attending theatrical performances is truly a physical affair.
Away from awards, an opportunity to rethink your resolutions with the case of Because you Said So (BYSS) this weekend at the Braeburn Theatre. With the same witty, whacky cast, they promise to help you rethink your 2025 vision board with their first show Resolutions for Who.
Coming soon after their December ‘closing day’ show, BYSS’ thrives on its improvisation and audience engagement which has helped the show gain a regular fan base. The show is already sold out as testament to this growing genre of stand up comedy.
