Abuja residents to watch “August Meeting” as stage play continues tour

The stage play, “The August Meeting’’, currently on a 10-show tour of the country, has landed in Abuja where the residents of the Federal Capital Territory will watch it on Saturday.

The drama will be showing on Nov. 24, at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre.

Produced by Raconteur Productions with the support of The Ford Foundation, the play depicts the historical revolt recorded as “The Aba Women’s Riot of 1929’’.

“It is centred on the aftermath of the riot, as the women of Oloko, led by `Nwanyereuwa’ came together to stand up to the oppression of a patriarchal system and demand for equality and equity in the society,’’ Producer,’’ Chioma Onyenwe said in a statement on Wednesday in Lagos.

“The August Meeting is a play born out of the idea that feminism in Nigeria is not a new construct and is rooted in our history, there are women who stood for what was right and fought together for equality.

“Unfortunately, history is not being taught in our schools anymore, so there is an urgency to use this medium to remind us of who we are as a people and what we can achieve together,’’ Onyenwe said.

The August Meeting kicked off its nationwide tour in Lagos on the Nov. 18, at Freedom Park as part of the Lagos Fringe Festival making it exactly 89 years since the first August Meeting after the Aba Women’s Riot in 1929.

Directed by Kenneth Uphopho, produced by Chioma Onyenwe and written by Paul Ugbede, the play is well received, met with applause and mirth.

The play casts Gloria Anozie-Young as Nwanyereuwa, Inna Erizia, Odera Orji, Ijeoma Aniebo, BellaRose Iyere-Okojie and Deola Gimbiya.