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AMONG theatre practitioners and scholars in South-Eastern Nigeria, Greg Mbajiorgu stands out for many reasons:
First, he may be regarded as the progenitor of solo dramatic literature in Africa since he was the first African to publish a solo dramatic text.
Second, in addition to being the first from the South-East to improvise a full-length solo performance, he is also among the very first playwrights from that region of Nigeria to publish a drama on climate change (Wake up Everyone) and Poetics of Environmentalism (Plastics, Plastics Everywhere)
Third, he is the co-editor of Africa’s first textbook on Solo Performance (50 Years of Solo Performing Art in Nigerian Theatre 1966-2016), edited with Amanze Akpuda.
Mbajiorgu is also the sole editor of another historical text in that sub-genre of dramatic arts (The Power of One: An Anthology of Nigerian Solo Plays).
In addition, he wrote and produced a drama on the nation’s electricity crises for the presidency (Towards a New Dawn), which was performed at the banquet hall, Aso Rock Villa, for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in 2010.
In 2014, he collaborated with Prof. Binebai to script a Pro-Innovation drama for Switzerland’s African Innovation Foundation. The play ‘Dancers from Africa’ was first published in 2014 and will be re-issued this year. It is essential to mention here that ‘Wake up Everyone’, his play on climate change, was commissioned by ATPS Nairobi, Kenya, in 2009 and was first produced as ‘Wake Up’ before it was re-written and re-issued in 2011, 2014, and 2021 respectfully.
Mbajiorgu, Head of the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, has won numerous notable awards. Another feather was added to his cap at the Abuja International Theatre Festival (ABITFA) on the 5th of November at the Brazilian Embassy Theatre, where he received the ABITFA Special Recognition Award for his original contribution to the development of theatre in Africa.
Other significant contributors to the theatre industry that received awards at the annual event were Governor Abiodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State, Edgar Joseph, President, Duke of Shomolu Foundation, Ekiti State Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Prof. Bakare Ojo Rasaki, and Mrs. Ayo Jaiyesinmi of Thespian Family Theatre Production.
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