Theatre as a way to process what's happened, to create space for expression
In the final days of June, Abuja will host something the African continent has never witnessed: a gathering where the art of unscripted performance becomes a shared language for healing, community, and human connection. Practitioners from over fourteen countries will converge in Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory not merely to perform, but to exchange methodologies that have quietly been transforming lives in conflict zones and classrooms alike. It is a moment that reframes Africa not as a recipient of global cultural movements, but as their new center of gravity.
- Africa's first combined Improvisational and Playback Theatre Festival opens in Abuja on June 21, a historic convergence that no other city on the continent has attempted.
- Over 200 practitioners and 1,000+ audience members from 14 countries are expected, creating an unprecedented cross-cultural collision of performance traditions and healing methodologies.
- The urgency runs deeper than spectacle — organizers have spent over a decade using these theatre forms to provide psychosocial support to displaced and traumatized populations in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and Benue states.
- Thirty workshops, twenty live performances, and a roster of international facilitators signal a deliberate effort to build lasting infrastructure, not just a one-time event.
- The festival is landing as a declaration: applied improvisation is no longer being imported into Africa, but is being cultivated, institutionalized, and exported from within it.
This June, Abuja will become the site of a continental first — a week-long festival, running June 21 to 27 under the banner #MeetInNigeria, where practitioners of improvisational and playback theatre from across the globe gather together for the first time on African soil. The event is organized by Access to Creative Play Foundation and The Ensemble Improv Theatre Company, two organizations that have spent more than a decade quietly building these performance traditions inside Nigeria.
The program is substantial: over thirty workshops and masterclasses in the mornings, more than twenty live unscripted performances in the evenings, led by international facilitators and featuring both Nigerian and global artists. Participants are expected from at least fourteen countries, including the United States, Norway, South Africa, Australia, Peru, and the Philippines, among others. Nigeria's Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy will serve as special guest of honour at the opening.
For the uninitiated, these are not conventional theatre forms. Improvisational theatre is entirely unscripted, built in real time from audience suggestions. Playback theatre, which has operated in over seventy countries since its emergence in 1975, invites audience members to share personal stories that performers immediately re-enact live on stage. Both have long outgrown the stage — they are now applied in mental health support, conflict transformation, education, and leadership development.
The organizations behind the festival have been doing this applied work since 2015, running humanitarian and psychosocial interventions in conflict-affected communities across Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and Benue states, reaching displaced and vulnerable populations who have endured trauma and loss. The festival, then, is not a departure from that mission — it is its amplification. What has been practiced quietly in crisis zones is now being brought into the open, shared with the world, and rooted firmly on the continent that helped shape it.
In June, Abuja will become the stage for something that has never happened on the African continent: a week-long gathering where improvisational theatre and playback theatre practitioners from around the world converge under one roof. The festival, running from June 21 to 27 and branded #MeetInNigeria, represents the first time these two global performance communities have joined forces for a combined event focused on training, live performance, and cultural exchange.
The scale is ambitious. Organizers expect roughly 200 registered participants and more than 1,000 audience members to move through the Federal Capital Territory over seven days. They will come from at least fourteen countries—the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Greece, South Africa, Australia, Peru, the Philippines, Sweden, Indonesia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Czechia, and Nigeria itself. The program will unfold in two daily rhythms: mornings devoted to workshops and masterclasses from 9 am to 5 pm, evenings to live unscripted performances from 6 pm to 8 pm. More than thirty workshops and masterclasses will run across the week, led by over twenty international facilitators, with more than twenty live performances featuring both Nigerian and international artists.
The festival is being organized by Access to Creative Play Foundation and The Ensemble Improv Theatre Company, two organizations that have spent more than a decade building improvisational and playback theatre practice in Nigeria. Oluwadamilola Abdulai-Apotieri, the festival director and chief executive of the foundation, frames the event not merely as a performance showcase but as a movement—one aimed at expanding access to interactive theatre as a tool for community development and emotional healing. Nigeria's Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa-Musawa, will serve as special guest of honour at the opening.
For those unfamiliar with these forms: improvisational theatre is unscripted live performance in which actors generate scenes, dialogue, music, and movement on the spot, often responding to suggestions from the audience. Playback theatre, which emerged in 1975 and now operates in more than seventy countries, inverts the usual relationship between stage and audience—audience members share personal stories, which performers then immediately re-enact live. Both formats have moved far beyond entertainment. They are now used globally in mental health support, education, leadership development, conflict transformation, psychosocial interventions, and community engagement.
The organizations behind this festival have been doing this work in earnest since 2015, conducting humanitarian and psychosocial support interventions in conflict-affected communities across Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and Benue states. Much of that work has focused on displaced and vulnerable populations—people who have experienced trauma and loss. The festival itself signals a broader shift: applied improvisation is gaining traction in healthcare, education, technology, and corporate leadership training. What began as a performance art form is becoming a recognized methodology for healing and transformation.
The festival partners include the Black Improv Alliance, Vintage Improv Festival, Art Tech District, BAZE University, DOXA Digital Media, and Pearls Learning Hub. The convergence of these organizations and practitioners in Abuja this June will mark a turning point for how these theatre forms are understood and practiced across Africa—no longer imported from elsewhere, but rooted, developed, and shared from the continent itself.
Citas Notables
A platform for expanding creative opportunities and social transformation through storytelling, designed not only as a performance festival but as a movement aimed at increasing access and visibility of interactive theatre for community development and emotional healing.— Oluwadamilola Abdulai-Apotieri, Festival Director and CEO of Access to Creative Play Foundation
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does it matter that this festival is happening in Africa for the first time?
Because until now, these communities have mostly gathered in North America and Europe. Having them meet here, in Abuja, shifts where the conversation happens and who gets to shape it. It says these practices belong here too.
What's the difference between improvisation and playback theatre?
Improvisation is the performers creating from nothing, moment to moment. Playback is the audience giving you the raw material—their story—and you transform it into theatre right in front of them. It's about witnessing and reflecting back.
How does that work as healing?
When someone shares a difficult story and sees it performed, they feel seen. The act of having your experience taken seriously and re-enacted with care can be profound, especially for people who've been through trauma.
The organizers have been working in conflict zones since 2015. What does that look like?
They've been in places like Borno and Adamawa, working with displaced people. Using theatre as a way to process what's happened, to create space for expression when words alone aren't enough.
So this festival isn't just about performance.
No. It's about proving that these theatre forms can do real work—in hospitals, schools, conflict zones, corporate training. The festival is the public face of something much larger.
What happens after June?
That's the question. If this works, if people see what's possible, you could see these practices spreading across Africa in ways they haven't before.