As the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC), a UNESCO’s statute ‘B’ partner in theatre criticism, which has been around for a long time, plans to celebrate 60 years of its existence this year, there is back-slapping in the air in Nigeria, as one of her own theatre and drama icons, Professor Femi Osofisan, has been named winner of the coveted Thalia Prize 2016.
This was disclosed via an email statement by the President of IATC-Nigeria, Professor Emmanuel Dandaura, informing that the Thalia Prize is only ten years old; and that since the prize was created, its laureates have been Eric Bentley (2006), Jean-Pierre Sarrazac (2008), Richard Schechner (2010), Kapila Vatsyayan (2012), and Eugenio Barba (2014).
According to him, Femi Osofisan becomes the first African and indeed first Black literary scholar to win the highly contested award, which is coming shortly after he (Professor Emmanuel Dandaura) became the first Black and first African Member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) in 2014.
The statement further enjoined all colleagues and media houses to celebrate this moment of glory for Africa; and that, details of the award could be accessed from following link: http://aict-iatc.org.
© Nico News