Content area
Full Text
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AT&P WORKING GROUP OF THE IFTR/FIRT
The idea for an African Theatre and Performance Working Group (AT&P WG) was conceived at the 2006 IFTR World Congress in Helsinki, Finland (7-12 August 2006). What started as a conversation between the trio of Kene Igweonu, Jeleel Ojuade and 'Gbenga Windapo soon led to the realization that such a group would be best placed to champion the development of African theatre and performance within the IFTR and on the international theatre arena. It also became apparent, speaking to other members of IFTR, particularly people like Temple Hauptfleisch, about the idea that a working group such as the AT&P held the strong promise of being one of the most popular and vibrant within the IFTR, as it seeks to address some of the imbalances in theatre scholarship within the federation and internationally. The idea for the group soon generated a high level of interest among IFTR members, who were equally quick to become signatories to its formation.
During this time another IFTR working group, on Arabic theatre, was being proposed. Some of the founding members of the then proposed working groups on Arabic theatre and AT&P held preliminary discussions to explore the possibility of amalgamating, particularly because of their shared interest in redressing some of the imbalances of Western scholarship on/about non- Western theatre practices, and in the theatres of northern Africa and other parts of Africa where the Arabic/Islamic influence is evident. These preliminary discussions could not develop further as it soon became clear that despite their shared interests, the groups' emergence onto the international scholarly scene via the IFTR was driven by slightly different agendas. Two key factors in the decision not to advance the discussion were the realization that the Arabic Theatre working group was actually a product of a group that had existed outside the IFTR, and there were questions about its chosen name of 'Arabic' theatre for the group. The fact that group was already in existence outside the IFTR was considered by the founding members of the AT&P WG as a strong statement of intent on the part of the Arabic Theatre working group that they were coming to the IFTR with an identity that was already established....