12 schools battle for drama prize

Twelve secondary schools from across the country will this weekend fight for the Association for the Teaching of English in Malawi (Atem) drama competition glory. From tomorrow to Sunday the Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe will be the place to be as the battle for Atem’s top prize reaches its climax with K35 million winners’ prize. The schools that have made it into the finals are Marymount Girls, Nkhata Bay Boys, Our Lady of Namulenga, Mulanje, Blantyre Baptist Academy, Stella Maris Girls, Kamuzu Barracks, St Maria Goretti, Zomba Catholic, Malosa, Loyola Jesuit and Nkhotakota.

In an interview yesterday, Atem president Davie Mpaso said this year’s competition will be the best ever because actors and directors underwent intensive coaching recently under the tutelage of University of Malawi’s drama graduates. He said: “People should expect wonderful performances from the 12 schools because these are champions from their respective divisions. We are double sure that they have prepared well for the final encounter.” He has paid tribute the competition’s sponsors Standard Bank plc for revising the sponsorship, which he said has boosted the competition’s capacity and motivated participating schools to come up with competitive productions.

“For years, drama was dying in our schools. No punchy scripts, no good stages and other barriers. But Standard Bank plc changed that.

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Their sponsorship gave us rehearsal space, costumes and dignity. This weekend, Malawi will see the dividends,” he said. Standard Bank plc sponsors the Atem Drama competition through its Joy of the Arts initiative and this year they revised the prize money from K25 million to K35 million.

The bank’s chief executive officer Phillip Madinga said their support reflects the bank’s deeper belief in arts. He said: “Drama is where language lives. It is where young Malawians learn to think, to question and to speak truth to power with clarity.

We are not just funding a competition. We are investing in the confidence of a generation because a country that can’t tell its own story can’t own its own future.” The Atem drama platform has been credited for giving birth to many theatre careers in Malawi. Names such as Du Chisiza Jnr, Emmanuel Maliro, Amos Msekandiana, Waliko Makhala, Jayne Gogodus and Frank Patani Mwase traced their journey in theatre to the competition.

Gogodus emerged as the best during the 1982 edition and she went on to have a well-documented acting career in Zambia which saw her feature in a number of acting projects that earned her regional recognition. “By then, the Atem competitions were very exciting. Participating in the competition felt surreal.

There was serious competition as everyone was eager to participate and make their names,” she said in an interview yesterday. Gogodus attributes part of the success she achieved in her career in acting and media fields to the experience and exposure that the Atem drama platform provided her.

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