The Theatre and the Crises of Identity: Towards The Attainment of Educational Values in the New Millennium by Stephen Inegbe

Whenever the word, “theatre” is mentioned even among the lettered in the society, the question is quick to recur; what does the theatre have to contribute to the growth of society? This essay has endeavoured to situate the theatre in a positive perspective. Though the theatre has been misunderstood all over the ages, the mere fact that it has survived the stigmatizing onslaught adumbrates its importance. In an inter-related and an inter—penetrative study, this essay has argued on the need to exploit the vital essences of the theatre in the
promotion of educational objectives. This becomes more imperative especially now that we have embraced a new millennium. Conscious of the nature of theatre as a didactic and harmonizing agent, the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has endeavoured to introduce some theatre-related programmes and courses into the primary and secondary schools curricular. There is the need to train the necessary manpower so that the resources of theatre could be easily tapped for the ultimate goodness and benefit of society. The essay submits that with the early introduction of theatre studies in the school syllabus, all those seemingly elusive objectives of education would be realized.