Central Region Students Drama Festival Launched

Cape Coast, (Central Region) 24 Feb. '99,

The Fifth Annual Students Drama Festival, dubbed "STUDRAFEST 99", for second cycle institutions in the Central region, was launched yesterday at the Centre for National Culture (CNC) in Cape Coast. The one-day festival scheduled for Saturday, May 29, this year, is under the theme "Theatre for Development - The Role of the Youth" is being organised by the Regional Directorate of the CNC. The festival, which will be held on competitive basis, is among other things, geared towards unearthing the creative writing skills of individual students or schools and strengthening the literacy capabilities of the participants as potential playwrights, poets or journalists. In an address, the Regional Director of the CNC, Mr Emmanuel Quao, stressed the need to raise the level of cultural awareness among the youth and to encourage them to find more profitable use for their creative talents. This, he said, would help prevent them from falling for the "uneventful trappings" of foreign cultural influences. Mr Quao said the CNC would use the festival as a forum for the discussion of issues that are pertinent to the nation's forward march into the next millennium. "We hope to see and hear such creative works that will connect the present with past events and the present with future necessity," he said adding there is also the need to pay tribute to renowned playwrights like the Late Mrs Efua Sutherland. The Regional Director of Education, Mr P.K. Badu-Prah, commended the CNC for its efforts to improve the knowledge of students in the region as well as enhance their chances of competing in similar festivals at the national level. Eleven second cycle schools have so far expressed their desire to participate in the festival. GRi