By Collins Yakubu-Hammer
A movie and dance drama director, Mr Patrick Otoro, has called on the deral Government to build an art theater in Abuja to enable artists explore their talents and generate revenue for the country.Otoro made the call while briefing newsmen in Abuja.
He said it was regrettable that Abuja as the Federal Capital does not have a theater.“One of our challenges in Abuja is that we don’t have a performance hall, like a large theater. We rehearse in small halls and pay daily to rehearse because there is no theater in Abuja.“The conference halls we have in Abuja are for conferences not for theater. With bunch of talents and creativity in this country, a place like Abuja should have large theater for stage performance.“We, therefore, call on the federal government to build a big art theater in Abuja to encourage artists to explore their talent and this will also contribute in generating revenue for the government.“When you go to some big hotels in Abuja to hire halls for performance, you pay between three million and five million naira for a day.
The cheapest is two million for one day. How much would the producer make from ticket sales?,” Otoro asked.The musical drama director, who directed ‘One Good Man,’ said it was regrettable that movie producers go to other states and bring actors to Abuja, adding that it was wrong.“For me, this is an indictment on us, the Abuja based actors and we are saying that give us the money and we will do better.“If a producer is using Abuja based actors in Abuja, he or she would not have to pay for flight tickets and expensive hotel accommodations, because we live here and can come from home to movie locations.“
Abuja-based actors are good enough to perform for any producer including the Abuja audience. Stop seeing us as a second class actors in this country. Abuja has everything any movie producer or director needs,” Otoro said. (NAN)
