[LINK] "Years After Its Curfew Killed Theater, Ghana Gets A Second Act"

[rfmcdonald]

NPR's Goats and Soda features an article looking at the rebirth of live theatre in Ghana.

When the military took power in Ghana, imposing a curfew from the early 1980s, theaters in the West African country went dark. By the time elected-civilian government was restored in 1992, many Ghanaians had lost the habit of going out to watch a play.

Now one man is luring his compatriots back to live shows — and away from TV and videos. His name is James Ebo Whyte — "but everyone in Ghana calls me 'Uncle' Ebo Whyte, because of the program I do on radio," he says.

You can't miss the nattily dressed playwright. At 70 years old, he's small, dynamic and fit with a big smile. The one-time businessman regularly leaps on stage to talk to the audience for whatever reason — whether to explain a cut to the power supply or to encourage the enthusiastic theatergoers to pick up his magazine and buy tickets for his next play.

"I've been writing, directing and producing a play every quarter for the last seven years, and this is my 28th play in seven years," Whyte says.