Nollywood actress Stephanie
Okereke last Friday made
another history when she
featured in a stage play titled
‘ SEVEN’ during a three day
summit on ‘Women in the World:
Stories and Solutions’ held in far
away New York city.
She was joined on stage by
other actresses including Marcia
Gay Harden, Shohreh
Aghdashloo, Archie Panjabi,
Julyana Soelistyo, Lauren Vélez,
and multiple Academy Award
winner Meryl Streep.
SEVEN was created by celebrated
playwrights working with the
Vital Voices Global Partnership,
who are co-hosting the
groundbreaking women ’s
summit along with the United
Nations Foundation and Diane
von Furstenberg.
SEVEN is a documentary play
that tells the courageous stories
of women from seven
countries: Afghanistan,
Cambodia, Guatemala, Nigeria,
Northern Ireland, Pakistan, and
Russia.
Julie Taymor, acclaimed director
and creator of the Broadway
musical The Lion King, directed
the one-night ensemble reading,
which had US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton in attendance.
“The play powerfully portrays
the transformative ways that
seven courageous women have
changed their societies for the
better – from peace-building, to
fighting corruption to
combating violence against
women ” said Clinton. “The most
powerful thing about Seven is
that it gets to the heart of some
of the most critical issues facing
our world today. It reminds us
of the power of the human
spirit to rise up when faced
with adversity and as we rise…
it reminds us that we have a
responsibility to bring others
along with us, ” posited Alyse
Nelson, President and CEO of
Vital Voices Global Partnership.
The three-day gathering, which
rounded off last Sunday, March
14, brought together an
extraordinary group of 300
global leaders from government,
media, social activism, business,
and the arts.
Tricia Eseigbe for Street
Champz show
Top Nollywood actress cum TV
presenter of popular TV
programme, Bold Faces, Tricia
Eseigbe-Kerry, who recently
walked down the aisle with her
heartthrob is to anchor one of
the latest and most innovative
reality shows to hit the screen.
The show, “Street Champz”, is a
talent hunt cum reality show,
designed to discover untapped
talents on our streets. It ’s
powered by a UK based Nigerian
company, Street Champz Limited.
Tricia, who has carved a niche
for herself in sports personality
interviews and other interesting
presentations will bring her
wealth of experience to bear
while anchoring the innovative
reality show, which also has
other Nollywood stars like Kate
Henshaw, Alex Usifo, Orits
Williki, Remi Ohajianya and
Kevin Pam, winner Big Brother
Africa 4-The Revolution as
judges, consultants, mentors,
presenters and project
managers.
According to the initiators, the
show which promises to be
exciting flags-off in four
different categories of music,
drama, comedy and
entertainment variety act on
May 1. The contestants will be
made to compete on the same
stage at the same time.
Prince Emman-Stanford
Amgbaduba, chairman, Street
Champz Limited, while
introducing the project to the
press last week in Lagos,
disclosed that Street Champz is
not like the usual reality show
where the winner takes it all.
Rather, “it is a grassroot
designed project that offers
variety of prizes to every
contestant that qualifies into
the live broadcast segment of
the competition. The amount of
money to be won will be
progressively increased by
N500,000 every week until the
last 3 contestants that will go
into the finals emerges. ”
The mouth-watering prizes to
be won during the show, which
nationwide audition is expected
to commence from the May 1
are mouth-watering, include
N15million cash prize, a Jeep
and 2-year career development
programme in the UK for the
winner in each category of the
competition.
Equally, the 1st runner up and
2nd runner up will smile home
with the huge sum of N1million
to N750,000, including a 2- year
career development contract
respectively. The yearly show is
expected to hit the wave from
July 13.
Why I can’t join Nollywood
— Emem Isong’s brother
He hails from a gifted family, yet
he doesn ’t show it. Until you
engage him in a conversation,
you may not know that Anietie
Isong shares the same paternity
with one of Nigeria ’s notable
screen play writers and
producers, Emem Isong.
Based in the UK, Anietie is
International Press Officer at the
University of Birmingham,
United Kingdom. He was also a
former broadcaster and a script
writer before he left the
country.
“I started out as a broadcaster
with Metro FM in 2000. I was a
writer and a producer at that
time. ”Anietie narrated to HVP,
recently, even as he disclosed
that while he was into
broadcasting, he never liked
presenting news. Rather, he
muted, “ I prefer to stay behind
the camera.”
Anietie was in Nigeria recently
where HVP ran into him in
Victoria Island.
He graduated from the
University if Ibadan where he
read Communication Arts
before travelling out of the
country in search of knowledge
and greener pasture. After his
education, he decided to stay
back in the UK to earn a living.
He said he did not have the
passion to take to film making
or acting to compliment what
his elder sister, Emem has done
in the last two decades.
“Writing runs in my
bloodstream. My elder sister,
Emem Isong is one of the
pioneer script writers this
country has produced. My
younger sister too is a
passionate about script writing.
“And before I got into PR, I
began my career really in
broadcasting.
In fact, anything that has to do
with writing is my hobby.
“Then, I used to write scripts for
radio, including drama, while my
elder sister, Emem showed more
interest in film making. While I
was in the University of Ibadan,
I used to go on stage, for the
fun of it. But after my
graduation, I decided to focus
more on my writing. I don ’t
think I’m an actor. I’m not,”
Anietie echoed.
Talking about his sister’s
contribution to the growth of
Nollywood, Anietie, who studied
Communication Art at the
University of Ibadan said, his
parents are very proud of
Emem ’s achievements. “My
parents are really proud of
Emem and I ’m also very proud
of her.”
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