DECOLONIZING THE STAGE: REHEARSAL PRACTICES, INSTITUTIONAL POWER, AND THE POLITICS OF NIGERIAN THEATRE MAKING

Abstract

This article examines the rehearsal process as a critical yet under-theorized site of decolonial intervention in Nigerian theatre making. While scholarship on African theatre has extensively addressed questions of content, text, and representation, the rehearsal space where embodied practices, power relations, and aesthetic values are negotiated remains largely unexamined. Drawing on Samuel Ravengai’s concept of “Afroscenology” (2024) and ethnographic research with theatre practitioners in Nigeria, this article argues that rehearsal practices are not neutral technical procedures but sites where coloniality is either reproduced or contested. It proposes a framework for decolonizing rehearsal through attention to embodied knowledge, the recovery of indigenous performance pedagogies from traditions such as Yoruba Alárìnjó and Igbo Mmanwu, institutional accountability, and the reconfiguration of directorial authority. The article contributes to emerging scholarship on decolonial praxis in Nigerian performance studies by offering both theoretical analysis and practical strategies for transformation.