FOLLOWING the declaration of young Nigerian playwright, Zainabu Jallo as the winner of West African zonal prize of the Arterial Network's maiden continental Playwriting Competition through her play, Onions Make Us Cry, and the scheduling of the drama for showing in National Theatre, London, her promoters are upbeat. More bookings are also coming for Jallo and her play.A release, last week from her agent Omale Alhassan, informs that the play, published in Nigeria by Macmillan Publishers is billed to be performed at the Africa 101 Arts Campus, Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday, October 29.Ms Jallo, a poet and playwright won the West African category of the prize with Onions Make Us Cry. Five other playwrights from other zones (Northern Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa, Eastern Africa and Western Africa) came top in the finals. Organisers of the literary honour say their initiative is a means to encourage innovation and excellence within the African creative sector, as well as creating platforms to project African artists and their work into the regional and global markets. More than 300 submissions were received before the six writers were selected as regional winners of the inaugural competition. The six winners will participate in a weeklong dramaturgical workshop at the National Theatre Studio, London November 21 through 25, and will interact with leading members of the British theatre industry. One of the aims of the competition is to publish the works in a collection in order to circulate the plays and their writers globally. It is also the project's intention that at least one of the plays will be selected for a full-scale production by a European Theatre in 2012, and that all six plays will be considered to be staged as readings by various theatres and festivals around the world.Jallo's Onions Make Us Cry, first drafted at The Royal Court Theatre London in August 2008, where she was a part of a residency for international playwrights, was further worked on while she was in residency in India.In 2009, she was offered a literary fellowship at the Global Arts Village, New Delhi where Onions Make Us Cry was first presented.As a participant in Contact Theatre's Contacting the World Project held in Manchester in 2004, Jallo began to share her work with other writers from around the world.From 2007, she has been participating in the New Writing in Drama Project by the British Council and the Royal Court Theatre London where she developed Saraya Dangana.She facilitated Masterclasses at the Garden Literary Festival in December 2010 alongside Wole Soyinka and Helon Habila. She was also a nominee of the 2010 Future Awards in Nigeria, in the Creative Artist of the Year category.According to the release, Jallo, who has two published plays and a collection of open style poetry, has just completed her third play Holy Night. She continues to write abstract essays which she debuted with as a writer. Her Onions Make Us Cry offers poetic dialogues and brilliant use of metaphors. The play was nominated for the 2010 NLNG prize for literature and was performed at the LARK, a festival of plays in New York in March 2011. Some troupes have also performed it at various locations in Nigeria, Manchester and New York.
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