Theatre legend Oliver Minishi hosts free workshop for students in Kakamega
Facilitators, Reuben Odanga, (right) and Oliver Minishi during an art workshop in kakamega.
Oliver Minishi is a testimony that true artistes never retire. He organised a week-long free Theatre and Film Workshop for students recently at Fesbeth Academy High School, in Kakamega County.
Schools such as Bunyore Girls, Rangala Girls, Kisumu Boys, Mudasa Academy and St. Mathias Mwitoti Mixed were represented. Minishi is a veteran stage and screen scriptwriter, director and producer, and is not about to hang up his boots despite having retired from teaching after 36 years. He is currently the director of Fesbeth Academy and is intent on nurturing young talents in theatre and film.
The event targeted Form One, Two and Three students on the art of scriptwriting and production during the four-day workshop. He said that despite many students having writing talent, only a few get avenues to hone their talent.
“From experience, I know that there are many young people who would like to write scripts, but they do not know where or how to start,” says Minishi, who began scripting in 1980 while he was a Form Three student at Musingu High School - his play, ‘The Curse’, went straight to the National Festivals.
Minishi is a legend in the annual Kenya schools and colleges drama and film festivals circles, where he has written, directed and produced numerous winning plays and films in a career spanning over three decades. He achieved most of his award-winning exploits with Butere Girls, Bungoma High School, Koyonzo Mixed, Kakamega High School and Nanyuki Boys High School.
Interestingly, Minishi is not even a literature teacher. He is a teacher of Physics and author of Physics books with the Kenya Literature Bureau. All the same, his vocation is in arts, specifically stage drama.
Some of the students who attended a Theatre and Film workshop in Kakamega County, facilitated by Oliver Minishi.
He says that drama for him is his life and purpose. Drama, he says, has no boundaries and helps to expand one’s thinking. Although writing for the screen is technical and demanding, the tenets of writing for both stage and screen are the same, he says.
The plot of the story, he explains, quoting famed Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, is everything. Without a good plot, a play or film will not achieve its greatest value, Minishi says. All the visual effects and stunts are just enhancers, but the plot is the anchor of every remarkable play or movie.
“I train my acting students to always start with a good script before indulging in the rest of the stuff. A good script is a sure bet if you want to produce a good play, movie or book,” he says.
Minishi says he founded Fesbeth High School after retiring from government service because teaching is what he knows best. Even though his school follows the laid down school curriculum, Minishi lays emphasis on developing not only artistic talent but technical subjects too. He says that the talent-oriented CBC curriculum could not have come at a better time and was long overdue. “People have come to realise that art can be a rewarding career. There was a time when many took artistic pursuits as a hobby or a waste of time. Now, most people know that art can be work” chuckles Minishi.
Many drama producers in Kenya today like Reuben Odanga passed through his hands. Minishi has produced a battery of outstanding actors and theatre practitioners.
The late Fredric Adagala and Reuben Odanga are his most prolific actors. He is currently lecturing drama and film at Kenyatta University where he has written a stage play, ‘Destiny’ which will be staged at the Kenya National Theatre early next year.
