Nigerian children’s theatre in the Covid-19 era: A focus on social media entertainment

Abstract

This study examines the challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic to the development of children’s theatre in Nigeria and the possibilities of sustaining  and promoting it via social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube, etc. Using insights from Sandra Ball Rokeach and Melvin  Defleur's Media System Dependency Theory and Dolf Zillmann's Entertainment Theory and adopting both the interview and Focus Group Discussion  (FGD) methods, the study argues that the social media entertainment model is an effective means of promoting Nigerian children’s theatre in the  Covid-19 era because of its capacity to reach out to most children irrespective of distance and time. The study, therefore, recommends that for this aim to  be achieved, parents and governments should collaborate with experts in children’s theatre studies in the provision of necessary materials and proper  guiding of children in order not to expose them to corruptive programmes.