Entrepreneurial theatre in a pandemic era: “The graduates” experience

Abstract

The pandemic created by the Covid-19 virus has ushered in a new way of disseminating educational pedagogy. For centuries, coercive attention has been  given to certificates which is gradually diminishing and not ameliorating the numerous problems bedevilling the entire world, Nigeria inclusive, hence the  need to shift focus from certificates to skill acquisition. New skills are gradually occupying the space and ‘entrepreneurial theatre,’ where artistes can  be empowered and become self-reliant is gradually taking centre stage. Theatre entrepreneurship may have been subsumed in theatre praxis, but its  eloquent manifestations are often attributed to contributions from other professions, thereby depriving theatre its pride of place. This research aims at  highlighting the conception, processes and experience of actualizing an entrepreneurial theatre in a pandemic era. The researchers adopt a performative  and practice-led research, leaning on Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory for the conception and performance of “The Graduate.” It  was found that Covid-19 as a pandemic could positively challenge and tease out the entrepreneurial capacities of people, including theatre professionals.  Hence, the study recommends that if entrepreneurial theatre is embraced, it portends a brighter future for theatre graduates. The paper concludes that a  theatrical taxonomy of entrepreneurship can facilitate small scalable start-ups that may snowball into large business companies for theatre graduates.