The Department of Theatre and Media Arts of the Faculty of Arts, Ekiti State University was born in 2014. The idea for the establishment of the Department was first muted by Dr.Modupe Olaniyan at the University’s Council meeting in 2009 while she was then a member of the Council. The Midwives are: Professor Rasaki Ojo Bakare and Dr. Modupe Olaniyan, who designed the programme; Professor Mike Abiodun, the Dean, Faculty of Arts, who presented and defended the programme at Senate meeting, Professor Patrick Oladipo Aina, the Vice Chancellor who presented the programme to the University’s Governing Council and got the Council’s approval. The Vice Chancellor also employed the first staff of the Department, Dr. Gabriel Adekola Oyewo a Reader, on the 24th of February, 2014.

The Public Relations Department of the University printed posters and fliers and the Vice Chancellor ordered Dr. Oyewo to mount an aggressive publicity for diploma programme which took him to all the radio and television stations in Ekiti and Ondo States. The Arts Council and Cultural Centre in Ado-Ekiti and Akure were also visited. The efforts yielded good results as about sixteen candidates applied for the Diploma programme. But only five of the applicants met the requirement for admission into the programme. Therefore, the programme did not take off. Awareness had been created about the existence of a Theatre and Media Arts Department at the Ekiti State University.

The department took off in earnest at the beginning of the 2014/2015 academic session with the following members of staff:

1. Prof. Rasaki Ojo Bakare- Professor & Adjunct Staff
2. Dr. Kola Oyewo- Reader, Head of Department
3. Dr. Modupe Olaniyan- Lecturer 1
4. Mr. (Now Dr.) Ade Adeseke- Lecturer 1
5. Mr. Tolu Owoola – Assistant Lecturer
6. Mr. Fesogbade Oyebade- Assistant Lecturer
7. Miss Toyin Bade-Afuye- Assistant Lecturer
8. Mrs. Ronke Ojo – Departmental Secretary
9. Mr. Akinsola – Office Assistant

Students admitted for the B.A. Theatre and Media Arts programme were 46 in number. In the same academic session, we mounted a big production for the Convocation ceremony. It was Femi Osofisan’s TwingleTwangle: A Twinning Tale directed by Dr. Ade Adeseke. The Vice Chancellor and the entire University community were impressed by the standard of the production.

The number of student’s intake increased during the 2015/2016 academic session to 60 and we added an adjunct Senior Lecturer Dr.Laide Nasir to the staff strength. We also produced Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again directed by Dr. Ade Adeseke for the convocation ceremony.

In the 2016/2017 session 69 students were admitted into the Department and we produced Femi Osofisan’s Women of Owu directed by Dr. Ade Adeseke to the admiration of the University Community.

The Department was invited to perform Femi Osofisan’s Women of Owu at the 2017 National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF) in North Carolina but the University could not sponsor the trip due to financial constraints and all attempt by members of staff of the department to solicit for help outside the University met brick walls.

Today, the Department has the following as academic members of staff:

            Prof.RasakiOjo Bakare- Professor& Adjunct Staff

            Prof. Mathew Umukoro – Professor& Adjunct Staff

Prof. Modupe Olaniyan- Professor

Dr. Ade Adeseke- Reader

Dr. L. T. Nasir- Reader (Adjunct)

Dr. Ohenhen Stanley- Reader (Adjunct)

Dr. Gabrel Otsemobor – Senior Lecturer

Dr. Sola Balogun- Lecturer 1 (Adjunct)

Dr. Micheal Agboola – Lecturer 1 (Part Time)

Miss Toyin Bade-Afuye-Lecturer I

Mr. Abdulqaudir Akinola- Assistant Lecturer

Mr. Oreofe Adeyemi- Assistant Lecturer (Part Time)

Mr. Olayinka Magbagbeola – Assistant Lecturer

Miss. Olabisi Rukayat Adebisi – Assistant Lecturer

Mr. Olaside Falope – Assistant Lecturer

Miss. Oluwanifesimi E. Bakare – Graduate Assistant

At present, students’ population in the department is seven hundred and fifteen (715).

PHILOSOPHY

Theatre and Media Arts are the interpretations of inner emotions, ideas and understanding of the environment, which are later translated into action on the stage or in front of a viewing audience.  Theatre is life and it seeks the meaning of existence with the same dexterity and passion that have characterized the works of great philosophers of old.  The arts of the theatre rest on a common foundation with all learning on man’s capacity to explore, wonder and reflect on his environment. 

The main focus of Theatre and Media Arts as a course is communication.  It reflects the society by passing comments on social ills, either in an emotion-laden way of tragedy or the trivial ways of comedy and satire. The course trains the students in the manipulation of ideas through his mind, body, action and voice.  The idea to be expressed in the script and performance is abstractly conceived in the mind and put into action through written and psychomotor process.  Derivatively, Theatre and Media Arts develop the student intellectually and physically.

Theatre is a composite art.  It is the meeting-point of all the other arts; such as, music, drama, painting, sculpture, sewing, drawing etc.  Theatre and Media Arts as a course is divided into many areas of specialization such as; Directing, Acting, Stage Management, Theatre Management and Administration, Technical Theatre, which is further compartmentalized into Carpentry, Design, Costuming, Make-up, Media Arts, Public Relations, Advertising, etc.  These make the course a highly-demanding one because students, at the early level will be taught in all these areas, both theoretically and practically. Assignments, term-papers, group-work, dramatization, role-playing and simulation are methods recommended to elucidate teacher-students participation in the teaching and learning of Theatre and Media Arts.

OBJECTIVES

The need to harness and explore the limitless potentialities that abound in the arts to foster a holistic education and self-reliant graduates for national development has necessitated the establishment of the Department of Theatre and Media Arts.  The primary objectives of the programme are to:

1. inculcate in the students an aptitude for textual analysis as well as the capacity to relate the arts and culture of a society to its values, belief systems and the socio-political and economic development of the nation as a whole.
2. Prepare students for life after the University through SIWES programme as well as TfD intervention programme in more than 40 villages in Ekiti State.
3. train students towards professional versatility in the various areas of Theatre and Media Arts, such as Film/Television/Radio Production and Cinematography, Playwriting, Acting, Directing, Music and Dance, Public Relations and Advertising.

4. prepare graduates for teaching and academic professions especially at the secondary and tertiary levels.
5. prepare students to pursue carriers in wide areas such as furniture-making, fashion-designing, painting and decoration and general administration.

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES

First Degree Programme

The Department offers a combination of undergraduate courses leading to the award of B.A. degree in Theatre and Media Arts.  Students are required to register for and pass the prescribed compulsory media and theatre arts courses, in addition to their subsidiary courses in the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences as may be deemed relevant.