The inaugural Festival of African and Black Irish Theatre (Festabit) takes place at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre this month.

Presented by Arambe Productions, the three-day festival from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 November coincides with a new production of An Other Playboy...???, an adaptation of JM Synge’s classic The Playboy of the Western World.

In a statement, festival founder and Arambe director Bisi Adigun said: “Festabit is an ambitious event aimed at fostering participation and collaboration between Irish professional theatre practitioners and playwrights and actors of African or black Irish heritage.”

Adigun, who is also a visiting lecturer of African theatre and performance Studies at Trinity College Dublin’s drama department, added that the festival programme will feature seminars, panel discussions, play readings and intercultural dialogue.

Also featured over the weekend will be workshops in playwriting and devising, led by Gavin Kostick of Fishamble: The New Play Company, and in the craft of storytelling, led by Irish actor, writer and director Terry McMahon.

Speakers from Irish theatre and the African communities in Ireland will include Trinity’s head of drama Chrissie Poulter; Willie White, artistic director and CEO of the Dublin Theatre Festival; Jane Plastow, professor of African theatre at Leeds University; and Eritrean author and playwright Alemseged Tesfai.

The festival will be launched by Dublin City Council arts officer Ray Yeates at the Project Arts Centre on Thursday 16 November at 6.30pm.

Tickets for An Other Playboy...??? are on sale now from the Project Arts Centre box office or online.

Details of Festibit are also available on projectartscentre.ie

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