Entertainment and Fashion

Paragon in interactive theatre performances

Paragon in interactive theatre performances

By Jimmy Chazama

Paragon Arts on Saturday reached out to some places in Lilongwe where they treated people to a flash mob theatre experience as part of Post Abortion Care awareness.

The theatre outfit staged a play titled Shattered Silence tackling sexual reproductive health issues as part of their Post Abortion Care project.

The performances followed a theatre training which Paragon Arts conducted recently that attracted eight theatre groups.

Some of the places that sampled the production that featured some of the members that participated in the training included Wakawaka Market.

The play which attracted the attention of the people digs deeper into abortion issues.

Veteran actor Edwin Chonde, who was part of the cast hailed the initiative saying it was crucial in addressing such an important issue.

“We need to accept that the issue of abortion is widespread in the country, it is our duty as theatre practitioners to reveal these issues in an artistic manner,” Chonde said.

A tomato seller at Wakawaka Market, Nellie Manyowa applauded Paragon Arts for the performance.

“The thing is that, they gave us important information on abortion in an interesting way. Sometimes bringing the information directly is not the right way. In this case, people have been entertained,” Manyowa said.

Paragon Arts Director Philmon Kuipa said they were happy that as theatre practitioners, they had played a role in disseminating important information on post abortion care.

“Art is powerful and you saw for yourself how we were interacting with the people. We are also happy in that all the four places that we held the performances, we had huge audiences,” Kuipa said.

Kuipa said they have a number of projects that they would be engaging in this year including hosting a theatre competition where youth groups will be trained in post-abortion care with the best performers set to be rewarded.

Post Abortion Care project was launched in November last year and runs up to January 31 2025.