”For 32 years now we’ve been entertaining, informing and educating Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad. We’ve also been showcasing our culture and history to the global community without a glitch.”
Charlie Huffier said the FPI is celebrating 32 years of experience “…after going through thick and thin with over six generations of artists, scattered all over the globe.”
“For 32 years we’ve been unstoppable,” said Tuti Huffner aka Master 2T, the Manager of Freetong Players International (FDI).
Saturday, 20th May was the 32nd anniversary of the Drama Acapella group, which was formed in 1985 by Master 2T’s dad, Charlie Haffner.”As part of our celebration, FPI will grace the British Council with an arts, culture and dance performance,” Master 2T explained. Adding that the keynote speaker of the celebration will be the Director of the British Council, Simon Ingram-Hill. He explained despite the challenges with the Yeliba newspaper, which was launched at their on FPI 28th Anniversary they are intending to open an performing art school and later a university of performing arts which would then host the newspaper. Nathaniel Williams said he is so happy that FPI is celebrating it’s 32nd anniversary. “I first came to know FPI in 1992. By then I was in form 2 at the St. Edwards Secondary School. FPI went to perform ‘Amistad Kata’ – a story about a Sierra Leonean Mende man called Shengbeh Pieh who led a revolt of fellow Africans on the Spanish slave ship, La Amistad.” The ship was taken into custody by the United States Coast Guard, Shengbeh Pieh and his fellow Africans were eventually tried for killing officers on the ship, in a case known as United States v. The Amistad. This reached the US Supreme Court, where Shengbeh Pieh and his fellow Africans were found to have rightfully defended themselves from being enslaved through the illegal Atlantic slave trade and were released, subsequently Americans helped raise money for their return to Africa. Williams explained the story was so incredibly dramatized that it remain indelible in his mind and can conjure the performance at will when ever he closes his mind. FPI are known in Sierra Leone and beyond by their stunning performances of Sierra Leone history, and culture.The Freetong Players was born out of the need to revolutionize the Sierra Leone theatre by expanding its traditional role of entertainment and rituals to become an effective tool to inform, communicate, educate and mobilize communities everywhere.
By Ophaniel Gooding
Monday May 22, 2017.
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