By Grace Udofia
Popular Nigerian Playwright and Poet, Sam Ukala has died at the age of 73.
Ukala who was also a short story writer, Actor, Theatre Director, Film Producer and Professor of Theatre Arts at Delta State University, Abraka, reportedly died on Monday night.
Ukala has also been Professor of Drama and Theatre Arts at a number of Nigerian universities, including the Edo State University.
In 1993/94, as an academic staff fellow, he also researched and taught at the School of English Workshop Theatre of the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
As an academic, he propounded the theory of ‘folkism’, the tendency to base literary plays on indigenous history and culture, and to compose and perform them in accordance with the aesthetics of African folktale composition and performance.
Until his demise, he was the Chairman of the Delta State Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Actors (ANA).
