For the first time since the inception of the Kenya Theatre Awards (KTA) in 2021, a poetry show was among the biggest winners of the night.

Midnight Poetry, which was staged by Kevin Maina of Maina Mind Productions, received four awards out of nine nominations. That is the Best Spoken Word Production, Best Stage Managed Production (Rita Gitau), Best Musical Score, Arrangement or Adaptation (Modest Chabari), and Best Lighting Design (Charles Stephen).

The fifth edition of the KTA announced its winners at the Kenya National Theatre this past Thursday night, graced by Professor Kivutha Kibwana and theatre practitioners.

A moving play by Taji & Co, Free Me, about gender-based violence and femicide, garnered four wins with Best Director (Mugambi Nthiga), Best Breakthrough Female Performer (Renee Gichuki), Best Production, and Best Performance by Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play (Tobit Tom). This is the second year in a row that Nthiga has won best director.

Bad Girls of the Bible, a play by Chemichemi Players that reimagined Biblical stories through the lives of eight outcast women, also got four wins. That is Best Producer (Julisa Rowe), Best Playwright Original Script (Yafesi Musoke), Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play (Joyce Musoke), and Best Costume Design (Nancy Aluoch).

A 1985 play by Mohamed Komeja, Picha, staged by Prevail Presents, collected two awards: Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Lucy Wache) and Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Play (Michael Ndunda).

Prevail Presents, by Martin Kigondu, also earned two accolades: Best Two-Hander Production for Of Cords and Discord, which starred Mwikali Mary and Celestine Gachuhi, and Theatre Company of the Year.

The Best Learning Institution (school) award went to Braeburn Gitanga Road. Student productions such as Beetlejuice: The Musical Jr from Braeburn School claimed Best Performance by a Young Male Actor, Prajeet Ghose.

Best Children’s Play went to Beauty and the Beast by Braeburn Players: Philip Mbaka and Tonny Koome from KCA University’s Kenda Creatives won Best Sound Design for In the Name of the Father, a play that depicts the chilling Shakaholla massacre. Mercy Muriuki and Geoffrey Namulala were recognised for the best set design for Into the Woods Jr by Braeburn Garden Estate.

This year, there were three Jury’s Special Awards: Caroline Ngorobi through her Jukwaa Arts Production house, which involves the community in theatre-making.

Esther Kamba also received her award in this category for her playreading initiative, whereby dramatists would read plays out aloud, a new way of consuming theatre works as well as celebrate playwrights. Martha Galavu and Masidza Galavu, of Shujaa Stories, also walked home with awards in this category.

Arts journalist, the late Margaretta Wa Gacheru, was honoured posthumously with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Veteran set designer Daniel Mbugua received the Lifetime Achievement Award (living).

Royal Media Services was recognised in the award for Best Ushirika Award for supporting theatre arts in productions such as Kaggia and The Trial of Dedan Kimathi by Nairobi Performing Arts Studio, The Last Spear of the Nandi by Dorion Production, and Wangu wa Makeri by Kwa Ndego Productions.

While receiving his award for Best Kikwetu Production for the Kikuyu musical play, Wangu wa Makeri, Lawrence Murage said that he hopes to see more vernacular productions in different productions.

The nominees list for the Awards was shortlisted by a five-member jury led by juror and chair Ian Mbugua, who watched 222 theatre shows across 78 venues.

Mbugua said that while there was a high number of staged shows last year, some of them lacked quality, thus shelving seven categories.

This year, the KTA awarded winners of 29 categories, a drop from 36 in last year’s ceremony.

He, however, said that there was an outstanding improvement in student productions and said that it shows that the future in theatre is in good hands. He also observed in set, costume, and lighting designs across many productions.

Mbugua urged production houses to print a QR code for the audience members to scan and get the whole programme of the show at the venue.

He also decried one of the biggest challenges that audiences face, and that is timekeeping by artists.

“You cannot tell your audience the show starts at 6 pm and then starts at 7 pm. Being a professional artist means respecting the craft and the clock,” he said.