Veteran thespians John Sibi-Okumu, Gilbert Lukalia win big at Kenya Theatre Awards

The country’s film maestros were on Thursday evening feted for their extraordinary performances during the first edition of the Kenya Theatre Awards.

According to jury chair Benson Ngobia, the awards - which consisted of 95 nominations in 28 categories - will henceforth always be held every year on the second Thursday of February.

He noted that the aim is to make the awards the Kenyan version of America’s Oscar Academy Awards or the Tony’s.

“There has been no theatre awards that track and watch all performance staged in Kenya at a given year,” Ngobia told The Standard newspaper.

“The theatre industry in Kenya also lacks proper data on the number of theatre venues, number of performances staged in a given year, number of people who attend theatre performances as well as an average figure of revenue generated through theatrical activities.”

Vivian Nyawira won the Best Breakthrough Female Performer while veteran actor Gilbert Lukalia scooped the Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical award.

Other notable winners during the event that went down at the Kenya National Theatre included; Mike Ndeda, Nick Ndeda, Xavier Nato, Nice Githinji, as well as John Sibi-Okumu and Alacoque Ntome.

Sibi-Okumu picked up the World Impact Awards while Ntome scooped the Jury’s Special Award.

This comes after Sibi-Okumu was only last month presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Carthage Theatre Festival’s for his contribution to the industry.

The 58-year-old in 2005 featured in the internationally-acclaimed film ‘The Constant Gardener’ before in 2010 acting in yet another, ‘The First Grader.’