Her vibrant personality is indeed endearing and when she is either on stage or on location, she never ceases to bring out her best.
Bikiya Graham-Douglas is my Leading Woman for this week. She is the Founder, Beeta Universal Arts Foundation. She is also an award winning actress, producer and singer. She has a BA (Hons) in Business Economics with Business Law after which she followed her dreams to become an actress.
After training from the prestigious drama schools such as the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA), the Oxford School of Drama and Bridge Theatre Training Company, she returned to Nigeria where she has been making her mark in TV, Film and on stage.
She won Best Supporting Actress at the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards for her role in ‘Flower Girl’, she also got nominations for the Nigerian Entertainment Awards and the Nollywood Movie Awards.
She continues to work on various platforms sharing her craft and her most recent credits include: Jenifa’s Diary, Wait, New Money and Battleground.
She founded the Beeta Universal Arts Foundation (BUAF) to create platforms for young artisans to exhibit their talent and develop themselves. Her focus has resulted in various performances and capacity building endeavours for many artisans in Nigeria and the diaspora.
Beeta Universal Arts Foundation (BUAF) is a foremost Nigerian Organisation focused on Theatre and Art Education.
BUAF’s focus is to continuously project theatre as a viable and contemporary art form, expressing the skills of talented artisans by integrating popular culture in a way that would appeal to mass audiences of all age groups.
For them, sustainability is important. BUAF has engaged over four hundred and fifty individuals since inception through productions, art advocacy and art education.
BUAF was an affiliate of FELA on Broadway show when it toured to Lagos, and was commissioned by the UNESCO Port Harcourt World Book Capital to produce a Play on the history of the Book.
BUAF was also engaged by the Nigerian Diplomatic Community in Ireland to produce a Play at the African Week in Dublin and has produced plays at the Cape Town Fringe Festival and Lagos Theatre Festival.
Some of Bikiya’s notable achievements include; organising a workshop between Theatre Practitioners of Nigeria and Fela the Broadway Musical, the inclusion of theatre into the activities at the annual Calabar Festival, Commissioned Thespian for the official stage plays for Port Harcourt, UNESCO WORLD BOOK CAPITAL 2014-2015 and the Production of a play at the Africa Week celebrations in Trinity College Dublin.
Under her leadership, BUAF signed a strategic alliance to make innovative arts training more accessible. She also introduced the first ever indigenous Playwright Competition for young Nigerians. She has produced over thirty stage plays and starred in several movies and TV Series and Plays.
Bikiya was selected to perform at the Queens Diamond Jubilee Celebration in Nigeria; She was made Youth Ambassador for Africa Week Event by the African Ambassadors’ Association and Trinity International Development Initiative. Sharing on her experience, she says “I was approached by the British High Commission in Abuja and they asked me to perform at the Queen’s diamond jubilee show celebration and it was a wonderful experience.”
She has performed at the Cape Town and Lagos International Fringe Festival. She is passionate about girl child education and in 2017, she was cast to play Hadiza Bako in the Africa Magic hit TV series, Battleground.
On her love and passion for girl child education, she has this to say “I believe every girl has a right to education and I have created a play with the help of British Nigerian Playwright Oladipo Agboluaje called WAIT and we hope to use this material to address the current issues in the Country and find solutions. I have performed this piece in Dublin, Cape Town, Lagos and we are now planning a tour to different parts of Nigeria and the United Kingdom and USA.”
Though Bikiya has been in the movie industry for over 10 years, she says it hasn’t been rosy all through. In her words, “I have been in the industry for over ten years and it has been great so far but it hasn’t always been easy or rosy however, it has been a steady progression for me and I am very thankful to God for all the opportunities that have come my way.” She says.
Bikiya recently concluded a stage play which has received interesting reviews. According to Bikiya, “My recently concluded event was a stage play called ‘Our Son the Minister’ by Paul Ugbede and directed by Kenneth Uphopho at Terra Kulture Arena. This Play was the winning play of the Beeta Playwright Competition which I founded through my arts organisation Beeta Universal Arts Foundation, to find the new voices of Literature in Nigeria.” She further adds that “we received one hundred and twenty six plays and this emerged as the winner. The panel of judges were Professor Ahmed Yerima, Shiabu Husseini, Lala Akindoju, Kenneth Uphopho and Ibiso Graham-Douglas.”
“Professor Ahmed Yerima and Kenneth Uphopho were gracious enough to assist with the workshop, we gave the playwright 1 million naira to start his career, we edited and published his work through Paperworth Books Limited and then we put it on stage. It was very well received and the attendance was very encouraging. We are planning to bring it back on stage again in the very near future.” She tells me.
Bikiya’s role as Hadiza Bako in Battleground always gets her fans intrigued with her excellent interpretation. She also starred in the recently concluded Inkblot Movie directed by Tope Oshin called New Money being released next month.
Kemi Ajumobi
