Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello University ZariaEdited by Olagoke Olorunleke Ifatimehin2026-06-252026-06-252025978 – 978 – 777 – 310 - 9https://nigeriareposit.nln.gov.ng/handle/20.500.14186/2718Beyond Theory: Essays and Criticism on Emmy I. U. Idegu's Experiential Testimonial Creativity (ETC) is a critical compendium edited by Olagoke Olorunleke Ifatimehin that evaluates the analytical and dramaturgical utility of Emmy Idegu's Experiential Testimonial Creativity (ETC) theory. The text positions ETC as a robust framework for decoding the intricate relationship between personal trauma, communal history, and creative expression in post-colonial African drama. The volume specifically interrogates how Idegu's framework functions on two distinct operational levels. The first level addresses distanced, empathetic observation, where the playwright acts as a societal mouthpiece to witness and document collective socio-political contradictions and systemic corruption. The second level delves into highly personal, autobiographical testimonies born out of direct encounters with environmental antagonism, academic censorship, and institutional victimization. Through comprehensive critical essays focusing on specific plays such as Kwarapchan and The Field Marshals' Exeunt, the text demonstrates how creative writing serves both as a vehicle for public activism and a therapeutic tool for personal survival, known as scriptotherapy. Ultimately, this volume provides literature and theatre scholars with an invaluable critical vocabulary to assess how contemporary African dramatists transform raw, lived experiences into profound artistic and political resistance. Between experiential testimonial creativity and environmental antagonism: whither the creative conscience of the playwright? By Emmy Ikanaba Unuja Idegu.  When pain inspires play: a playwright’s validation on Idegu’s experiential testimonial creativity (ETC) theory by Iheanacho C. Iweha.  Experiential testimonial creativity and theatre for development as tools and sites for public Pedagogy by Patricia N. Nkweteyim.  A discourse of Emmy Idegu’s experiential testimonial creativity theory: the field marshals’ exeunt and kwarapchan in focus by Oja Paul Egwemi & Jibril Imam Mohammed-Kabir.  Experiential testimonial creativity theory: provoking thoughts for dramatic criticism by Olivia Elakeche Idoko & Peter Ogohi Salifu.  Creative writing and theory is a goatskin bag: Idegu carrries his own in the selected plays by Onyekachi Peter Onuoha.  Framing experiential testimonial creativity as theory by Oluwasegun Michael Babatunde.  Reading Idegu’s plays from the lens of experiential testimonial creativity theory by Godwin Onuche.  Interrogating an experience of academic politics in Emmy Idegu’s dramaturgy by Jibril Imam Mohammed-Kabir & Musa Salifu.  Of alienation and fixation discourse of theatrical personalities beyond their dramaturgical representation by Oluwafemi Akinlawon Atoyebi.  Of emotional proximity and creative response in playwright: an ETC reading of Emmy Idegu’s drama by Yusuf Ninzim Shamagana.  The native narrator in a crazy world: a scrutiny of “the crazy world” in Lucky Dube’s crazy world by Ihuoma Okorie.  Rethinking the tragic, the absurd and the concept of heroism in the two dramatic memoirs on UNIOSUN sex scandal beyond “experiential testimonial creativity theory” by Olabode Wale Ojoniyi.  The universality of Emmy Ikanaba Unuja Idegu’s Experiential Testimonial Creativity (ETC) by Gambo Sani.  Of activist theatre and hegemonic mischief in literary censorship: a perspective of Emmy Idegu’s autobiographical drama by Oluwafemi Akinlawon Atoyebi.  Two angry writers, one country: interrogating the experiential testimonial creativity theory in the interviews and plays of Emmy Idegu’s and Esiaba Irobi by Reuben Embu & Iheanacho Iweha.  Experiential testimonial creativity theory and the search for safe spce: an instance of Emmy Idegu’s thefield marshals’ exeunt bu Onogu Willams Sunday, Atule Egwu Emmanuel & Ali Umar Ojodale.  Becoming Malcolm: an actor’s experiential journey of immersion in the stage performance of Jeff Stetson’s the meeting by Prince Nathan Kure.  The consciousness of the consciousness of another: a phenomenological reading in Emmy Idegu’s Experiential Testimonial Creativity (ETC) by Victor Osae Ihidero.  Theory and creativity in contemporary playwright: an interview with professor Emmy I.U. Idegu.enBook