A scene from Dr. Joe Gbaba’s “The Frogs and Black Snake in Frogsville” staged at the Bowie Center for the
Performing Arts on Saturday, January 9, 2016
Dehkontee Artists Theatre wowed the crowd at the Bowie Center for the Performing
Arts last night (January 9th, 2016) with a Broadway style spectacular display of African folklore
and pageantry and African theatrical performance! The thespians kept the audience spellbound
and glued to their seats without intermission for an hour and a half. The African folkloristic
theatrical presentation was also action packed and comical. It ended in a suspenseful
denouement just when the spectators had comfortably adjusted themselves in their seats and
were craving for more entertainment from the Dehkontee Artists that put up a magnificent
African production of Joe Gbaba’s “The Frogs and Black Snake in Frogsville”.
Dehkontee Artists Theatre, Inc. (DATI) has survived forty-one years of promoting
Liberian history and culture. It is thus far the longest surviving Liberian cultural group to
consistently educate and entertain the world about the history and culture of Liberia and Africa,
even though most Liberians rather promote western or alien cultures than their own. Also, in
Liberia, the leadership of Liberia denigrates or puts down anything that originates from Liberia
as being “country” or “uncivilized”; but any dirt that comes from the western world is the
“bomb”!
Members of the “Alligator” Class of ’89 of the A.M.E. Zion Academy and their guests from
various states in the United States, will light up Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love and
Sisterly Affection with their presence this weekend, August 18-20, 2023, to celebrate their class
reunion. The Guest Speaker is Rabbi Joe Gbaba, Executive Director and Founder of Dehkontee
Artists Theatre, Inc. (DATI). Dr. Gbaba was a former English Instructor of that prestigious
Liberian secondary institution in 1981. The auspicious occasion will take place at Mae’s Liberty
Palace, 1 Franklin Mills Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19154, at 7 PM. The public is
cordially invited.
Saturday, January 9, 2016 was an evening of pomp and pageantry and a “Liberian
Cultural Night” at the Bowie Center for the Performing Arts! Also, it was the very first time in
western history that the celebration of such magnitude was not being held on a “Red Carpet” but
a “Green Carpet” during the 42nd Gala of Professor Joe Gbaba as playwright, theatre director,
actor, and producer. In addition, the ceremony was also in observance of the 39th Anniversary of
the founding of Dehkontee Artists Theatre at the University of Liberia. In this light, the Embassy
of the Republic of Liberia in Washinton, D.C. attached significance to the ceremony particularly
as Liberia is now gradually emerging from the dust of war to regain its international status as the
oldest African republic.
Rabbi Prince Joseph Tomoonh-Garlodeyh Gbaba, Sr., Ed. D.
Keynote Speaker
Event: National Bong County Association in the Americas, Inc. Convention
Date: Saturday, July 23, 2022
Address: Burlington Quaker Meeting House, 340 High St., Burlington, New
Jersey 08016
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