 And also an important aspect of it, the one who implements the script, the actor. So we have an all-round 360 look into it. A student joined with Martin Odongo, who is the director, script writer. So he's going to tell us what he does at the Hall of Fame Entertainment. And I am joined with also Victor Lucici, who is the chairman of Hall of Fame and also an actor. Maybe if I've missed out anything in your titles, because I know you guys carry different, you wear different hats when needed be, maybe you can, let's go through that. Yes, we can start with you Victor. Victor Lucici, chairman of Hall of Fame and an actor. And quite recently I've just graduated to follow in his footsteps as a director and script writer. Okay, Martin? And I'm Martin Odongo. I'm a software engineer by profession. And in this case now, I'm a writer, director and producer at Hall of Fame Entertainment. Okay, let's start with the center of business, Hall of Fame. Victor, maybe you can tell me, let's start with Martin. Okay, it comes to Hall of Fame. When was it started, what does the company entail? Well, Hall of Fame came to life in the year 2019, that is after the National Drama Festivals. We saw a need in transition from the drama festival to the professional theater. And that's why we came up with Hall of Fame Entertainment. It was an idea, just a concept, because we had a tendency, or rather there's a trend, that people finish their drama festivals, if not maybe highlighted by specific guys who normally come and turn the gala, they'll not get the light, they'll not proceed to probably develop their talents. So I saw the need, saw the gap, and said, why can't we transition the whole team? Back then I was training at Africa Nazarene University, then I was also training at the Kabate National Technic Team. So I decided to like merge the two teams, the teams I had trained during that session, the drama festival session. So I decided to merge the two teams. We came up with Hall of Fame Entertainment and we decided, let's take it and push it up there. Like we saw the gap and we decided, let's seal the gap by making you guys go do it yourselves, not to a tool, called by somebody else. So yeah, that's how Hall of Fame was created. That year we did some two great professional acting shows, that is the commercial show we had at Safariko Michael Jessup Center, the first show was called Brio. Then we also had an opportunity to do the Secret Code, same venue. After that we had a very big lineup of upcoming shows, and apparently it's the year that COVID came, that is 2020 again. So in 2020 we were not able to do much. In terms of business. So probably just to keep our relevance, we did short films and short monologues and all that, just to maintain our relevance and keep the team going. Hoping because our business is majorly focused on numbers, and during that time we couldn't even host an event, not just Hall of Fame, but entirely, even stadiums were not being filled, you see. So we decided to go online, but later on again when the temperatures went down a little, we decided to go back and did our first show at National Theater. It's every actor's dream to go to the National Theater and just like do whatever they want. I mean they do best acting, or maybe entertainment. So when we got the opportunity, we grabbed it and said, well God also has reduced the temperatures on the corona side, let's take the opportunity. So we did our first show at National Theater, which is one big family. Last time we were here we were talking about one big family. And now there's a new one, there's a new production that's going to go down, I believe on the weekend. So if you even touch on that, I would like to find out Victor on your end. Tell us, who is Victor? I know you're the chairman of Hall of Fame and also an actor. Which one came first? Were you an actor then you joined Hall of Fame or everything developed at Hall of Fame? Briefly your background. I was an actor first under his leadership at Kabate National Polytechnic. Then I was part of the founding team that started Hall of Fame back in 2019. I was also elected the chairman then and I've been the chairman ever since. I've been part of most of their projects. One big family I wasn't part of it because I was committed elsewhere. But I came and still supported. At that time I was in Western Kenya for my attachment. I've recently concluded my diploma and I'm continuing with my studies. Okay, what are you pursuing? I was doing a diploma in automotive engineering. I'm recently meant to join KTTC to do teaching and also my higher diploma. Alright, so it just gets rid of the whole idea that actors... There's that perception, wrong perception, that actors probably... people would complete school or anything of the sort for people in the society who might think that way. It's not a profession that you can go for. So for you when it comes to acting, why acting? There's something that I've been to say, I want to show that the great professions teachers, doctors, have once roamed the streets in riots because of their pay. But never even once you've seen an artist go to the city. Yes, some of them struggle, a few of them. But art is one of the most pain and is one profession that you can do it for life. If right now I'm 27 years old, I act a role of a 27-year-old. When I'll be 80, I'll still be able to act a role of an 80-year-old. So it continues like that all the time of the life. Look at, for example, a series like The Bold and The Beautiful where people at the likes of Peter started when they were young until they're old. At 60s they're still acting the same and getting paid. So acting is a good profession. I'm an engineer by profession. I read somewhere that engineers were the most employed people before COVID, but after COVID content creators are now being employed more in companies than even engineers. There is a gap of creating content and consumption of content is rampant all over the world. Fantastic. When it comes to the theatre business, what's the whole of them? What is the niche for you guys? What is so different? What sets you aside from other theatre companies? Well, also different about the whole of them. Like I had mentioned initially, we create the transition and we just don't believe in big names as much as it's a big deal having a big name on your set. But we create, we mold you from zero to hero. We've had you at your probably tertiary level when you're still a student and now we're bringing you into this industry with that level of knowledge. So we want to build the experience. The moment I'm speaking about people who I can trust and like for this coming play that people who have like worked with the entire journey and I can trust to give them like I can script for them having them and their characters in mind and their capabilities in mind. And the personalities. But before you get there, you have to work this person the entire journey. So at all of them we like train you from zero to wherever you'll be. Come show me the interest and the talent. You do the auditions and I have a team that works on that most of the times. They will take the time. He's also coming into the team very soon because he's an hour like he's mentioned. He's graduating into a director. So he's going to assist in the training of the guys. Like you've also mentioned, I think 90% of all of them entertainment cast and the entire team are either students or people who've already graduated. Another key question is for anyone who's into the acting business. I've had this phrase a couple of times that we mostly struggle getting an opportunity when it comes to major production because we tend to see the same faces over and over again. And it's always a challenge to bring a new person on board. What is the disconnect there? Well, I think let me go first. We've had that notion and there's a backlash to the guys who are on screen that they're staying long on screen. But the challenge I want to put out there is it's not just screen. You want to see me on Papash Randula. You want to see me on those other drama productions. You want to see me probably doing something that you see me on set every day, every week. But it doesn't end there because theatres are now open. You come to theatre and you'll watch all these crazy talents and appreciate them the same way you'll appreciate them on the other side. Somebody will say, if you want to see actors go to the theatres and if you want to see celebrities, go and watch them on the screen. So if you want to see actors and crazy talent, you come to the theatres. Come to the theatres. Weekends are meant for theatres. Come to the theatres and enjoy. What about you, Victor? I think it boils up to... Especially for you because you're an actor and especially you interact with your colleagues as well in the same industry. With the introduction of Netflix and showmarks, there's a rise of content consumption. So right now I don't see an excuse where actors would say that there are no platforms. There are so many. And you can even think on a broader spectrum, the way you've mentioned other platforms. Yes. So as for me, it boils up to how much content can be produced because, for example, Nollywood. Nollywood produces more movies than even Hollywood. The Nigerian company produces more than the US companies. I believe we're headed there. It's a step at a time, especially right now that Kenyans are quite... women who consume more content, especially the Kenyan content. And we've also seen the quality of films that are coming out of Kenya has also increased. I think we are headed towards the right direction. For the first time, I can say as actors, we have no excuse much to perform. There's no excuse. And being an actor, what does it take to be a good actor, especially when it comes to theatre plays? Is that human interaction on one on one? So what does it take to be a good actor? First of all, I think acting just like any other profession, you first need discipline. You need to respect the stage. When you come right there, you know that you have come for business. Somebody, people are paying a thousand Bob. They are hard and cash to come and watch you play for two hours. It's not a joke. And it's business from the first minute to the last minute. The moment you understand that people are... what you want to do, you now start to understand the impact of that first customer, the second customer. Once you feel a whole, now you understand, now you need to do the best that you can be. So it's all about discipline. It's about consistency. It's about belief in yourself and the production that you are in. Okay. You've mentioned discipline and I believe time is one of those things when it comes to theatre, right? Yes. You have to be on time. Yes. So, Martin, when it comes to the business side of Hall of Fame, anyone who's watching this conversation, they have been into probably theatre business for a while. It could be on the acting side of it. But they are now thinking of the bigger picture of starting their own company. What does that entail? Go for it. Just go for it. That's what I can say because, one, you have to, like, build the self-confidence. The start will not be easy. Excuse me. The start will not be easy because you will, especially when it comes to the clientele bit, you will not, like, instantly get a production and get your whole, like, filled with the audience because that's our market. You might get to a level that you feel like, maybe I'm struggling a lot, but if you have the will and you have the drive just, like, don't, like, keep consistent. Consistency is key. Don't feel like probably I will never make it. Keep pushing. And also, probably now from the production level, or at the point of view, don't rush to spend, like, do your budget well. Don't rush to spend much, especially now before you get the clientele. From our side, we risked so much for our first show because we wanted to make the first impression. Yeah. And we helped the ability to do that. So we spent so much, and we talked to the team because, like I've said, it's a team I've worked with since campus. We just decided not to pay ourselves. For this show, we are not paying ourselves, but we want to make an impact. So we invested everything in production. All the returns went into production. And it worked perfectly well. So it was that level of discipline and level of how much you give into the company. You have to give it your all to that particular level. So I'd like to know, how do you choose the place that you produce? How do you decide that? There's Secret Code, right? Secret Code. And the initial owners? We had Brio, the Secret Code, and one big family. Yes. So what actually makes you now decide that you're going to do a Secret Code, Brio? What ignites your choice of production like that? I think, to me, I gradually produce with experience. So when we did Brio play, the biggest clientele was students because they could sell tickets to their students. And they relate with Brio those memes and stories about Brio. Actually, it was a story to mention that it was a story that had happened before to one of the characters. So I just decided, let me give them their story. So it was based on campus level. The Secret Code, we still held the clientele of students. They still wrote us... Do you remember the story of Sharon O'Bago? Oh, yes, yes, yes. That's the story I wrote. Both campus girls going out and doing the stuff they do behind the backs of their parents. Parents are not aware and all that. So it was a story just to try to enlighten them on how to live in campus. That also was the Secret Code performed at Safariko Mako Joseph Centre. Now when we stepped out to now National Theatre, there you expect... You don't just expect the audience to be the students only. You expect a wide variety of audience. So we decided to take it a notch higher and wrote the story of Nairobi. Nairobi such that one big family... Well, like I said, I mentioned last time it could be called one big bedroom. So that's what I communicated in one big family, the play. And yeah. Probably I just write gradually from... And exposing them now to the... Like he's acting now... He's acting now 45-year-old at the moment. How do you transition big to 45-year-old? Probably when you get to the set, you will appreciate that because it's a whole crazy lot of work. Yeah, there's a whole team that really work on that particular transition and everything. So there's a time I saw... It was one of those disclosure moments of actors on YouTube and they were saying that when you act a particular role, it might get into you too much, especially if you were... The way you can get into a role and then now you're going back to your real life, who Victor is. So how do you differentiate all these emotions? Because at the end of the day, we are humans and I would like to think that we are empath, but not all of us. That we can all consume all that. We can all do an intake of everything as you get into that role. So how do you get to a place where you see it just like, okay, let me let go of... The 45-year-old man is who? What's the name of a 45-year-old? Simon. How do you get... I decide that Simon, this is the place I'm living. Simon and I'm going to live my life. It never leaves you. Really? Yes. In 2019, I acted on a play called Akanan with which letter I translated to... called Square One. I was acting the role of Najib. People still call me Najib to death. They have never known my name. They just call me Najib. It follows you every day. People call me Najib. I was Moshimiwa at the play. It's the secret code. People still call me Moshimiwa. Those who have related me on that play. People who will relate with me on Simon. They will still call me Simon. So it does not leave you. What happens is you need to stay true to yourself. Yes, you need to know who is Simon and who is Victor and be able to differentiate at a personal level. Yes. Okay. You already told something about it? Yes, sure. We've heard such cases, especially when we go to direct at a high school level. We get a boy school that is supposed to act a play that has female characters. Probably let me just mention on that. If you don't, or rather if you're not keen, because as a director, I'll push you and tell you I want the exact female character in that role. And the students will push themselves and they will give you the female character in a boy school. So if you're not keen, and I think we emphasized on this last time and go through the process of deroling, you'll let that guy be like referred to or rather be perceived as a female in a boy school, which is very dangerous. So to directors, directors and probably producers out there, after a production, just make sure you spend some little time a week or two in whichever institution you are training. This is especially to high school director. Make sure you derol that character. Have a session with them. Derol and make sure he or she comes back to the normal Victor, the normal Fran, like let's not have a continued perception of a male character being perceived as a female. It will get very dangerous. Okay. Now when it comes to, because when it comes to you on such more of the business aspect of the Hall of Fame Company, so when it comes to open calls for actors, because we have our viewers, target viewers are young people, young entrepreneurs, people who love, they might be also interested when it comes to matters of theatre. They would like to come for open calls, open rooms for different roles in terms of when you do your call-outs. Now I would like to find out what majorly do you guys look for? Like just roughly, yes, but for any particular role, because I know there's specification, because it's different plays, and there's that level of requirement as well. But you know there are always those major, major onlook, the things that you look out for when you're looking for, when you call out for your open calls for actors. So you can take us through that, yeah. Sure. Probably this is just a leakage out there too. Thank you. You're finally getting leakage. Yeah. This is a leakage to actors and actresses who want to come for these open calls auditions. Versatility is key. Versatility is key. What does that mean to you? I will call for, probably I'll call for an audition of an actress, an actress who can deliver the role, I mean the role according to my script. However, if you are an actress, you come, give your best, and actually convince me as a casting director that you are good, and you have some added advantage. Maybe you can sing. You have good vocals, or maybe you can dance, or maybe you are a writer. Those additional, like, particulars are very, very, very important when you are coming for the audition. Don't come and tell me I'm an actress, I'll just do this. Well, I'll have six, seven of the same, but what differentiates you? Because it's an open call. There's a high number of guys who are going to request for the audition, and probably most of them will give exactly what I'm looking for. So what makes you different in this context? What makes you stand out? What makes you stand out. That's mostly what we look at. And yeah, especially now for one big, I mean for Baby Shower, it's a musical. Okay. It's not just an animal play, it's a musical, and it has all varieties of kinds of entertainment. We have the spoken word, we have the dance, we have the now the music instruments, and now the acting bit. You know you said it's musical. You know where my mind went? It went to Bollywood. Yeah. Hey, Indians. Hey, there's something. There was a fight, there was a fight, and all of a sudden... Singing starts. We are saying, hey, hey, it's very interesting. Just a fight or fight then. There's someone who starts singing in the midst of all that chaos. So when it comes to being an actor, right, you've done this for how long? I've been an actor since high school. I started my acting back in Chavakali in 2011. I participated in my first play in 2011, Bon Voyage, and the Ebo senator, now aspiring governor. Did you do the set books? I never did set books. Yeah, I never did set books. I'm more of a theater guy. Oh, theater guy. Yes. When it comes to sharpening your skills as an actor, how do you do that? Because we have people, I believe it happens in all the industry when you've learned about a particular skill or a particular profession, you can decide to improve on them, or improve on the skills as well. Or you can just decide to, you know what, I'm good at this. I don't overly confident, but at the end of the day, you need to up your game and improve on your skills. So how do you do that for you? For flexibility. You need to improve and sharpen your skill on a daily basis. If you do something for 10,000 hours, you become a professor at it. Yeah, you need to act more and more and more. Participate in as many plays as you can. Read. Come watch other people play. I personally watch theater plays. Just to learn from people who have been there. I've been raised from a family where I'm not alone in theater. I have people who have opened the way. So I really look up to them and ask for advice from them. I'm one of the closest people near him. I consult and consult. Then I repeat and repeat. That's how it works for me. Once I do something, I repeat it and repeat it and repeat it until it becomes part of me. I believe acting requires a lot of teamwork. What sort of personality works best for you to be in this theater space? Personality in which context? What type of person? You can have sanguine. The life of the party. Everyone. We have people who are reserved but they desire to be in the acting space. Actually, you're just talking about a case I'm already handling at all of them. I have those guys. Actually, there's a guy who just doesn't like his style is different. His personality is different. Even if the script is out, getting the lines. It's easier getting the lines interacting with the person you've been casted with. But that specific character just needs his own space. Just silence. Maybe with headphones and all that. Master of lines. When he's done, it's when he'll come back. We have such kind of personalities. Also, we have those ones who will want some little bit of pressure. Just tell them now we have to make sure we have all our lines by evening. There are guys who work under pressure. Okay, fantastic. Probably how we try to keep them on toes is just making sure they have under casts. Somebody who is understudying their role. So that keeps them more like teamed up especially at all of them working in a team. That's a culture that we've already created. Our philosophy is always the best performance. We'll have ten people mastering probably one role, but the best performance. So it has made that family concept come in very well. And they're working as a family, which is easier now on my side. Good stuff. Martin, I'd like to get another aspect from you. We have different platforms now, and we were going through them with Victor at their own when it comes to actors now being on Netflix. There's another showmark. There's so many. The internet world now. Now, do you feel like that one will kill theater? Because now people have access over movies. I can just do my series. I watch stand-up comedians on stage just through my phone or the comfort of my phone. What is your take on that? Well, it cooled. It will not. It's cooled because internet has become very cheap and the accessibility of such content is like it's been given to you. You just need to subscribe probably with an amount lower than a ticket at the National Theater or whatever theater. So it's cooled because of the accessibility bit. But what I normally say, we can never exhaust the audience. We can never exhaust the audience. And also feel the human experience. The live experience. The live experience that I am here and he's there. That pulls more people to the theater. And like we've observed recently, there's a lot of interest coming back to the theaters. And we want to encourage people out there. Well, if you want the live experience, don't look at the charges. They are very justifiable. If you ask me, actually, they are even lower than what you are supposed to be charging. But just look at the experience you are going to get there. You are going to get to meet or rather interact with your stars one on one rather than just watching them. And probably also to the directors. Well, they know directors and producers out there. The theater directors to be precise. We will not record and upload a theater play. We will just give you a snipshunt. This is what happened. A few seconds so that you create more interest coming towards the entire piece. Because this is the whole point of rehearsing for an item, maybe three months, and put it out there for free. Yes, and someone actually created time to come to the theater. The business paid and everything. What are a couple of challenges that you're going through as an actor? Or a couple of challenges that you've gone through through the years that you've been into the acting industry? The main challenge about being an actor is, of course, monetary. Theater pays, but not at that level that we expect. So there's little return. In turn, as actors, you need to go and look for something else then come work. That takes a little bit of time from your acting. I think that's the main challenge. But we're seeing it as a whole progress. People are starting to come to theater halls, feeling them. And it's a great sign headed in the right direction. I think that's the main challenge. All right. So as you wind up, Martin, take me through a baby shower. Yes, the new play. Wow. Baby shower. So baby shower is a crazy concept as usual. We don't compromise on the content as all of them. Baby shower is a script that is majorly talking about life in Nairobi. We have two themes that we are tackling in the piece. It's not just a baby shower. It's about abortion. And we also have the theme of gender inequality and equity when it comes to family level. Well, there's this perception, rather the entire traditional perception, rather how women are looked at from the traditional way. They weren't meant to go to the office. They weren't meant to have the rights to ownership. They weren't meant to... They were like a caste. Nobody was appreciating the women. Actually, if you read more from the traditional setting, women were regarded as a caste. Nobody was appreciating them. Gradually, we, and we in this case, is we as men, so it was to empower them. We empowered the women. We made them who, like, they are right now. I'm telling you, feminists, if they hear this conversation right now... We empowered them. We gave them the right to ownership. Did you give us or did we actually earn it? We earned it through probably our help. But what we forgot is how to train the boy child on how to live with an empowered lady. An empowered woman, okay. We're having reverse roles in the family setting. And them not feeling like, you know, it's competition or a threat. Exactly. Okay, so that one will be highlighted in Baby Shower. All different scenarios here. So it will incorporate all that. So I'm looking forward to it. So when is it happening? So the show is happening this coming weekend on the 30th of April. There will be on a Saturday? Saturday. Saturday, okay. And first of May, Sunday. Ah, people are not working on Fridays. It's a long weekend. It's a whole crazy plan for the weekend. Yes. So it's a plan for the weekend. So where is it happening? And how much are the entrance tickets? Yeah. So the ticket goes for 1000 Bob. It's going to happen at the Kejia National Theatre. All right. Okumbindogo. The first show will begin at six. We'll begin at three. The second show will begin at six. We shall have two shows every day. Okay. On 30th. And also first. So four shows. Oh, right. Yeah. Book your tickets. Why are they booking their ticket social media as you end up? So the till number is 580-6131. 580-6131. Okay. We actually have quite a number of packages. We have the couple package that goes for 1600. 1600. The regular is 1000. Couple 1600. Then students. But make sure you carry the school ID. We are giving you at 500 shillings. All right. But for the 3 p.m. show on Saturday. Okay. Social media handles. Did I leave anything else? Yeah. There's a group of five. All right. Also package. Group of five. Okay. Group of five package that goes for 4000 shillings. Oh. Okay. Okay. Anything else? Yeah. Yes. We have more goodies. We just want to make sure you feel comfortable. And that's why we, in partnership with Little Cub, we are giving you free rides. We are giving you rides at 250 off. So if you book a ride with Little Cub, make sure you use the promo code baby shower to and from the event for those two days Saturday and Sunday this coming weekend they will slash 250 off your total fare. Which is a very good deal because most people are from around that probably will be spending an average of 400 to 500 shillings. So half that price is a very good deal. So make sure you have the Little Cub app. And you will enjoy the ride. Okay. Social media. Social media handles. Follow us at HoloFam Entertainment on all social platforms. That is TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, HoloFam Entertainment. HoloFam Entertainment. Yes. You have covered everything, right? Thank you guys for creating time to be with us and just taking us to the business of theater, touching on what it entails when being an actor as well. We appreciate you, Victor and Martin. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for having us. That is our time frame. And as usual, make sure the conversation, keep the conversation going, yeah? At Y254 channel is where you can find us across all our social media handles. As usual, our time frame from 7 till 10 a.m. right here on Y in the morning. So it's about time that I bid you goodbye. But make sure you stay tuned on Y254 channel and enjoy the rest of programming. So if you want to follow me across all my social and keep and also have a conversation with me, that would be at Michelle Ashira across all my social media handles and my colleagues handle at Ram Agucco. So make sure you keep the conversation going and enjoy the rest of your day. Keep it here at Y254 channel. We'll see you tomorrow. So have a nice day.