adminStephen Chifunyise Theatre Corridors
The month of February is usually the start of the theatre season in Zimbabwe. January has been very dry, theatre wise, except for Bulawayo’s Amakhosi Cultural Centre that began its Plays On Sunday and is in fourth week with plays from Amakhosi Performing Arts Academy and Midlands State University.
Cont Mhlanga ,the Director of Amakhosi Cultural Centre indicated in his brief about the centre’s theatre programme in February and March: “Amakhosi Cultural Centre is already in full swing with its 2014 plays on Sunday theatre season. To us 2013 is behind us and is as if it never existed. We have moved into 2014 with weaknesses of 2013 with the objective of working on them and turning them into strengths and turning the 2013 challenges to opportunities.
“To improve on the quality of plays presented by new theatre makers on “Plays On Sunday”, so that we can attract larger audiences we have made the following changes, a play is now presented on two Sundays in a row.
First Sunday the theatre makers get feed back from the audience and go back to rehearsals before returning the following Sunday for a final presentation. This reduces the number of plays presented in a month by half as evidenced in January where 2 plays were presented and not four as in January 2013. The quality of work has shot up and the audience numbers are already rising.”
Mhlanga indicated that this coming Sunday the 9th February, Prince Mazilankatha’s “Identity Matters” will have its final presentation on the “Plays on Sunday” programme. He also announced the recently launched Open Mic Clinic at the centre “where any one out there who has a story to tell can bring their first draft to the clinic. Others just bring the story in oral form and they are taken through the process of putting their story into written form for the suitable medium. This process is producing wonderful results for new playwrights. The script clinic has become an instant hit.”
The National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) ceremony to be held on 14th February in Bulawayo will see the recognition of some theatre practitioners in the categories of Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Production. Those who will be recognised for outstanding theatre works produced in 2013 will no doubt be spurred on by the awards to pursue even more outstanding theatre innovations in 2014.
Recognition by the nation of theatre productions of 2013 should spur the producers of that theatre to make these outstanding productions accessed by more people by taking their performances to other parts of the country. The NAMA recognition should not put a lid on the performances of these theatre products recognised but should be a declaration of the value and quality of cultural products that enhances the viability of creative industry.
Chipawo has announced an attractive programme of presenting a diversity performing arts in different Zimbabwean languages on the 22nd February to commemorate the International Mother Language Day which falls on 21st February.
The Chipawo programme which will be held at Zimbabwe College of Music will include presentation of plays, recitation of totemic praises, children’s song games, nursery rhymes, lullabies and story telling.
The programme will also accommodate the participation of children representing diplomatic missions in Harare who will make presentations in their mother tongues.
Chipawo has also announced that it will host what it calls Zimbabwe Children’s Theatre Exchange Festival to be held in Harare from the 24th to 29th November 2014. The festival will feature theatre for children and young people by local children’s performing arts organisations as well as plays by Chipawo’s sister organisations such as Chipawo – Botswana, Chipawo – Namibia, Chipawo – South Africa.
This festival is also aimed coinciding with the International Day Against Child Abuse.
It is expected therefore that most of the plays to be presented will deal with the issues of the fight against child abuse, children’s rights, girl child empowerment and the war against child labour.
As usual, the month of March is the theatre celebration month. March 20 is the International Day of Theatre for Children and Young People. Chipawo has announced that it will celebrate this day at the end of March on a day the organisations calls Chipawo Play Day where its various centres in Harare, Chitungwiza, Norton and Bindura will present plays they have created in previous years. March 27 is the World Theatre Day. The Steering Committee of the International Theatre Institute (Zimbabwe Centre)and the Amakhosi Cultural Centre have already indicated plans to celebrate the day. Celebrations in Harare will feature a selection of plays produced in 2013 while Amakhosi Cultural Centre will celebrate the day with a theatre colloquium that will run for several days in Bulawayo.
Savanna Trust will take its 2013 production of “Pub Stories” to the Tsoho International Festival that takes place in Bloemfortein, South Africa, from March 24 t0 29. The trust has just concluded its very successful theatre directors training programme that was facilitated by Roel Twinjstra of Twist Projects of South Africa. The director’s training workshop was attended by Elizabeth Muchemwa, Elton Mjanana,Leonard Matsa, Rudo Mutangadura, Eunice Tava, Judith Tsoka, Everson Ndlovu, Teddy Mangawa and Tafadzwa Hananda.
At the end of March ,Teddy Mangawa and Tafadzwa Hananda , the stars of Savanna Trust’s 2013 production “Half empty – Half Full” will travel to Durban, South Africa for theatre production collaboration with Durban based Umsindo Theatre. The result of their collaboration will be presented to Durba’s Uhuru Festival.
The Director of the Masvingo based Youth Cultural Arts Festival(YOCAF), Leroy Gono has announced that YOCAL will this year be held from July 31 August 2. Some of the highlights of YOCAF 2014 will be introduction of stand-up comedy.
It is expected that the nation’s top comedians will not only patronise YOCAF 2014 but will also find time to hold a workshop with students and teachers on the stand-up comedy genre.
Youth theatre groups from all parts of the country who are being invited are expected to register for the festival by March 31 2014.
Masvingo based Xpress Arts has announced the launch of their Youth Action Kommittee(YAK) that aims “to use the arts to build young people’s creativity, self confidence, self-esteem and cultural and community awareness.”
The programme that will operated through the hosting of arts training camps during school holidays will accommodate up to 6o young people who will be given opportunities “to build their competencies and become engaged as partners in their own development as well as the development of their communities.”
Mgcini Nyoni has indicated that a new theatre education project known as Eziko Theatre Laboratory has been established in Bulawayo.
The training programme which is being offered by the Victory Siyangoba Trust takes place every last Friday of the month in Tshabalala and is a mixture of dance and theatre .Nyoni also reported that expected to have a world premier in Bulwayo in early March is a play “The Civil Servant” by Thabani Moyo who is also a drama teacher at Evelyn High School.
The plays is being co-produced with Bambelela Arts Ensemble.
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