Chronicle Editor
Mthabisi Tshuma, [email protected]
ROOFTOP Promotions is embarking on an exciting initiative to make the treasure trove of theatrical scripts from Theatre in the Park accessible to students, researchers, thespians, and scholars through a cutting-edge digital archive.
Fueled by the generous support of SANORD, the visionary project is set to revolutionise how we engage with the world of theatre. It will not only offer easy access to scripts but also provide invaluable insights into the playwrights, the cast, and the production years of these iconic plays.
However, the significance of the endeavour extends beyond our borders. The digital archive promises to open new avenues for Zimbabwean plays to be performed and appreciated on an international stage, paving the way for monetisation opportunities abroad.
Daves Guzha, the producer at Rooftop Promotions, revealed that the digitalisation of their extensive library harks back to the very inception of Theatre in the Park in 1986.
“The biggest asset for Rooftop Promotions is actually the scripts and that’s where our value really is. To put it into context, were you to do a comparison with Market Theatre and 20th Century Fox and so forth they have over 40 or 70 years scripts in their vault.
“We are really excited, we are taking the first step digitalising content and second step, monetising that particular content,” said Guzha.
He said the digital library would provide for copywright and storage issues.
“Our work or content from Theatre in the Park scripts didn’t cross to Europe or United States of America to be done by theatre houses and companies because it is not readily available. The process has been slow, because you don’t expect somebody to come from Europe to ask for a copy of the script.
“Once there are online, it becomes very easier to share the content, it also makes it easy to protect issues of rights, issues of storage it becomes fluid and seamless,” he said.
Guzha said some of the challenges of not digitalising their archive was that they lost a number of scripts over the years.
“We are actually going back in time bearing in mind Rooftop Promotions started in 1986 and now to think of digitalising that archive in 2023 we have lost some and we are also trying to recover some.
“What has also been particularly difficult is remembering the years of production that we did the earlier work including who were the cast. We were not photographing some plays had photographs and not every play was reviewed. Also the Parade (magazine) archive nobody knows where it is same as the Look & Listen archive otherwise it would’ve been easier to go to any of those archives and see what exists,” he said.
He, however acknowledged that they could also have made use of the National Archives and deposit their scripts periodically.
The database project is being led by Swedish-based renowned researcher Professor Ashleigh Harris of Uppsala University.
“I do research to make sure archives in African literature and culture are getting secured for the future. So, Rooftop has got this amazing collection of all of the play that have been put up here since its beginning but have been sitting in this container and eventually some papers just disappear.
“We have so far created an archive of over 280 plays that were performed at Theatre in the Park. Some of the plays on the database include 70 scripts by Stephen Chifunyise, a foremost prolific playwright to emerge from Zimbabwe,” said Professor Harris.
@mthabisi_mthire
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