Theatre awards bestow recognition to thespians

Association, on Saturday 26 March conferred vital recognition awards to prominent theatre practitioners and institutions in Zimbabwe.
The inaugural national theatre awards were presented by the Mayor of Harare Mr Muchadeyi Masunda to the following:
Dr Susan Hains (Harare); Theatre Arts Department of the University of Zimbabwe, Ngugi waMirii (posthumous); Adrian Stanley (posthumous); Daves Guzha (Harare); Theory X (Harare); Raisedon Baya (Bulawayo); Stephen Chifunyise (Harare); Gavin Gordon (Kadoma); Cont Mhlanga and Amakhosi Theatre (Bulawayo); Harare International Festival of the Arts; Patience Tawengwa (Harare); Reps Theatre (Harare) Doug Hill (Masvingo) and Mthandazo Dube (Harare).
What was most pleasant about the theatre awards ceremony, was the reading of citations for all theatre pratitioners and institutions honoured that night.
The citations expressed concisely and succinctly the achievement of the thespians and institutions honoured and illustrated vividly the uniqueness of each of the galaxy theatre stars.
The citations also showed that the Zimbabwe Theatre Association’s Executive Committee sought to bestow honour and pay tribute to institutions and people who have impacted tremendously on the nature and growth of Zimbabwean theatre and who are worthy role models , pioneers, innovators and definers of different aspects of theatre preoccupation driven by a passion to put theatre at the service of humanity and for the development of Zimbabwe.
One hopes that comprehensive media reviews of the Zimbabwe National Theatre Awards will discuss all the citations in order to enable the nation to appreciate the significance of the awards and all that is being recognised.
Such discussions are crucial in highlighting what the Zimbabwe Theatre Association saw in these prominent theatre practitioners and institutions that constitute what should be celebrated on the World Theatre Day as Zimbabwe’s contribution to world theatre.
The theatre Award ceremony gave the Mayor Masunda an opportunity to spell out his vision of turning Harare into a city of culture.
In his speech he traced his own induction into theatre in Bulawayo in 1957 and how the arts, sports and culture programmes of the City of Bulawayo were crucial nurseries of personal development and cultural awareness.
The mayor gave an overview of the broad policies the city intends to pursue to ensure that all facilities for arts sport and culture are accessible to the residents of Harare.
He indicated that there were areas requiring regulatory frameworks necessary for the City Council to support initiatives that re-enforce the capacity of cultural operators and institutions to uphold the role of culture in social and economic development of the city especially those that make the city a sustainable base for the creation, production, dissemination and consumption of cultural goods and services.
The mayor singled out the role Harare International Festival of the Arts has played in turning Harare into a mecca of cultural entertainment.
In recognising this role and the positive impact of the festival on different sectors, the City of Harare was considering the position of long term lease of its recreational facilities and cultural that will enable arts and cultural institutions to initiate long term development of the facilities.
He cited the long lease arrangements, which have enabled some sport bodies to contribute to the development of sports facilities belonging to the City Council.
The mayor stressed the need for the refurbishing of all cultural facilities in both low and high-density suburbs into active centres for arts and culture creation and consumption by the residents of the city and all who visit it.
Performances to mark World Theatre Day
The 26th March also saw the holding of theatre performances at the Theatre in The Park in Harare which were organised by the International Theatre Institute (Zimbabwe Centre) to mark the World Theatre Day.
The event of the day which was well attended by a broad cross -section of the performing arts fraternity featured a talk about the International Theatre Institute, its committees and partner international theatre organisations; the presentation of ITI (Zimbabwe Centre) Steering Committee; the reading of the international World Theatre Day message written by Jessica Kaahwa of Uganda and a presentation of plays by Savanna Trust (Watematsanga); Tsimba Arts (Apocalpses) and CHIPAWO (The Most Wonderful Thing of All).
All the plays were donated by theatre groups. The three plays were an excellent choice of theatre to commemorate the World Theatre Day as they exhibited a wide diversity of theatre art forms and use of theatre in promoting dialogue, peace and development.
The three plays were also a good demonstration of the quality and concerns of Zimbabwean theatre and the commitment of Zimbabwean theatre practitioners. Performing to an audience of theatre artists can be a big challenge to any actor.
The enthusiastic response of the audience to the three plays was a very positive evaluation of the quality and relevance of the plays presented.
Some of the comments by the audience were that getting theatre groups together to put up a performance programme of a diversity of plays which in performance should not just be for the World Theatre Day celebrations but should be a prominent feature of Zimbabwean theatre practice especially in view of the need to ensure that theatre spaces have regular programmes of good quality theatre that appeals to a large spectrum of Zimbabwean audiences.
World Cinema Day
Today is the World Cinema Day. On this day ceremonies are held in different countries to recognise the contribution of cinema, the pioneers of cinema and the development of the cinema industry which has become the largest creative industry.
Countries use the day to trace the development of cinema and to take cognisance of its contribution to the social and economic development of humanity. For us in Zimbabwe it is time to pay tribute to the pioneers of cinema and their influence on developments in our film industry.
International Day for Theatre for Children and Young People
March 20 was the International Day for Theatre for Children and Young People.
Although the day passed quietly. On Saturday 2 April, CHIPAWO, a founding member of ASSITEJ-Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Association of Theatre for Children and Young People will commemorate the International Day for Theatre for Children and Young People with a presentation of plays youth and children groups from Bindura, Harare, Chitungwiza, Norton and Domboshawa.
The commemoration which will be help at the Zimba-bwe College of Music in Harare from 10:00am will feature Chipawo Centres, The Harare Junior Theatre, and the Harare Youth Theatre with the following plays: Muto-ngi Gava, African Charter for Child-ren, Chipo and the Bird and Sara.
An important item on the programme will be the reading of the International Message by Orna Porat entitled Dre-ams of the Human Family. The event is open free of charge to school based theatre groups, theatre practitioners and the general public.