Together As One here to stay

Jonathan Mbiriyamveka Entertainment Reporter
Highfield-based theatre group Together As One has started paying for medical aid and school fees for its members as part of incentives to ensure that they benefit from their skills.

Eddingtone Hatitongwe, the group’s production manager, said gone are the days when theatre practitioners were looked down upon.

“We have managed to professionalise our activities as a group. So the first thing we did was to look at problems facing our members and one of them was the lack of resources. Some of them could not further their studies so we undertook to pay for their schools fees and uniforms.

“For those that had already passed their O’ Levels we also encouraged them to study for diplomas in performing arts. We are happy that at least the majority of our members now have diplomas which means that we have a lot of qualified people in our group,” Hatitongwe said.

He said a number of groups had fallen by the way side because they failed to develop themselves into viable businesses.

“For long theatre was not taken seriously because people back then thought it was for non-achievers and school leavers and yet that should not be the case. Theatre is like any other business and it takes trained people to make it work.

“Together As One has survived all these years because we now have qualified people who run the show. We are one of the few recognised theatre groups that get interns from the various universities in Zimbabwe. This is a sign that we are doing something good,” he said.

Hatitongwe said they hope to build a better future for its members and generations to come.

Currently, the group has diversified into what they call Christian theatre whereby they stage plays that have to do with Christian issues.

“There is no doubt that these days churches are big businesses but what they lack is training. In other words, in most churches there are few people who know how to write a script and let alone direct a play. So that is where we come in,” Hatitongwe said.

Together As One was one of the groups that performed at the recently held Mashonaland East Cultural Festival at Murewa Culture Centre.

The group presented a play titled “My Daughter” about HIV and AIDS. The story is based on a university student who finds the going tough after her father dies. She then falls in love with a married businessman for financial support.

However, as fate would have it, the businessman was HIV positive and she gets infected. The play also sets out to show the other side of social ills that affect students.

The play featured the talents of Amanda Mafukidze, Brandon Chamboko, Michelle Kurota and Christabel Chipenyu.

Together As One was formed in 1992 and it identified the talents of Daniel Maphosa and Jasen Mphepo who became renowned theatre practitioners in their own right.

Mphepo now leads Patsime Trust, another vibrant community-based theatre group while Maphosa is the director of Savanna Trust, also a thriving theatre group.

However, Washington Masenda who was one of the founding members of Together As One, has since passed the baton to the young talents and is now playing an advisory role.

According to Masenda they were in the process of unlocking value in theatre through teaching of theatre in schools as well as launching a mega theatre festival for primary schools.

The group which is based at Cyril Jennings Hall conducts its rehearsals from 1pm to 4pm for school going children then 10am to 1pm for school leavers.

The group is set to tour Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Sweden next year.