Tony Award-Winning Director Rebecca Taichman Joins Almasi Collaborative Arts in Harare Ahead of Africa Voices Now! 2026
Acclaimed American director leads an intensive with the directors of all three festival plays, as the countdown begins to 17 October
Rebecca Taichman surrounded by the student cohort of her Directing Workshop
Almasi Collaborative Arts today announced that Tony Award-winning director Rebecca Taichman is in Harare, leading an intensive directing programme with the directors of all three plays in this year's Africa Voices Now! 2026 festival. The intensive runs until 25 August.
Taichman, who received the 2017 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Indecent, is directly mentoring Gideon J. Wabvuta, director of 30 Acres by Tatenda Mutyambizi; Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi, director of Shards by Cynthia Marangwanda; and Tadziyana David Bvumbe, director of Quixotic by Tawanda Vombo — the three productions that premiere at the Africa Voices Now! Festival to be held at Jasen Mphepo Little Theatre from 17 October to 6 November 2026.
The Rebecca Taichman facilitated Directing Workshop continues a practice at the centre of Almasi's model: bringing leading international practitioners into Zimbabwean rehearsal rooms to work alongside local artists. Almasi has brought more than 20 top-tier mentors to Zimbabwe — including practitioners with Pulitzer, Tony, and Academy Award recognition — as part of a development process that has trained over 250 African artists, developed 31 new African plays, and created work for over 100 arts professionals every year. Guided by the philosophy of “kudzidza hakuperi” the organisation's aim is not visiting-star spectacle but the transfer of world-class craft into Zimbabwean hands.
Wabvuta and Mutumbi are themselves alumni of Almasi’s Walter Muparutsa Fellowship, through which they pursued training in the United States before returning to Zimbabwe as leaders in the industry — the same creative pipeline now on public display at Africa Voices Now! 2026.
Speaking on the workshop, Almasi Collaborative Arts Associate Artistic Director, Zaza Muchemwa said:
“Rebecca's presence in our workshop rooms is exactly what Almasi was built for. Our directors are not observing the work of a master from a distance; they are working, day after day, under the guidance of one of the finest directors in world theatre, using as models of learning the very productions Zimbabwean audiences will see in October. This is how craft is passed on, and how a professional industry is built.”
Danai Gurira, Executive Artistic Director, Almasi Collaborative Arts said:
Rebecca Taichman is a world class director. It has been my goal to bring her to Zim for years now. To have her on the ground, interacting directly with our artists is very thrilling. The progress I have witnessed amongst our local artists as a result of her presence is truly incredible. The cultural exchange occurring right now, with the impact the Zim artists are having on Rebecca also, is resulting in an incredibly fruitful artistic interchange. The road to African Voices Now 2026 just got smoother.
Rebecca Taichman said:
“My time with Almasi has been beyond anything I could have ever imagined. The artists I have met here are not only terrifically talented, but also extraordinarily generous, beautiful people. These two weeks reminded me why I fell in love with theater - the sheer power of storytelling and what it can mean to a community. I long to return and experience the excellent work these directors will undoubtedly produce”The intensive comes as momentum builds toward the second edition of Africa Voices Now!, following a 2025 festival that opened to a sold-out house and earned two National Arts Merit Awards. Batsirai Chigama's Can We Talk?, which premiered at the 2025 festival, is confirmed to receive a public performance in New Jersey.
Africa Voices Now! 2026 runs from 17 October to 6 November at the Jasen Mphepo Little Theatre, 68 McChlery Avenue, Eastlea, Harare. Single tickets are $5 and a festival pass covering all three plays is US$12, on sale from 12 August at sahwigate.com and the theatre box office.
Tickets for Africa Voices Now! 2026 go on sale next week August 2026 on almasiarts.org/avn2026
Media and Sponsorship enquiries:
Phil Chard
Public Relations
phil@pointblack.africa
+263772419739
Zaza Muchemwa
Associate Artistic Director
elizabeth@almasiarts.org
+2636773255694
About Almasi Collaborative Arts
Almasi Collaborative Arts is a professional dramatic arts organisation co-founded in 2011 by Zimbabwean-American actress and playwright Danai Gurira. The organisation is dedicated to professionalising Zimbabwe’s dramatic arts industry by providing rigorous education, development, global access, and professional opportunities to African creative talent. Almasi is structured around the principles of Kudzidza Hakuperi (Learning never ends), Each one teach one, and bringing the African narrative to the global stage.
About Africa Voices Now!
Africa Voices Now! is Almasi Collaborative Arts’ flagship festival of new African plays. It serves as a public platform for emerging Zimbabwean playwrights and theatre-makers, connecting artistic excellence with audiences, partners, and future opportunities. African Voices Now is a revolutionary festival in its second year, presented by Almasi Collaborative Arts, the leading nonprofit arts organisation in Zimbabwe. Co-founded by Danai Gurira, the award-winning actress and playwright known for her roles in Black Panther, The Walking Dead, and for writing the Broadway play Eclipsed, Almasi is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of African storytellers through professional training and global opportunities.
This festival is the result of months of hands-on training for emerging Zimbabwean artists in all areas of theatre, including writing, directing, acting, stage management, and stage production. What makes Africa Voices Now! unique is that it does not stop at training; it ends in staged public performances of brand-new Zimbabwean plays, created and performed by the participants themselves.
About Almasi’s Walter Muparutsa Fellowship
The Walter Muparutsa Fellowship Artist of Excellence is a grant program administered by Almasi designed to support exceptional African dramatic artists with economic needs
This fellowship supports African dramatic artists of exceptional ability and promise who have economic need. It is designed to ease the financial pressures of everyday life and give the artist the freedom to develop their craft and focus on their creative output over the course of a grant period.
Fellows participate in Almasi programs and productions, gaining direct exposure to American teaching mentors and facilitators. The fellowship may also support exceptional Zimbabwean artists in accessing educational opportunities in the United States.
Recipients are identified through Almasi's programs and selected by the Artistic Director alongside an Advisory Board of Zimbabwean artists, who assess each candidate's body of work, recommendations, and artistic trajectory.
Track Record: The fellowship has successfully launched careers. Notable alumni Gideon Wabvuta and Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi pursued higher education in the U.S. through the program and have returned to Zimbabwe as leaders within Almasi and the broader local arts industry
Most recently, Playwright Fellow Kingsley Chinhanu was accepted into the prestigious NYU Tisch MFA in Writing program.
