Almasi Collaborative Arts Presents the Africa Voices Now! A festival to Showcase New African Plays in Zimbabwe
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HARARE, ZIMBABWE — Almasi Collaborative Arts, a leading arts organization, is proud to announce the inaugural Africa Voices Now! A Festival of New African Plays, a three-week event showcasing brand-new Zimbabwean plays from a new generation of artists. The festival, running from October 18 to November 7 at Jasen Mphepo Little Theatre, is the culmination of intensive training programs that have equipped emerging and mid-career writers, directors, actors, and designers with the skills needed to create theater that competes on a global stage.
After thirteen years of professional training of Zimbabwean artists by bringing top US professionals to Zimbabwe for education, mentorship and opportunity creation, Almasi enters a new phase. Phase One: “Learning Never Ends” meets Phase 2: “Bringing African Narratives to the Global Stage.” This new Phase is personified by our inaugural African Voices Now! Festival which promises to be a celebrated annual event.
The Africa Voices Now! Festival will feature three original plays:
Can We Talk? by Batsirai Chigama
These Humans Are Sick by Tatenda Mutyambizi
The Return by Rudo Mutangadura
These productions were developed through a rigorous artistic journey guided by some of the world’s most respected theatre professionals. The training began with the Almasi Africa Playwrights Conference led by Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater in New York, best known for bringing Hamilton and Fun Home to the stage. Following the conference, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Sweat, Ruined) mentored the playwrights through a rewriting residency. Actors and directors also received high-level training from renowned experts, including Broadway actor Peter Francis James and Tony Award-winning director Emily Mann.
"Africa Voices Now! A Festival of New African Plays is more than a showcase; it's a launchpad for rising African talent," said Danai Gurira, Executive Director of Almasi Collaborative Arts. "We are dedicated to transforming lives and building careers and the local entertainment sector by giving our artists the tools and exposure they need to succeed on a global stage."
Acting workshop with Peter James Francis
Almasi Directing Masterclass with Emily Mann
A key element of the festival is Almasi’s partnership with The Public Theater (NYC). This collaboration will ensure that at least one of the featured plays is selected for continued development and a potential performance in the United States, providing wider international exposure for Zimbabwean narratives. The festival will also feature guest musical performances by top Zimbabwean musicians.
About the Plays and Artists
Batsirai Chigama is an award-winning spoken word poet, author, and literary activist based in Harare. Her two poetry collections, Gather the Children and For Women Trying To Breathe & Failing, both won National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA).
Can We Talk?: After the death of their elder sister, Saru, who refuses to be buried, three sisters—Anokosha, Bope, and Yanano—take a journey back to their childhood to uncover a grave secret.
Tatenda Mutyambizi is a Zimbabwean playwright who explores the complexities of human existence in his work. He has participated in the Almasi African Playwrights Conference and is a featured writer in the Africa Voices Now! Festival. His short film was an official selection for the Zimbabwe International Film Festival.
These Humans Are Sick: Set in a vibrant Harare ghetto, this play follows a young hustler's desperate pursuit of a better life. His ambition sets off a chain of events that pulls his community into a web of desperation and unintended consequences, forcing them to question if survival can be achieved without losing one’s soul
Rudo Mutangadura is a Zimbabwean playwright who has been writing for the stage for 12 years. Her work often centres on the complex relationships between women.
The Return: Two sisters, Jacqui and Maryanne, reunite after their father’s death. Separated by continents—one in Harare, the other in Birmingham—they must confront old tensions and "diaspora wars" as they decide what to do with their ailing mother.
About Almasi Collaborative Arts
Almasi is a Zimbabwean-based arts organisation committed to empowering Zimbabwean and African artists to create and produce professional, world-class, globally competitive works. Through training, mentorship, and international collaboration and opportunity, Almasi nurtures the next generation of creative voices and builds Zimbabwe’s arts sector.
Distributed on behalf of Almasi Arts Trust
CONTACT:
Phil Chard
Public Relations
phil@pointblack.africa
+263772419739
Zaza Muchemwa
Associate Artistic Director
+2636773255694
