Almasi African Playwrights Conference 2020

Harare, August 27th 2019 | Sandra Chidawanyika-Goliath  

From the 13th to the 25th of January 2020, Almasi held the  Almasi African Playwrights Conference at Reps Theatre, Harare. Led by Sasha Emerson the conference had the participation of three Zimbabwean playwrights Blessing Musariri, Farai Mabeza and Makanaka Mavengere. Almasi Water Muparutsa Fellow Gideon Jeph Wabvuta served as Dramaturge.

Over the course of twelve days the playwrights, led by Sasha Emerson, further developed their plays in a collaborative process with local actors and directors. The process culminated in free public staged readings of the new African Plays at Reps Theatre Main Stage.

On the 24th of January, 7pm Almasi presented a free public staged reading of Painted Wolves by Farai Mabeza. Directed by Makomborero Theresa Muchemwa, the play deals with a Zimbabwean family’s dysfunction in the backdrop of collapsed socio-economic structures.  The staged reading of Painted Wolves featured Francis Nyakuhwa, Shaun Mundawarara, Mwenje Mathole, Chipo Bizure, Marian Kunonga, Chido Joanne Tenga and David Bvumbe.

On the 25th of January, 3pm Almasi presented a free public staged reading of Maid in the mirror by Makanaka Mavengere. Directed by Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi, the play touches on issues of child marriage, rape, domestic violence and women’s empowerment.  The staged reading featured Tendaishe Chitima, Sandra Chidawanyika-Goliath, Charlene Mangweni, Rumbidzai Karize-Hungwe, Yeukai Mhandu, Dereck Nziyakwi, Brighton Ndhlovu and Aneunhu Gwatidzo.

The 25th of January, 6pm saw Almasi presenting the last free public staged reading for Almasi African Playwrights Conference 2020. Case of the Silent Girl by Blessing Musariri is an African spiritual, religious and musical exploration of the questions people have on suicide. Directed by Eyahra Mathazia the staged reading featured the talents of Michael Kudakwashe, Caroline Mashingaidze-Zimbizi, Chimwemwe Joy Chipidza, Musa Saruro, Sitshengisiwe Siziba and Munashe Karnell Goromonzi.

Almasi African Playwrights Conference 2020 was the fourth edition of the Almasi African Playwrights Conference.

The Almasi African Playwrights Conference is designed to identify new African dramatic writing talent and facilitate the further development of new African dramatic pieces.

Audience Reception

‘It was awesome.’ -Audience member

‘It was great. Enjoyed the drama’ -C.Mavengere

‘Amazing. Won’t add or subtract.’ -Buhle Moyo

‘Great.’ -Mutsa

‘Good.’ -Gamuchirai Shonhai

‘I think it should be done everyday. It’s a stress relieving show.’ -Portia Ruvimbo Chasi

‘Play was very engaging. Edge of the seat stuff.’ -Audience member

‘Very entertaining play. I could see it as a series.’ -Soukain ML Edom

‘Excellent.’ -T.D Mhuri

‘A good venue, a good audience. It was a well organised reading.’ -Audience member

‘It was a wonderful event.’ -Dr. Joe

‘It was my first staged reading and I totally loved it. It started on time and everything was well organised.’ -N.Dube

‘It was really amazing. As a student I got to learn a lot from the event.’ -Ellain Ncube

‘It was awesome. 10/0.’ -Tapiwa M.

‘It was entertaining and educative reality.’ -Irene Hwara

‘Very interesting. I enjoyed it.’ -Natalia Vinci

Notes from the Playwrights

You can never prepare for this!
By Farai Mabeza

IT was the best of times and it was the worst of times. Cliché? Ah well! It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. Then again I’m not even sure I know what that really means. But it sounds appropriate for my Almasi African Playwrights 2020 Conference ride. 

It was one hell of a ride. And I would not have it any other way.

Armed with my experience from the 2018 conference I thought I was prepared for what was my second rendezvous with Almasi. I knew it was going to be hard but still I managed to fool myself; I had it covered.

But boy was I wrong.

I came into the conference to push myself, to be provoked and to be pushed.

I was pushed. I was provoked. And I pushed back at times. But the best moments were when I felt like I was in a class. A class in which I was the only student. Surrounded by a great army. An army helping me fight my battle. A battle I started all by myself.

The first day of the conference was everything I thought it would be. The energy, the vibe was exactly what I expected it to be. There were familiar faces and there were new faces.

And there was the extraordinarily cool Sasha Emerson.  By the end of the conference she was officially my writing professor.

Then the actors joined and the energy went to another level. It was amazing to work with the gifted artists that were part of the conference. Listening to their ideas and hearing them dissect the play and articulate what they made of the story was incredibly uplifting. Scary at times, but in the end very heartening.

They were excellent guinea pigs for me. Helping me see what was working and what was not. Helping me see other possible avenues to explore.

At times I came with my ideas raw. Together with the team I would refine them or just throw them back where they came from.

I came for drama. And there was drama. I never imagined the scenes that played out on the day of the public stage reading. Writing and rewriting new scenes right up until minutes before the show left me feeling like a wreck.

During the conference I felt more like a student than a writer. Now that it is over I am going to spend a bit of time reading. Then be a writer again. The whole idea is to try to get better. That was why I submitted my work to Almasi in the first place.

I wanted to test myself, to try to break certain limits. The work was very experimental. I left the conference emboldened. I will try to go even further in the future. My hope is that the space that Almasi offers can grow. For two weeks every year three playwrights get a brilliant opportunity to develop their scripts. I hope there can be more of that. More of such occasions, more playwrights being afforded such an opportunity.

And the conference itself is just a step, an integral one, but just a step. The play must grow its own life after the conference.

The environment in Zimbabwe right now is difficult-to put it mildly. It’s not easy to get the plays to full production. But that can’t stop us. So we won’t stop. The word, to quote the Bible, is like fire shut up in our bones. It will always explode. There is no other way. So we keep writing. We keep working. We keep pushing. At a point it will explode. And then we will all know that all the hard work was not in vain.

The conference is a community; writers, directors, actors, dramaturges, stage managers, administrators for a glorious (yes glorious!) two weeks come together and immerse themselves in creating art. It’s an amazing experience. And I am blessed to have been part of it not once but twice. And I’m leaving with all these ideas in my head of how I can make the story and my work better.

My conference experience
By Makanaka Mavengere

Writing for me has always been a way to escape my everyday life and step into my characters’ shoes, live their life and be able to determine whatever it is I want to happen to them.  The Almasi African Playwright Conference 2020 helped me to not only enjoy my usual process within the story BUT it allowed me to be able to see my characters and story come to life in ways I NEVER thought were possible.

It exceeded my expectations, not that I had any idea of what to expect but it just was unexpected. I started off by submitting my “idea” of a play which was based on my book “Perfect Imperfections”. I remember writing the 40 pages in one night and thinking I had aced it, but surprise surprise, it was nowhere near being a play.

When we met for the first time with fellow playwrights as well as directors, dramaturges and stage managers I was devastated when they read my “idea” (I maybe offending the gods that be if I call it a play LOL) first. Each character was read by a different voice and I think listening to the way it sounded, long monologues and all, I also realized how I had missed the mark even though I had a great story.

I remember how as the criticism of the work came, I literally blanked out because I had no idea how I was going to be able to produce a better version of what I had “thought” was a masterpiece in 2 weeks. I felt worse the next day when the other two plays were read out and how so well thought out, they were. Worse still they had endings and I had no idea how mine was going to end and worse still where I was even going to begin to write a play.

The most terrifying part was when we separated into different groups and I had a group of people looking at me expecting sparks when I did not even know how to light a fire. I sat with my director Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi (the real MVP) and told him that I had no idea where to begin or if it was going to work and was very surprised at how calm he was. He simply asked me to come up with a “blueprint” and I had to answer certain questions.

Things literally started falling in place once I started asking myself the right questions and using the answers to develop my play. What was even better was the fact that my director saw my vision and we worked seamlessly together even though at times I felt like strangling him and the actors when they poked holes in my new pages that I would have spent the whole night writing. One thing I realized very quickly in the process was that every praise or criticism was not aimed directly at me but to the story and so I had to take everything with clenched teeth LOL.

On day 10 of 14 I was starting to feel confident with my work BUT I still did not have an ending. At this point I was panicking because the public stage reading was fast approaching. 2 sleepless nights later  I saw the light, but it involved calling my director at 2am / 10 pm/ 4:07am to share my concerns and I must say I still don’t know why he was up at those odd hours (maybe he was wondering what he got himself into LOL) and well the rest as they say is his-tory against mine buhahaha.

The Almasi African Playwrights Conference 2020 gave me an opportunity and platform to learn how to write for a stage performance instead of a screen performance (they don’t even exist on the same planet); I learnt to listen with an open heart and mind; I learnt the importance of knowing your why as well as spelling out where you want to take your story. And I met and worked with the most talented team who were able to bring my vision to life.

The sleepless nights doing rewrites were all so worth it because the staged reading went better than I ever expected, and I am a better writer thanks to the guidance and the many lessons learnt during the conference.  Given the chance to do it over again, I would not change a thing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

My Conference Experience
By Blessing Musariri

Case of the Silent Girl is adapted from a short story I wrote many years ago. The original story was called, Eloquent Notes on a Suicide: Case of the Silent Girl. This story has always stayed with me because it was written to express the helplessness and confusion friends and family feel when a loved one takes their own life, especially young people. The emphasis was on eloquence because often we cannot find the words to express grief and bemusement and this was an opportunity to do that for everyone with whom the story will connect.

A member of the audience, on the night of the reading asked if I felt “the silent girl” had chosen suicide as an act of free will, and for a moment I wasn’t sure I would have an answer, but I found myself saying that I felt it was more an act of desperation. Case of the Silent Girl is a story about our desperation over things in life that no one can explain to us, in particular, the unexpected loss of life.

It was a short story already, so why did I write a stage play? I couldn’t say for sure, I just found myself doing it. Maybe because I like to experiment with form and I like to keep myself challenged in my craft and to develop new skills. I had a very ambitious vision in my head of inhabiting the mind space of an unconscious man who was in fact, dying. What in the world would that look like and how could it be done? It was interesting to work it out in the writing of it but I couldn’t imagine how it would actually work on stage.

When a friend forwarded me the flyer for the conference, I immediately thought, aha, here is my chance to see if this is something that can work. This was my chance to see my vision brought to life on stage by actors and see if my ideas were even possible.

However, I almost withdrew from the conference before I knew whether or not my play had even been selected. I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend two weeks intensively working on a play I wasn’t sure would even be well received after it was all done, and what did I intend to do with it after? Thanks to Zaza, who talked me into giving the process a chance, mainly with the enticement that of the four works I told her I had in progress, this would be a good opportunity to “complete” one. I have now achieved with my play: Case of the Silent Girl, what I wanted when I first wrote it - to flesh it out and test it out live.

My focus when the conference started, was to flesh out and bring to life, the characters who in the short story only appear in narrative. With the feedback from the dramaturges and the crew after the first cold reading, I felt inspired and excited that this was indeed a story that people would want to see played out and once the actors came on board, the process started to expand and their thoughts and questions about their characters, sparked many useful additions and changes to the script.

Being a prose writer, the hardest thing was having to break up my monologues and add drama, where it needed to be shown rather than presented in narrative, and while it was painful to have to exchange words for actions, it was necessary and I learned the value of an active scene. While I like to tell stories, I am compelled to create art and unravel complexity without losing the layers and if a staged reading could bring out the art in my vision so well, I can only imagine what a full production would look like. The director did an amazing job incorporating all the music and movement that made the story so special to watch and that ultimately created an “immersive” experience for the audience.

Over the two weeks of the conference, I found that everyone was very generous with their time and interest in my work and I appreciated that. I particularly appreciated the young actress who talked the director into letting her play the role of the silent girl, a visual which became very pivotal and thought-provoking in the final presentation. I was humbled by the reception of the reading, I had anticipated that people might find it too convoluted and wordy, but the audience feedback session showed otherwise, leaving me feeling so much more confident of the stories I have to share. I was particularly excited to hear that people loved the language of the piece - music to the ears of a prose writer. I am excited about the play becoming a full production and travelling. My time at the conference was challenging, entertaining, fun and mind-numbingly exhausting, but ultimately rewarding in the best way.