I remember attending a Pan-African arts and culture festival where selected artists from 53 African countries came together in the North African country of Algeria for 21 days to share and celebrate the diversity of the various art forms on the African continent.
Read MoreI’ll never forget the first performance of THE CONVERT in Zimbabwe. I had seen American audiences respond to this play in Princeton, Chicago, LA, and Philadelphia. I have probably seen somewhere around 40 performances of the play, and my one night with a Zimbabwean audience was revelatory. Listening to what the Harare audience listened to, responded to, and discovered was thrilling.
Read MoreLast year marked a year of vision turned possibility, turned reality. When we started this journey we foresaw true opportunity being afforded to the Zimbabwean artist. We foresaw their talents receiving tangible rewards, we foresaw an awakening in Zimbabwe's dramatic arts, where greatness would be realized, excellence would be achieved and legacies would be born.
Read MoreWorking on the African premiere of The Convert by Danai Gurira was a deeply worthwhile experience. Each and every job I take on is an opportunity to grow and to learn something new.
Read MoreMy mission is to faithfully tell stories that will resonate with our day to day lives and it will focus people on addressing the flaws that exist within particular institutions and individuals. I also seek to speak for and with the marginalised and oppressed within society; all this I want to do through the exploration of the mind.
Read MoreNikkole Salter is currently in Zimbabwe teaching six promising Zimbabwean Playwrights in Almasi's First Training Exchange! Almasi asked Nikkole, "What is the biggest lesson you've learned so far?" Here's what she said: "It was an inspirational moment to reach our first week's benchmark where participants presented their ideas for the plays they would begin to develop in the following weeks.
Read MoreIt’s not every day that one gets the rare gem of an opportunity to learn directly from a renowned, Tony award winning director, playwright and artistic director like Emily Man. The fact that I am here at the McCarter being exposed to the best of the best is a true testament to the power of arts and culture and the ability it has to transcend all barriers and bring people together.
Read MoreSeveral times in ‘Radio Golf’ the character of Old Joe responds to a question with, “I ain’t gonna tell you.” They sound like simple enough questions that could have simple answers but Old Joe sees the depth and complexity in everything so there are no simple answers.
Read MoreWhen I graduated from college I knew it all. I was not an actor, I was an Artist (if this were a French keyboard I would have added the accent mark over the “i”. That is how confident I was). I was ready for the world. There was no play I couldn’t do, no television series I wasn’t ready for, no film I couldn't get a respectable role in. The last thing on my mind was going back to school. I was ready, I tell you.
Read MoreWe are in an era where cultural isolation is not only no longer acceptable it is an absolute liability. I grew up in Zimbabwe, though born in the American Midwest. My experience has always been a cross-cultural one: I was raised by Zimbabwean parents who spent two decades in the US, from the 60s to the 80s and returned to a new African nation.
Read MoreTheatre has always been my passion and I should say my calling, and auditioning has always been my greatest fear, mostly because I feel self-conscious. Working on the stage readings of A Raisin in the Sun and The Convert were quite an experience. I will separate the two as I worked with different people in the two readings. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry was the first reading I participated in.
Read MoreMy stay in Zim can be described as nothing short of fast and furious. I arrived rearing to get some important ALMASI logistics ironed out, while also directing The Convert, where it would be read for the first time ever on Zimbabwean soil.
Read MoreThe need for training in the dramatic arts in Zim has always weighed heavily on my conscience. There is such a palpable passion for the arts, committed artists, just never quite an environment where talents can be nurtured to their fullest bloom. The vision is to cultivate a new approach to the dramatic arts on Zimbabwean soil, to bring about not only the highest level of training but also a new environment of professionalism for the work that is at hand.
Read MoreIt's not every day you meet a sword-wielding zombie killer. Lucky for us, one of America’s most well-known zombie killers came to Harare in March. Zimbabwean students, theater aficionados, members of the U.S. Mission community, and local American citizens had the chance to meet and talk with Ms. Danai Gurira, the actor who plays "Michonne," one of the main characters in the comic-book-turned-hit-television series The Walking Dead.
Read MoreIt all began with a discussion about our next production, following the success of the play ‘Eclipsed’ by Danai Gurira, which had been our first full production since we founded Almasi in December of 2011. I was eager for us to produce and stage a full production of Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ with a Zimbabwean cast.
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