The ZGS/GZH was running an Open Call for Creatives (Individuals), Hubs/ Creative enterprises/organisations, and Festivals.
We are delighted to announce Zaza Muchemwa, as one of our Pop Up Small Grants Open call Winners.
Zaza Muchemwa is a Zimbabwean poet, short story writer, and dramatic arts practitioner. She has authored the short story Dance with Yesterday and the play, The IVth interrogation. Her poetry has been published on Pen International Website, Badilisha Poetry Xchange, in Zimbabwean Newspapers and included in the Zimbabwe Poets for Human Rights Anthology, ‘All Protocols Observed’ and Cyphers Poetry Anthology Volume 87. She has written for Index on Censorship Magazine, Povo Magazine, MUD Journal and other publications. Zaza is also an award-winning theatre director and producer, directing several productions, including The Incident by Joakim Daun, which won the 2018 NAMA Award for outstanding theatre production, and How are you really? By Chiedza Rwodzi, which won a NAMA award for outstanding theatrical production and Zaza, a NAMA award for outstanding director for 2022. Zaza is the Associate Artistic Director for Almasi Collaborative Arts. She is the lead artist for We Are Us, a series of plays by Zimbabwean Women Playwrights. A 2022 Honorary Fellow Creative Writing with the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, Zaza Muchemwa lives and works in Zimbabwe.
We Are Us Tour is a 2023 performance of 4 short plays developed out of a research, development and theatre production project conducted by Vaviri Creative from 2020 to 2021 under the Woman Is Project, Directed by Zaza Muchemwa; the plays will be performed first in Zimbabwe from 3 to 13 October in Harare followed by a run at Kampala International Theatre Festival in Uganda from 22 to 26 November and capped off with performances in Zambia in early 2024. The tour will finish off with a print and electronic publication of an anthology of the play series.
We Are Us 2023 Tour is a collection of plays written by Rudo Mutangadura, Makomborero Theresa Muchemwa, Chiedza Rwodzi and Chimwemwe Chipidza, exploring the challenges faced by Zimbabwean women within the areas of mental health, public and private security, care work, sexual and reproductive health. The plays will be performed in a double-bill format. By drawing a thorough line across the plays that is a multi-discipline performance intersecting story, movement, sound and visuals, we will present the plays in interestingly fresh ways which will scream to attention the heartbeat of Zimbabwean Womanhood.
The project will use funds from the pop-up call towards the Zimbabwe performance. As this will be the first part of our leg, where we hope to hone our process and learn from audience responses before, we take it to other countries. Overall, touring these plays will empower the women involved in the project by experiencing more diverse and nuanced responses to their work and enjoying the longevity of play performance life. This will result in them doing more work and inspire other women to do the same. The performances will inspire audiences to want to have more deliberate conversations on Zimbabwean women’s experiences and, in the process, will move them to want to improve the livelihoods of women in their communities.
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