With the success of their inaugural festival ‘Africa Voices Now!’ Almasi Collaborative Arts is set to produce three new works from astounding writers from Zimbabwe. The plays featured this year include ’30 Acers’ by Tatenda Mutyambizi, ‘Shards’ by Cynthia Marangwanda and ‘Quixotic’ by Tawanda Josh Vombo. 

’30 Acres’ tells the story of Tete Getty, a UK returnee who has her ancestral land threatened by the arrival of miners and developers who want to claim her family land and ancestral inheritance. Will she succeed in preserving her land or will she be defeated by the push of corporate culture? Tatenda Mutyambizi is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. This will be his second feature in the festival. Last year his play ‘These Humans Are Sick’ was featured at the inaugural festival and won him a National Arts Merit Award (NAMA) for best playwright.

‘Shards’ is an adaptation of Marangwanda’s famed novella also named ‘Shards.’ It follows a brilliant writer who goes through an existential crisis at the genesis of their career while being called to fulfil an age long ancestral calling while also righting the wrongs of the past. Marangwanda is a poet, spoken-work artist, author and activist. She is outspoken about the preservation of historical and cultural sites. She won a NAMA for her novella ‘Shards’ and this will be her debut as a playwright. 

Tawanda Josh Vombo is a novelist, filmmaker and poet. He has steadily grown his profile in the realm of arts with features in various anthologies, the release of his award-winning short film ‘Dollar’ and his 2022 novel ‘Monomotapa.’ ‘Quixotic’ will also be his first leap into the world of drama and theatre. ‘Quixotic’ is a story of an aspiring Zim-dancehall artist with many dreams who has many hurdles to overcome before his dream can come to any fruition. Family dynamics, friendships, love and other issues are tackled in this play.

The playwrights have worked on their plays for close to a year including an intensive re-writing workshop from Emmy-Award nominated playwright and director Stephen Belber. Last year when the festival was launched it resulted in six NAMA nominations for the Almasi barn (winning the prizes for Best Director and Best Playwright). One of the plays featured last year, ‘Can We Talk?’ by Batsirai Chigama is now set to premier at the Public Theatre in New York. 

An organisation which has set out to amplify African stories to have the African voice heard across the world is well on its path in achieving that goal. The festival runs from the 17^th of October to the 6^th of November at the Jason Mphepo Little Theatre in Harare, Zimbabwe.