Zimbabwe’s Almasi Collaborative Arts is set to launch African Voices Now! (A festival of New African Plays). Three new plays from local playwrights will be on full display for audiences in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Among the playwrights to be showcased include Batsirai Chigama for her play ‘Can We Talk?’ Chigama is a multi-award winning poet, spoken-word artist and social commenter who published the poetry anthologies ‘Gather The Children’ and ‘For Women Trying to Breath and Failing: It’s Not Your Fault.’ She is known for her powerful and poignant poetry which does not shy away from speaking about the daily lived experiences of black women and the average Zimbabwean. Tatenda Mutyambizi is a writer of both the stage and screen. His play ‘These Humans Are Sick’ deals with human morals and if they can coexist with heightened ambitions. Rudo Mutangadura has written for the stage for over a decade and in her play ‘The Return’ she deals with familial relations across different parts of the world.  

Almasi Collaborative Arts is an organization co-founded by Zimbabwean-American actress and playwright Danai Gurira. The organisations exists to professionalise the arts industry in Zimbabwe through artistic exchanges, education, training and workshops. In existence for over a decade, the creative hub has created employment for over a hundred artists from across the continent. They have brought acclaimed professionals from the United States to work with African artists including Oskar Eustis (Artistic Director of the Public Theatre in New York City), Lynn Nottage (Pulitzer-Prize winning Playwright), Andre Holland (actor from films such as Moonlight and Selma) and Emily Mann (Tony-winning dramatist and director).

The festival will take place at the Jason Mphepo Little Theatre in Harare and promises to be a true sceptical and a showcase of Zimbabwe’s almost untouched creative promise. Dozens of plays have been workshopped under Almasi’s playwright’s conference and it is exciting to witness the launch of the finished products to the world.