Creating work has never been easy. Not even in the best of circumstances. This year was the worst of circumstances. We could never have imagined a 2020 as we planned for its programming. But we recalibrated, and though our programming suffered, we did manage to work towards our core vision in the midst of it all. The goal of Almasi Arts has always been to create opportunity for African artists, to provide education and access. Based both in the US and Zimbabwe, Almasi seeks to create connection between artists in these two places, to allow collaboration that enriches both the creators and their art from these different parts of the world. Being both American and Zimbabwean, it was always vitally important to me to facilitate this relationship between artists across the globe, for the world to get a little smaller, a little less divided. Though we have so many goals still to reach, we do have many breakthroughs to share. Our work with Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC) continued in spite of the pandemic preventing travel. Zimbabwean teenagers engaged with American teenagers in the youth writing program OPC provides, and in January, we were able to conduct our annual Almasi African Playwrights’ Conference and brought dramaturge Sasha Emerson from the US to Harare to serve as this year’s facilitator; yet another connection made with OPC. This Holiday season, one very different from any other, take a moment to get to know a Zimbabwean writer, to watch our Playwrights’ Conference video below from early in the year and see how Zimbabwean theater makers developed stories the world needs to hear. Watch the testimonials and hear artists share how they spent this tumultuous year and managed to find their artistic flow despite it all. And if you are able to consider giving, you can help us continue to bring African artists opportunities and to come back in 2021 even stronger. Get to know an African artist today. And stay safe this holiday season.

Tinotenda,

 Co-Founder and Executive Artistic Director

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13 to 25 January 2020 - The Almasi African Playwrights Conference led by Sasha Emerson

The 4th edition of the Almasi African Playwrights Conference 2020 was held from the 13th to the 25th of January. Plays were developed over two weeks and large crowds from the community heard the workshopped plays in staged reading presentations. The enthusiasm from the community was deeply encouraging and the decision to move to the Reps Theatre Mainstage (our largest venue to date) turned out to be greatly beneficial as we were almost at full capacity. Led by Sasha Emerson, Gideon Jeph Wabvuta and Elizabeth Muchemwa, Almasi Africa Playwrights Conference 2020 helped develop three great new Zimbabwean plays as three powerful Zimbabwean voices emerged.

Almasi African Playwrights Conference 2020 Reel

3 plays were developed during the process:

We were thrilled with the audience turnout at The Almasi African Playwrights Conference (January) 2020; with over 800 people in attendance. Our largest number of attendees to date.

Watch An Artist Talk by Gideon Jeph Wabvuta

22 July 2020 - Where you are. Where you must go. Creating and Growing during a Pandemic: An Artist Talk by Gideon Jeph Wabvuta

On the 22nd of July Almasi presented the first talk in the Almasi Zoom Talk Series. Featuring Almasi’s Project Coordinator Gideon Wabvuta, the talk was moderated by Almasi’s Associate Artistic Director, Elizabeth Muchemwa. Over the course of the talk Gideon spoke about his local and international experiences and, his take on what it means to grow as an artist. He gave a few notes on how personal growth is tied to artistic growth, and how one cannot have one without the other. The artists asked questions on his Almasi sponsored international activities and on what his growth entailed.

Some of the questions included what Almasi’s role is during the pandemic and what interventions the organization is going to make towards mitigating the challenges facing Zimbabwean artists. Participants were drawn from theatre and film professionals, and artists who have worked with Almasi previously. The choice of platform and topic did seem to resonate. A participant during the talk said, “We need more spaces like this. A space where we can meet as thespians and dream about a new normal post the pandemic.”

22 August to 28 November-Almasi Ojai Playwrights Conference International Youth Workshop

This year Almasi partnered with the Ojai Playwrights Conference in an international collaboration that saw youth from Zimbabwe and the United States of America participating in the OPC Youth Workshop Program.
The students crafted eight pieces in total with three instructors. A rich variety of writing emerged from the workshop with Zimbabwean and American students alike finding their confidence and their voices as they worked together. The workshop also accommodated visiting artists and the students asked pertinent questions about the craft of writing. Playwrights included Chris Garbo, Sam Hunter, Frankie Gonzalez and Liza O’Brien. Works were showcased at the end of the workshop.

OPC 2020 Youth Workshop Promotional Video

The OPC/Almasi Youth Workshop

Check out the Zimbabwean high school students’ testimonials below:

‘The Ojai Playwrights Conference International Youth Workshop is a once in a lifetime opportunity for prospective young writers to come together and share their creations. From the first class I felt like I had known the staff all my life, they are friendly and inspirational, allowing us to develop our writing into fields we would have never dreamt of exploring. The exercises are interactive, and the feedback given during classes is constructive and motivational. If any young writers are looking to develop their skills in a safe and welcoming environment, this is the place to be.’

-Abigal, Arundel Student

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Eyahra Mathazia
Actor/Singer/Director

2020 the year that shook my world as I know it...

The law was clear about shut downs of theatres and artistic spaces so I tried to do theatre online, and record songs using apps that one can use on their phone. This was strange as it took away the creative aura I was used to and yet in the same vein forced me to learn and brush up on using technology in this day and age.

Throughout the year I managed to do more radio work. I released a couple of singles and rekindled my affair with radio dramas. I had the privilege of performing in live recordings of full length and short length theatre plays. I am grateful for the luxury afforded to me to be able to be creative in such a delicate time during this pandemic. When the lock down was announced I really thought I would be in an artistically productive element during the lockdown. But that was not the case as my thoughts where full of concern for the families and friends of loved ones who passed away from the pandemic.

I am looking forward to the “new stage” set for 2021. I am filled with hope for a better season to come. There are many stories to be told and many ways to tell them.

Analogue girl in a digital world.

Privilege T. Gwaba
Stage Manager

The threat to people’s lives was so intense due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For me personally, it was seriously hectic. I went through so much during the Covid-19 lockdown. However, I managed to emancipate myself, breaking free from a situation I was not comfortable in.

I did humanitarian work with an NGO... though it wasn’t specifically related to my field of work, but it felt good to be a part of an organization that was giving help to the community. I also got the privilege of working on a project that was focused on women’s mental health facilitated by Vaviri Creative. Because of the pandemic, productions and opportunities to work in the theatre severely diminished in 2020. I hope 2021 will bring many productions and activities... all the precautions being taken of course because the pandemic still remains a threat to human lives.

Theatre is therapeutic space for some people. Where we let go and reflect on our lives. I hope 2021 brings plays, focused on mental health and reflecting the breakthroughs that people had in 2020.

Gideon Jeph Wabvuta
Almasi Walter Muparutsa Fellow/Playwright/ Almasi Programming Coordinator

2020 has been one lengthy day that never seems to end.

Cue me, a week before the lockdown in Zimbabwe had been instituted, I am walking around Harare in a mask and people are literally screaming in my face because I am making the virus real. It’s interesting, to me, how for the first time ever, I was able to understand this particular logic - if you ignore it for long enough it will go away. Bad thing, the virus didn’t listen to that.

Being a mostly indoor-sy person, I dived into those books I had bought and never read suddenly realizing I had a lot more time on my hands than I’ve had since high school. I felt this pressure within me to create, to read, to write, to be ‘productive’ and I was, for the most part.

It took me a while to finally realize all along my ‘productivity’ was me trying my hardest to shut out the fact that out in the world people were dying.

I stopped creating for a bit, until the Ojai Playwright Conference Youth Workshop.

This pandemic year Almasi Alliance partnered with the Ojai Playwrights Conference and the Townies Inc to bring the Youth Workshop, with a twist. We managed to bring together six Zimbabwean students and five American students over three months via Zoom meeting every Saturday for three months. For anyone to understand why this Youth Workshop became the saving grace for 2020 it’s best for me to go back a bit.

Half a decade ago I walked into the OPC Youth Workshop to smiles, lots of snacks (thank you parents) and most of all a group of young people. I was this brand-new guy, fresh off the boat from Zim and I had been invited to the Youth Workshop. I remember listening to their writing and feeling my jaw drop. Here was a group of teenagers who could write circles around most of my peers, who had a level of self-awareness and vulnerability that even at my age I had not figured out. Here I was a twenty something aspiring playwright on the verge of crying because these teenagers had done the work I had never done at their age.

So, imagine knowing that I could introduce six Zimbabwean teenagers to this process I had now become a part of every year after, as one of the instructors. Seeing these Zim students pop up on zoom every Saturday with wide smiles and a lot of enthusiasm made me forget how the world was in shambles. Witnessing those kids, realize, that for the first time ever, they are in a class where the focus is on what they are doing good versus everything they are doing ‘wrong’. They came alive, their writing grew bolder, their feedback became more pointed and most of them started to reflect on who they were as citizens of this world. I am one of those skeptical people that rolls their eyes when people talk about effecting change through art. I know it is possible, I’ve seen it, but art seems so simple and the way it affects people is so simple because most of the change happens without the art makers witnessing. I didn’t miss the impact this class made, at all. It was right there staring at me through Zoom screens every Saturday night, these students writing about, race, politics, their teenage lives and most of all asking questions of the world. These students looked forward to the classes, they logged on every Saturday night knowing their work was going to be appreciated and respected.

I can’t understate this opportunity because I see myself in these teenagers. I do wonder what kind of writer I would have been if I had been exposed to this class. All I know is the world will be better for it because seeing these students share their work reminded me that we had just thrown an extra choice in their bag. I could see how much they were realizing that what they were doing mattered, that there is someone out there who has paid for them to just write (they got scholarships)! It’s insane in their world, as it is in mine that they can take a class where the main focus is how great they are at what they do.

We spend our lives in school where the main focus is to tell us what’s wrong with our work. We lost the ability to see the good in creation and watching the students realize they had permission to fail, freed them as it did me. It allowed them to write big, to write personal and most all to share their innermost thoughts with us because they knew they would be loved, respected and protected. This experience will stay with them forever and I hope we get to have many more Zimbabwean students got through this class.

It’s not easy to conclude a reflection on 2020. It really has felt like one lengthy day, with a bit of sunshine when the rain stops. It’s difficult to sum it all up because we are still going. What I’m hopeful and optimistic about is not that we are going to 2021 or the vaccine. But that we have experience, and we are constantly figuring out new ways to keep fighting and to keep going.

I believe in theater. I believe in art. I believe it is how my part of the world has stayed somewhat intact. It is a reminder that the work we do matters.

Especially now.

$250 Donation

Will help cover artists’ transportation and meals during participation in staged readings or workshops in Africa. It will help fund Writer’s Dialogue Series which presents African playwrights in the process of developing their plays a platform to receive feedback on their works.

$500 Donation

Will help fund Almasi’s high school outreach program, which allows younger generations of African students to be exposed to the possibility of a career in the arts through training and collaboration with Almasi fellows and artists.

$1,000 Donation

Will help fund an Almasi staged reading in Africa. Artists are able to collaborate and develop their dramatic literacy around great works and classics and receive compensation for their work, thus, professionalizing the African arts sector.

$2,500 Donation

Will help fund a Cultural Exchange Program Facilitator Grant, which is awarded to American artists traveling to Africa to conduct educational artistic exchanges. African artists have the chance to network and connect with dramatic arts leaders from different communities.

$5,000 Donation

Will help fund part of the Almasi Walter Muparutsa Artist of Excellence Fellowship awarded to exceptional Zimbabwean artists to help them develop their craft in the dramatic arts. The fellowship allows African artists who have a financial need to take advantage of an educational opportunity in the United States. Our Program Coordinator, playwright Gideon Wabvuta, 2016-2019 Walter Mparutsa fellow, recently completed his MFA in Dramatic Writing at University of Southern California’s School of Dramatic Arts.

The Gift of Giving

Honor your family, friends and loved ones this holiday season by making a donation to Almasi in their name. If you would like to make a donation of someone's behalf, please email info@almasiarts.org with your donation amount and the recipient's contact information and we will send them a personalized card letting them know about the generous gift.

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In The Midst Of It All

13 to 25 January 2020 - The Almasi African Playwrights Conference led by Sasha Emerson

3 plays were developed during the process:

22 July 2020 - Where you are. Where you must go. Creating and Growing during a Pandemic: An Artist Talk by Gideon Jeph Wabvuta