From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS: ZIMBABWE: EDUCATING THE COMMUNITY T
Date: 29 Aug 92 20:22:08 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Originator: barnhart@gagme

Title: ZIMBABWE: EDUCATING THE COMMUNITY THROUGH THEATRE


an inter press service feature

by eulalee thompson

harare, aug 21 (ips) -- the theatre in zimbabwe's low-income
townships where reading is not popular is more than mere
entertainment but an important tool in community education and in
national development.

''we use the theatre primarily to create an awareness in the
community of the various problems they experience and it is also
the means of empowerment for people'', chairperson of the zimbabwe
association of community theatre (zact), ozias tungwarara told ips.

''entertainment is an artistic element in the creation process,
if you are looking at attracting people's attention or getting the
message across but that is not the paramount role of the community
theatre'', said tungwarara.

the community theatre tradition started during the country's
liberation war and was formalised after political independence 12
years ago. zact formed in 1986 pulls together nearly 200 of these
groups, not represented by the national theatre organisation (nto)
set up during colonialism.

the ministry of culture here said that the growth of the
community theatre has been a part of the government's programme
since 1982.

''it is an important movement for national development, in fact
we prioritise the movement to such an extent that some people
thought we were using the theatre to promote govenrment's idea'',
deputy secretary for culture, stephen chifunyise told ips.

a community theatre group is an alliance of people with similar
concerns in a village -- the unemployed school leavers, domestic
workers, health workers, women, handicapped youths, farm co-
operative workers, nurses.

a typical play draws on the african heritage -- dance and music
integrated with dialogue, traditional rituals and customs. as is
done in african storytelling the audience sits around the actors
and their interaction is important.

the themes in theatre are based mainly on the socio-economic
problems affecting the community at any point in time -- for
example the euphoria after the successful war for political
liberation, exploitation of domestic workers in the workplace,
corruption and unemployment among the young.(more/ips)


zimbabwe: educating (2)

one play ''manyanya'' performed by the youth group batsiranayi
theatre productions, was commissioned by non-goverment
organisation (ngo) groups in a health awareness campaign of the
acquired immune deficiency syndrome (aids). set in a factory,
the play looks at a chain of tragic circumstances inflicted on a
woman as a result of her promiscuous husband.

the woman contracts aids, she is kicked out of the husband's
house and when she returns to the countryside she is rejected by
her father because she was not traditionally divorced.

but in spite of the successful run of this play locally in the
anti-aids campaign and in the netherlands where it had a brief
showing, few plays will move beyond the borders of the community
in which they originate.

there is a critical problem with funding. grants are given by
the government from the 200,000 u.s. dollar budget allocated to the
national arts council for music, dance and drama. the bulk of the
funding comes from the artists and some donor agencies.

a production must budget for a minimum allowance of 100 u.s.
dollars per artist per month in addition to transport, costume and
advertising costs.

''we can't get more financing, i think, because the community
theatre empowers people. the people might begin to question for
example the big corporations, so those who could channel resources
want to protect their image'', he continued.

besides the financial problems, there is inadequate training for
the actors and transportation to take plays on tours. the community
theatres also need more halls in which to perform.

''the halls are not appropriate, built in the colonial era and
have bad accoustics. the good halls are in the low-density suburbs
and that is not where the majority of the people live'', writer
chirikure chirikure said.

chirikure who is also a member of zact said that the community
theatre movement could be greatly enhanced if there was greater
effort to have more plays written instead of improvised.

''if plays are written they won't die. there is the possibility
of passing them on to other theatre groups for performance, there
is also the possibility of replacing actors easily if necessary'',
he said.

although community theatres are growing in popularity, theatre
practitioners say that they must also tackle the problem of the
negative attitude to loacal art forms.

''we are looking at massive cultural imperialism in the form of
a lot of competition from foreign ideas and vastly technical
productions from western europe and north america which creates a
sense of inferiority in our people to our own art. but there is the
potential to break that down'', tungwarara said.
(end/ips/et/oa/92)



-- 
Mr. Aaron Barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us -- posting from Evanston, Illinois
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african