Revamped Mitambo Fest On cards

ORGANISERS of the Mitambo International Theatre Festival (MITF), Zimbabwe Theatre Academy Trust, have promised a better and revamped fiesta as they call for submissions for participants at this year’s edition of the hybrid festival.

The fourth edition of the festival to be held under the theme Upturn is scheduled to run from September 20 to 24 in Harare.

Festival director Lloyd Nyikadzino told NewsDay Life & Style that the deadline for submission of applications via email and online link is March 31 at 5pm.

“The online application form with all the required details can be obtained from our Mitambo International Theatre Festival and Zimbabwe Theatre Academy pages or request soft copy of the application form from mitambointerfest@gmail.com,” he said.

“Selected candidates will be communicated with through a formal invitation. The participants for the festival will have to independently cater for their travel expenses to and from the festival, visas and other documents required for entry into Zimbabwe.”

Nyikadzino said as the organisers they would cover the groups’ local hospitality including accommodation and meals during the festival, local transport, performance venue and publicity.

He said this year’s festival would be a special edition as it would expand the genres of performances to include theatre and its interaction with music, poetry, performance art, dance and installations.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many floundered, many stopped, flatlined by economic downturn, restrictions on gatherings and loss. Yet some soldiered on, catapulted by an intense need to survive, to speak, to bring into light adaptive ways of being as the world at large sought new frontiers of normalcy,” he said.

“This year, it is two years and counting, since the pandemic struck, the arts have maintained their place in our society as a refuge, as spaces of healing and wonder. At Mitambo International Festival, we are recognising the efforts of everyone within our community during this time, and calling for each of us to upturn.”

He said this year they would include workshops and master classes as part of the festival.

“We are turning up for each other, for ourselves and our communities to fulfil our destiny in reaching the stars as we carry each other through this difficult time in our human histories,” he said.