Zimbabwean theatre is set for another major showcase as Almasi Collaborative Arts brings its Africa Voices Now! festival back to Harare, with the organisation using the second edition to demonstrate the growing depth, ambition and international potential of the country’s dramatic arts.
The festival will run from 17 October to 6 November 2026 at the Jasen Mphepo Little Theatre, featuring three new Zimbabwean plays developed through Almasi’s extensive training and mentorship programmes.
The productions are Tatenda Mutyambizi’s 30 Acres, Cynthia Marangwanda’s Shards and Tawanda Josh Vombo’s Quixotic.
Rather than simply presenting completed productions, Africa Voices Now! represents the final stage of an intensive creative process through which writers, directors, actors and other theatre practitioners have spent months developing their work alongside experienced local and international mentors.
The approach reflects Almasi’s broader objective of building a sustainable professional theatre industry in Zimbabwe, while creating pathways through which local productions and artists can reach international audiences.
The organisation, co-founded in 2011 by Zimbabwean-American actress and playwright Danai Gurira, has trained more than 250 African artists and developed 31 new African plays over the past 14 years. It has also facilitated international fellowships and postgraduate opportunities for Zimbabwean artists.
This year’s festival comes on the back of a successful inaugural edition in 2025, which demonstrated strong public appetite for locally written theatre. Performances at the 60-seat Jasen Mphepo Little Theatre sold out, while an additional showing of Can We Talk? was added to meet audience demand.
The production, written by NAMA Award-winning poet Batsirai Chigama and directed by Leonard Matsa, subsequently earned the pair national recognition, with Matsa receiving the NAMA for Outstanding Director.
Mutyambizi also won the NAMA for Outstanding Playwright for These Humans Are Sick, another Almasi production presented through Africa Voices Now!
The success of the inaugural festival has since extended beyond Zimbabwe, with Can We Talk? now in planning for a New York production at the Public Theater.
Almasi believes the trajectory demonstrates the possibilities that can emerge when African artists are given sustained development, professional mentorship and opportunities to present their work to audiences.
The three productions selected for the 2026 festival illustrate the range of stories being developed by Zimbabwean playwrights.
In 30 Acres, Mutyambizi explores questions of land, family inheritance and corporate exploitation through the story of Tete Getty, a woman returning from the United Kingdom hoping to enjoy a peaceful retirement in her village. Her plans are disrupted when a conflict develops between a major corporation and the local community, forcing her to confront questions surrounding her family’s legacy.
Shards, written by Marangwanda and directed by Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi, follows Mhepo, an emerging novelist whose promising literary career takes a disturbing turn when a character from her own book appears to escape the confines of the page. The development pushes her into an existential crisis that threatens her ambitions and sense of identity.
Vombo’s Quixotic, directed by Tadziyana David Bvumbe, takes audiences into the world of Zim Dancehall. Its central character, 2 Raw, appears to have a promising future with a loving partner, a baby on the way and a music competition that could launch his career. His circumstances change when his mentor’s estranged biological son, and 2 Raw’s former best friend, returns from prison.
Behind the productions is a year-long development process that has included writers’ retreats, playwrights’ conferences, writing collectives and specialist masterclasses.
Artists involved in the 2026 programme have also worked with international theatre practitioners including theatre director and producer Adam Immerwahr, NYU Tisch Graduate Acting professor Scott Miller and Tony Award-winning director Rebecca Taichman.
Award-winning playwright, screenwriter and director Stephen Belber also facilitated the ReWrite Masterclass, adding another layer of professional development to the programme.
Almasi Associate Artistic Director Zaza Muchemwa said the festival was helping address an important gap in Zimbabwe’s creative ecosystem by combining artistic development with opportunities for professional exposure.
She said Africa Voices Now! was providing local artists with significant development pathways while enabling audiences to experience high-quality original theatre created by Zimbabweans.
Gurira said she was particularly encouraged by the quality of the work emerging from Almasi’s programmes.
She said the organisation had continued to invest in local talent and that the writers participating in the 2026 festival were offering audiences fresh and insightful perspectives on Zimbabwean life.
The festival also provides evidence of the longer-term impact of Almasi’s Walter Muparutsa Fellowship Artist of Excellence, which supports talented African dramatic artists through financial assistance, mentorship and educational opportunities.
Former fellows Gideon Wabvuta and Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi have returned to Zimbabwe after pursuing further development opportunities and are now contributing to the country’s arts sector, with both playing key roles in this year’s festival.
Wabvuta, who was Almasi’s 2017 Walter Muparutsa Fellow, directs 30 Acres and serves as the organisation’s Director of Programmes. Mutumbi, a 2015 fellow, directs Shards and works as Almasi’s Community Outreach Coordinator.
The fellowship’s latest success is playwright Kingsley Chinhanu, who has been accepted into the NYU Tisch MFA in Writing programme.
For Almasi, these developments reinforce its philosophy of Kudzidza Hakuperi, or learning never ends, as it seeks to create an environment in which Zimbabwean artists can continually develop their skills and build sustainable careers.
The organization’s 2026 artistic programme extends beyond the festival, with workshops and intensive training in areas including directing, acting, voice, stage management, writing and filmmaking.
Africa Voices Now! therefore arrives at a significant moment for Zimbabwe’s theatre sector, providing not only a platform for three new productions but also a demonstration of what sustained investment in local creative talent can achieve.
Tickets for the 2026 festival go on sale on 12 August 2026 through Almasi Collaborative Arts, ahead of the festival’s opening in October.
