WHEN Mwansabombwe area Member of Parliament Rodgers Mwewa initiated the idea of running a theatre festival in Luapula Province little did most of us deem the festival was going to come again; believably now it has, and set for this April for the second year running.
Over and over, I have said it before; festivals are essentially critical and fundamental to society, not primarily, necessarily for mutually bringing people side by side, but operate as a round-table for trading and displaying their theatre merchandise, experiences and ideas.
Many times, many people do not realize we are subconsciously learning what we hear, see and do which precept one unconsciously discovers long after the festival notable events that clearly outclass other events in life.
Worldwide, diverse festivals are organized, and held, some successfully, some poorly, however, generally all as learning fetes; perhaps what keeps hampering our festivals in Zambia is lack of funds and good managerial acumen. If government through the National Arts Council and the cultural department can fully support the theatre artists with short courses to sharpen their skills, I bet we should have seen the essence, and magnanimous of hosting regional, and numerous national theatre festivals.
I keenly recall in a town called Street south of England, the small town’s buildings is readily primed nearly with one coat of color during the annual festival; the spectrum is multihued, attractive and stunningly good-looking.
I must therefore acknowledge; the 2014 Mwansabombwe Theatre festival christened MWATFEST as a resonating success despite the challenges of lack of a proper theatre stage at Marble Shaw Secondary School, which is the same venue this year too.
Firstly the broad public of Mwansabombwe highly starved of general entertainment was intrigued by the presence of theatre artists from the line of rail who included Mufulira Arts Council, Mwansabombwe, Kasama Arts Theatre and Kabwe Arts Theatre.
Others from Lusaka were; Bantu Theatre, Africa Directions,  Green Buffaloes, NAPSA Theatre, Zhaninge and Matero theatre.
Secondly, last year’s theatre groups was largely made up of young people very excited to go and learn from Mwasabombwe, and were pleased to visit a rural setup, the rural precincts which most of them were passing through for the first time – equally enthralled by what they experienced; saw and did.
To sum up; Honorable Rodgers Mwewa’s brainchild of the Mwansabombwe festival is a design we should all back. When I first spoke to him before the idea even materialized into fruition one of his explanations was to expose young ‘town dwellers’ and link them to the traditional roots, similarly open up the rural Constituency to issues through theatre into town. This has been achieved, recommended, working and I strongly support the idea. I am optimistic this time round, the weaknesses experienced by the organizers will be underscored, and carefully taken care of.
In a statement, MWATFEST director Isaac Kalumba writes that the 2015 festival takes place from 20 to 26 April, 2015, and will settle for ten theatre clubs from across the country.
“This year’s festival will additionally have clinics in scriptwriting, acting and directing techniques during workshops, a match past, community performances and visits to some exciting sites in Mwansabombwe,” Isaac said.
The festival director adds that this year’s festival will not be by invitation, but that interested theatre groups should apply by first submitting their curricula vitae, and four scripts for scrutiny.
“The idea of submitting scripts is to see which ones can be relevant to the festival and the community ofMwansabombwe. We have added community and sensitisation outreach performances, so we want to see the plays which are in conformity with the community,” Isaac said admitting that a team of four experts will be engaged to appraise and adjudicate the scripts.
Additional information is that plays should not run for far less than 60 minutes, with a minimal cast, and that applicants should write to him on mwansabombweartstheatre@yahoo.com or call any of the lines 0977 196 038/0966 076 399   0955 96 5637/0977 540 802.
Notably, Isaac said the changes from last year’s festival were to improve on the activities and organization of the festival. And for more information Isaac told me through the Mwansabombwe face book, an update will regularly be provided for the groups to follow.
In neighboring Zimbabwe, and other countries like South Africa there is nearly a theatrical festival every month, hence when you talk of standards, Zimbabwean players are generally above par, and actors and actresses seriously engaged, and generating funds to sustain the artists. Why won’t Zambia take a leaf from such an industrious arrangement?
Or is it that the government of the Republic of Zambia has solidly, resiliently focused more on the traditional ceremonies than the performing arts?
I keep asking these questions, are the Cultural Officers, who are full time government cultural representatives engaged alongside the National Arts Council doing their work? Do these officers monitor what is going on in their districts and provinces, and take stock of what is on the ground as nation?
I am alive to the fact that statistical officers and planners like Alexander Mbewe from the Ministry of Tourism and Arts visited several theatre houses two years ago to familiarize with the operations of theatre houses; I was so pleased to learn they were giving a guide on these theatre clubs availing information on how often they used the theatre houses’ stage sets! My other salient question is how else is Alexander and his colleagues using this information to enrich the theatre arts in Zambia, or have fruits not yet started to ripen to see the results? My friends and I are still waiting to hear from Alex.
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Let me hear from what is going on in theatre houses, how do the schemes of works look like this year? I am aware Chingola Arts Society has already pasted its strategic plan, what of others?
John.kapesa818@yahoo.co.uk – 0955-0967-0977-710975