The 2023 Mitambo International Theatre Festival is set to start this week, running under the theme "CONVERGE". A piece inspired by the need for humanity to turn up for each other, for ourselves and our communities using the power of the arts.
People are more divided than before and this is characterized by diverse hardships, which include mental health, substance abuse, poverty, war, socio-economic challenges, and violence. Theatre artists from all over the world will come together, united by the spirit of play to share cultural experiences and philosophies with the people of Zimbabwe!
This 2023 edition of MITF will include participants from the United States of America, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, and local theatre houses from the country's various provinces. The 5-day festival will have over 15 shows and will run from the 26th to the 30th of September at Reps Theatre in Harare. Shows will take place on both the main stage and the venue's other fringe stages.
According to the organizers,, the festival will create a platform for artists and citizens from all occupations to put their differences aside and “CONVERGE” to build a better society through theatre, art, and culture. The festival will have shows starting Tuesday morning and opening night festivities starting at 6 p.m. Tickets are priced at $10 each per show, with students in uniform paying half price.
Here is the full lineup of shows for the 5 days:
Theatre Upstairs:
Mighty Black Woman: Tue 11 am
Broken: Tue 12:30 pm
Finding Temeraire (Zimbabwe): Wed 11 am - 12 pm
Market Dreams: Wed 12:30 pm
Siyaphanda We Hustle: Wed 5 pm
Unconventional Freedom: Thur 11 am
Shuffle: Thur 12:30 pm
A Life in Her Day: Thur 2:30 pm
Vatengesi: Hannah's Dance: Thur 5:15 pm
Mama, I Bleached My Punani: Fri 4 pm
Pina: Sat 5 pm
Main Stage:
Listen (South Africa): Wed 2 pm - 3 pm
1984: Wed 6:30 pm
Guruswa: Thur 3:45 pm
Shuffle (Zimbabwe): Thur 12:30 pm - 1 pm
Plumáticas Feather Conversations (Canary Islands - Spain): Fri 2 pm
Woza Alert (South Africa): Fri 12 pm
Butterfly (Switzerland): Sat 12 pm
Woza Albert: Sat 6:30 pm
The Mitambo International Theatre Festival (MITF) serves as a safe platform for local and global communities to access and celebrate the diversity of cultural identity. Mitambo offers a forum through which community and social issues (e.g. climate change, gender-based violence, and drug abuse) are made available, explored, and re-described, using theatre as a vehicle for doing so.
The Mitambo International Theatre Festival began as a product of the Zimbabwe Theatre Academy. Established in 2017 by the multi-award-winning theatre professional Lloyd Nyikadzino, the academy sought the professionalization of theatre in Zimbabwe by providing accessible arts education training programs that capacitate young people.
In 2019 the Academy created the Mitambo International Theatre Festival. An event they have hosted annually since then in partnership with and supported by the ministry of sports, arts and recreation. 30 theatre groups have appeared across the festival in 4 editions so far, from countries like Brazil, Canada, France, India, Israel, Poland, Switzerland, and the United States of America. This has been alongside local and regional theatre groups and individual performers.
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