The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
Schools closed this past week. Every student is on holiday except for a few High School drama clubs who made it to the Plan High Schools drama competition finals. Eight schools from Bulawayo made it to the finals and they are as follows: Njube, Milton, Eveline, Gifford, Nketa, Eastview, Mzilikazi and Maranatha high schools. While schools like Gifford, Eveline and Nketa have been regulars in the finals for the past 5 years it is not the same case with Maranatha and Eastview High.These two are making it to the finals for the first time. It must be an experience the students are looking forward to with visible excitement.
The teachers too. So while other students are enjoying their holiday these drama students will be trying to polish their plays in readiness for the finals which will be held during Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo in September. The eight Bulawayo schools will be joined in the finals by Dinyane and Bubude high schools from Tsholotsho and Churchill Boys High from Harare.
This year’s theme is “Absentee Parents.” Since June over thirty six schools in Bulawayo have been showcasing their plays under the competition. And as in previous editions the competition is characterised by fun, surprises and serious children’s rights issues. The eight plays going to the finals are so different and yet powerful in their own way. Eveline Girls have weaved pictorial images on a projector with a strong dramatic story. Njube’s strength lies in the music. Listening to the young cast sing is a joy everyone who will interact with their play will not want to forget in a long time. Eastview High has a good story.
The challenge is for the young and inexperienced cast to deliver come September. Gifford Boys are the school to beat. They are experienced and have developed an ensemble that has become a joy to watch while on stage. Their characterisation will leave many seasoned actors green with envy. Maranatha High has a simple story but it is this simplicity and innocence they bring to the stage that will obviously endear them to the judges in September.
Since inception the Plan High Schools drama competition has always been about fusing advocacy and entertainment. It is an Intwasa project that seeks to use drama to motivate, empower and meaningful and effectively engage children and young people in advocating for their rights while denouncing any forms of abuse at home, school and the community at large.
The project also seeks to create an understanding among children and young people of the need for change and how that change can start within people themselves and develop from there. Using drama as an effective and innovative tool for social transformation the projects strives to bring change, in a very positive way, to the lives of many children and young people in Bulawayo and surrounding areas.
Children, in this case students, must always be at the centre of the creative process, meaning they formulate the plays, feature in them and later become audiences as well. It is their competition, from beginning to end. So while students love being on stage the competition gives them a purpose to be on stage.
Obviously, the competition seeks a balance between education and entertainment. This year, in both the preliminaries and semi-final events it was encouraging to notice that the competition keeps training new talent every year. As in previous editions new actors and new talents came to the forefront. More pleasing is the fact that most of the people directing the plays are graduates of or passed through the same competition.
Apart from the Plan High Schools Drama Competition students can also be looking forward to the Live Literature Project which will also be part of the festival in September. The Live Literature Project features four set book performances this year. The set books are The Sun Will Rise Again, Colour of Hope, Dancing in the Dust and Master Harold and The Boys. Schools are encouraged to make enquiries with Intwasa for the shows.
