INFORMATION, Media and Broadcasting Services minister Jonathan Moyo will plant an indigenous tree at the official relaunch of Amakhosi’s Inxusa Theatre Festival at Amakhosi Cultural Centre next Tuesday.
Cont Mhlanga Own Correspondent
Moyo will proceed to watch the Woman In Theatre PlaySong of a Woman directed by Thembelihle Moyo and produced by Nohlalo Dube at 6:30pm before officially relaunching Inxusa.
He will then watch Bulawayo’s world-travelled top dance theatre company Umkhathi Theatre Works presenting a dance theatre piece called “Merging Cultures”.
Moyo will be the third cabinet minister to plant an indigenous tree since the founding of the Cultural Centre on March 25 1995.
Inxusa Theatre Festival and the World Theatre Day Colloquium runs from March 25-29 at Amakhosi Cultural Centre under the theme Merging Cultures.
Inxusa Theatre Festival was founded by Amakhosi Theatre at Stanley Hall and Square in Makokoba Bulawayo in 1990 where it presented a six-week theatre marathon of plays all written and directed by Cont Mhlanga as a way of celebrating the group’s 10 years of making and touring theatre.
The festival was suspended in 1999 for redesigning and focusing as it was fast growing towards becoming a huge music festival and not a theatre festival with a mission.
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The major reason for the delayed re-launch of Inxusa was the country’s major political and economic recession that picked its pace in 2000 rolling all the way to 2009.
An attempt to relaunch the festival in 2010 riding on the soccer World Cup fever that was hosted by South Africa dismally failed.
However, Amakhosi Theatre keeping an eye on the country’s political and economic developments as they unfolded towards the July 31 2013 elections gradually piloted several facets of the redesigned Inxusa for the past three years to eventually find 2014 as the best opportune year to finally relaunch the festival.
It is with this background that the planting of the indigenous tree by Moyo, concern for the development of local content in Zimbabwe is known to all, fits well with Amakhosi Cultural Centre and Inxusa Theatre Festival’s mission.
This occasion is important to the institution as it marks the planting to the nation of Amakhosi’s Vision 2025.
The ground-breaking of the Cultural Centre on the March 25 1995, was marked by a tree planting ceremony of eight indigenous trees each representing a creative arts discipline that is taught and practiced at the Multi-Arts Cultural Centre. So the tradition continues.
This is an open invitation to artists from across Zimbabwe, entertainment journalists, arts teachers, arts lectures and citizens of Bulawayo who want to be part of this occasion to pick their admission invite cards by end of business day on March 24 from the centre’s reception offices.
The Inxusa official launch day programme is packed with Bulawayo’s top stage talent performers starting at 4pm with the play I Stop written by Thembelihle Moyo, Mhondiwa Mhepo and Scra Mudala and directed by Thulani Mbabo.
This is followed by the Amakhosi Vision 2025 and a tree planting ceremony by minister Professor Jonathan Moyo at 6pm.
The corporate investor partner for the Inxusa 2014 Official Opening Day activities is a local Bulawayo business Consultancy company, Stop to Start International (Pvt) Ltd, which is committed to see the City Of Bulawayo reclaim its glory as the cultural capital and centre of culture, history and heritage in Zimbabwe.
