Almasi hosts staged Reading of August Wilson's Jitney

By Staff Reporter | May. 4, 2025

Charmaine Mujeri

Almasi Collaborative Arts hosted a staged reading of August Wilson’s powerful play, Jitney, yesterday at Jasen Mphepo Little Theatre.

The reading directed by Charmaine Mujeri (pictured) featured a blend of familiar Almasi faces alongside new talent which include Michael Kudakwashe, Tanatswa Kumirai, Buhlebenkosi Chinhara, Musawenkosi Saruro, Boniface Chimedza, Takunda Chiposi, Tinevimbo Chimbetete, AneUnhu Gwatidzo, Ngonidzashe Chikowore and Min’enhle Mguni.

The director of the staged reading shared her approach, Jitney offers a powerful and timeless lens through which we can examine the multifaceted struggles of black men — their search for identity and their determination to build lives within a system that often works against them."

Aligned with Almasi's new approach to staged readings, the development of Jitney began with a two-day dramaturgical workshop. This intensive session, led by Almasi's programmes coordinator Gideon Jeph Wabvuta, nvolved the cast, director, and a cohort of Almasi-trained directors, playwrights, and actors.

Gideon Jeph Wabvuta, Almasi Collaborative Arts’ programmes director, shared his enthusiasm: “It's a joy to dive back into an August Wilson play; there is a beauty to his language that feels so familiar.”

Jitney is set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh in 1970, a group of Black men struggle to make a living as drivers for a makeshift taxi company. Owner Jim Becker's son, Clarence, returns from prison just as the cab company faces a critical juncture.

Almasi Collaborative Arts is a Harare-based organisation, co-founded and under the executive Directorship of Danai Gurira, dedicated to promoting dramatic literacy and providing opportunities for creatives to grow in their craft and receive education, access, and opportunity. Almasi seeks to bring the African narrative to the global stage.

The staged reading of Jitney is part of the Almasi dramatic literacy series.