Arts Initiative to spice up theatre

The final shooting of the first three pilot episodes of local series “Muganga” ended on Wednesday this week.

Friday, April 03, 2015
Rwandan-Ugandan socialite Judith Heard stars in the series. Net

The final shooting of the first three pilot episodes of local series "Muganga” ended on Wednesday this week.

Ken Nkundwa, the Executive Manager of Rwanda Arts Initiative, the agency behind the film, said that the series will explore common rifts between patients and doctors, and the impact of bureaucracy and personal feuds in the health sector.

"The series focuses on the daily issues that we find in medical centres,” Nkundwa said. "In general, it looks at how medical personnel attend to people in an evasive manner – knowingly or unknowingly,” he added.

The cast of "Muganga” includes Amit – an Indian patient, also a regular at Centre de Santé who now has staff under the impression that he feigns his unending ailments. It also features Rwandan-Ugandan socialite Judith Heard as a nurse.

Nkundwa said that Rwanda Arts Initiative has lately put more effort in training than production. In May this year, they will have a structural training conducted by Belgians.

"We have set a two-year agenda in which we want to train more local people instead of relying on Kenyans, Ugandans or Europeans,” Nkundwa said.

He added that they intend to take theater to the people. "People assume that theatre has to be in a hall with a raised platform for a stage. No, theatre can be taken to people’s homes where a person will be the beneficiary of the fee collections at his/her home. I’ve seen it work in Ouagadougou and it can work here too,” said the Executive Manager.

Rwanda Arts Initiative was founded in 2012 by Dorcy Rugamba who is also its Artistic Director.

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