IN THE EARLY 2000S, theatre was among Rwanda’s most popular forms of entertainment. Different performing artists would gather in public spaces to stage dramas that would entertain audiences across the country.
Cine Mumena, now a conference hall located at College Saint Andre in Nyamirambo, was one of the renowned theatres that used to host a series of theatre spectacles every weekend.
Popular filmmaker and actor Jones Kennedy Mazimpaka is one of the performing artists who took part in a number of plays at the theatre hall.
He was always impressed and motivated by the turn-up of hundreds of people from across Kigali, who came to watch theatre plays live that sold out every weekend.
As time went by, however, the turn up for live drama shows began to fade as people became more interested in radio dramas.
But Mazimpaka never gave up. For years, he had a dream to one day develop a drama concept for television.
His dreams are now close to becoming a reality after he unveiled a new TV drama show in Rwanda dubbed ‘Tarama Nige’ to engage a bigger audience into theatre performing arts.
"We chose to make it a televised drama because it was not only my dream but also because there was no way we would stage these dramas physically due to the pandemic,” Mazimpaka told journalists during a press briefing on Wednesday, December 16.
The project, which is expected to deliver six theatrical productions in a period of six months, will provide a platform for youth to enhance their potential in performing arts.
The TV Drama will be developed with stories that mainly tell the day-to-day life of youth, their lifestyle, behavior in society and the challenges faced while also proposing possible solutions from which youth can learn for a better future.
"The project will be edutaining and we want to bring the stage to our TVs so our audience is able to follow the dramas in big numbers,” he said.
Casting
Mazimpaka and his team are now looking for talented youth aspiring to join the ‘Tarama Nige’ TV drama in an ongoing casting call which is open to actors, poets, singers, and group dancers, either contemporary or ballet.
Auditions that began on December 14 will run until December 30. They will see two scriptwriters and 25 upcoming theatre performers selected to take part in the TV drama.
Through the auditions, the selected artists will go through a series of workshops and training sessions to polish their talent and, from there, they will act in the six selected scripts to form well-produced plays which will be filmed on stage and thereafter be televised and streamed on different online platforms.
After six months, Mazimpaka reveals that they will do an evaluation of the concept before holding another casting call to give a chance to more young performing artists to take their part in the TV drama concept.