A MUSICAL recently staged by Seed Projects at Harare International School (HIS) to explore the cancer of drug and substance abuse, featuring musicians Blessing “Bled” Chimanga and Prudence Katomeni–Mbofana, reverberated in the hearts of the audience.
BY PRECIOUS CHIDA
The musical, Can You Hear Me, was staged in conjunction with Jibilika dancers, who sang and danced to a live band.
In a follow-up interview with NewsDay, the show’s playright and producer, Jacqueline Rugayo, said there was a long history of drug abuse in the country and there was need for conversation between parents and children to curb the scourge.
“It is very difficult for parents to understand what is going on with their children because we are living with youths who are not able to have conversations with us as parents, so we thought we could use creative arts to let parents understand what is going on early enough to solve problems that the youths are facing,” she said.
Rugayo said although most of the team members were not professional actors, they had successfully pulled off the project.
The producer added that while she was in Ghana, she contacted HIS music director, Bernie Bismark, who then brought together the rest of the cast.
“When you look at them you would think they are professional actors, but most of them are not. We have Jibilika who are the dancers, but because we were short of people they also began to act which is really amazing,” she said.
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Rugayo said her dream was to replicate the project in different communities across the country.
“I want every community to be able to talk about their own story. The story we just staged is something that has been happening in Mount Pleasant and I believe stories differ from community to community so I am hoping we could go and do a casting from those places so that they can also talk about their own stories using the same method of drama and music,” she said.
