Local scriptwriter wins big
By Silence Charumbira
Showbiz Editor
Thandiwe Nyamasvisva has won big at the Shashalazi Women’s theatre festival in South Africa’s port city of Durban.
The piece Two Dead Government Officials won the Best Script Award.
Speaking to Showbiz Thandiwe said she was excited to have won the big prize and grateful to Bongani Baai whom she said took the script to the festival.
“I am very excited and very grateful at the same time. Excited as any ordinary artist would be to have their work win an award and very grateful to Bongani Baai who took my play to the festival. We were part of the Twist Novel Script project together for seven days and after the project he asked me for the play which I gave him,” she said.
“For me this award highlights the importance and power of having a thorough script development process with input from dramaturge directors, actors as well as other writers.”
She said the development had also allowed her to find her voice as a scriptwriter.
“Despite having won many awards, I have been struggling with finding my voice but a few months ago I believed I had found it and Two Dead Government Officials was the first play after that discovery and this award has inspired me even more to write my next play called Chance Meeting,” she said.
“Despite its many struggles, I think the local theatre scene has many talented scriptwriters who need further training to add that extra polish to the many wonderful stories that are already there.”
Thandiwe is a Zimbabwean born scriptwriter and has written plays for schools and organisations in Africa and Europe.
Four of her plays have won up to seven awards at Zimbabwe National Invitational One Act Play Festival.
“I have an artistic vision of using storytelling as a tool for positive socio-economic development in Africa and beyond. I also like running and managing a fitness website called Mhanya Dot Com (www.mhanya.com),” she said.
