Muchemwa a story writer on the road
ZAZA Muchemwa (ZM) is a poet, short story writer, award-winning theatre director and producer. Author of the short story Dancing With Yesterday, her latest plays are The IVth Interrogation, developed at the Almasi African Playwrights Festival under the title A Midnight Conundrum and Numbers, developed during a playwriting residency at the West Yorkshire Playhouse Theatre. She is the Associate Artistic Director for Almasi Collaborative Arts and the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Centre of International Theatre Institute (ZCITI). Recently, she completed her residency at the International Writing Programme (IWP) Fall Residency 2022 at the University of Iowa in the United States. She talks to IndependentXtra’s Khumbulani Muleya (KM) and below are excerpts of the interview:
KM: You participated in an international residency programme at The University of Iowa, together with 31 other writers and poets from across the world, how has life been at the residency so far?
ZM: It has been really and truly lifechanging. I met talented, mindful and generous people in the form of writers taking part in the residency, including the people of Iowa. I have seen a lot of nature, danced the night away, read books, written new work, learnt about different experiences and contexts, tasted cuisine from different parts of the world and experienced life in a unique way.
KM: Have you always been with the world of residencies? familiar
Poet Zaza Muchemwa
ZM: Yes. I have always been aware of residencies. In 2016, I took part in a playwriting residency at West Yorkshire Playhouse Theatre in the United Kingdom as part of the World Stages Residencies.
KM: How did you prepare yourself, did you arrive at the residency with a project in mind?
ZM: Before I left I had two orientations. One with the US embassy in Harare on what to expect in terms of visiting the US and opportunities for making the most out of my visit.
And then a group orientation with the IWP Faculty where they shared with us logistical details, shared a bit more on the programme and fielded any questions we had about our visit.
These two orientations really helped me concerning preparation. On my end, I had to think of what to take with me, looking for publications that feature my work so
I could share with the University of Iowa main library, and also thinking about what I wanted to work on and the panel discussions and the readings I was going to take part in. I came to the residency with the aim of finishing a play I have been working on since last year. I ended up writing new poems and a short play, which I am going to develop further into a full play.
KM: In terms of productivity, how would you compare the experience of writing in a home environment compared to when you are in a residency?
ZM: It is lovely working away from one’s day-to-day duties and life demands. Creating distance between you and what is familiar can be discombobulating and discomforting. Yet it is from that place of mislocation that one is inspired to create work that goes beyond the writing level that one would have been accustomed to back home.