Episodes

  • Championing Theatre for Development in Malawian

    Championing Theatre for Development in Malawian
    Jan 17 2023
    Theatre for development, which uses theatre to foster civic dialogue in communities, is quite popular in Malawi. Fumbani Innot Phiri, Jr. sits down with theatre for development practitioner Vitu Gwambaike Zgambo find out what commercial theatremakers in Malawi’s cities and towns can learn from the community-based practitioners creating theatre in villages around the country.
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    35 mins
  • Producing Malawi’s First Multidisciplinary Arts Festival

    Producing Malawi’s First Multidisciplinary Arts Festival
    Jan 9 2023
    When filmmaker Thomas Chibambo founded the Blantyre Arts Festival in 2009, it was Malawi’s first multidisciplinary arts festival. He joins host Fumbani Innot Phiri, Jr. to discuss the Blantyre Arts Festival’s current plans to better support theatrical performance and his own work to establish an Arts Council in Malawi.
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    35 mins
  • How YDC Theatre Leaders Are Navigating Malawi’s Changing Theatre Environment

    How YDC Theatre Leaders Are Navigating Malawi’s Changing Theatre Environment
    Jan 4 2023
    YDC Theatre has been producing theatre consistently in Malawi, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They join Fumbani Innot Phiri, Jr. to trace the connections between the company’s consistent work centering Malawian perspectives, their efforts to build an audience, and the political and funding climate that they must navigate.
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Making Theatre as a Multi-Hyphenate in Malawi

    Making Theatre as a Multi-Hyphenate in Malawi
    Dec 21 2022
    Pleasant Theodore Banda led Rise Arts to its first international performance in Zimbabwe. In this interview, he discusses his path into artistic direction as an actor and playwright with a background in accounting.
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    1 hr
  • Developing Genuine Malawian Theatre on Stage and on the Radio

    Developing Genuine Malawian Theatre on Stage and on the Radio
    Dec 14 2022
    Fumbani Innot Phiri Jr. interviews his playwright and director Inno Katz about his career and his efforts to redefining Malawian theatre by focusing on local stories in both English and Chichewa.
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    1 hr and 14 mins
  • Reinventing Malawian Theatre for a New Generation

    Reinventing Malawian Theatre for a New Generation
    Dec 7 2022
    Jack Msumba, creative director of Youth Developers Collaboration Theatre, has big ideas for the future of Malawian theatre. In this interview, he shares his plans to eventually build Malawi’s first theatre house by producing work consistently in schools, communities, and commercial settings.
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    50 mins
  • Theatre as a Tool for Menstrual Hygiene Education

    Theatre as a Tool for Menstrual Hygiene Education
    Nov 30 2022
    Lydia Deborah Banda infuses theater into community initiatives that work toward gender equality, educate girls about menstruation, and provide leadership and support opportunities in schools and prisons. In this interview, she shares her experiences conducting these initiatives in Malawi and touring internationally to Germany.
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    44 mins
  • Building an Audience for Malawian Political Theatre

    Building an Audience for Malawian Political Theatre
    Nov 22 2022
    Bright Phumayo Chayachaya’s Umunthu Theatre pulls together political theatre, poor theatre, theatre for development, and educational theatre to create productions that centralize Malawian narratives. In this interview, he discusses the company’s genesis and the need to bring audiences back to theatre.
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    54 mins