JONATHAN MBIRIYAMVEKA STUDENTS, researchers, thespians and scholars will soon be able to access old and new scripts of plays staged at Theatre in the Park online after Rooftop Promotions established a digital archive. The project, funded by SANORD, will make it easier to provide scripts and information regarding the playwrights, cast and years in which the plays were produced. Working on the project are Dr Nkululeko Sibanda (University of Pretoria), Dr Pedzisai Maedza (University College Dublin), Dr Kelvin Chikonzo (University of Zimbabwe), Professor Ashleigh Harris (Uppsalla University) and Rooftop founder Daves Guzha. Added to this, the digital archive will ensure that Zimbabwean plays can now be performed and monetised overseas. Rooftop Promotions producer Guzha reiterated the importance of digitalising their library dating back to Theatre in the Park's formative years in 1986. “The biggest asset for Rooftop Promotions it is actually the scripts and that’s where our value really is. To put it into context, were you to do a comparison with Market Theatre and 20th Century Fox and so forth they have over 20 years or 40 years ago scripts in their vault. “We are really excited, we are taking the first step digitalising content and second step, monetising that particular content,” Guzha said. He said the digital library would provide for copyright and storage issues. “Our work or content from Theatre in the Park play didn’t cross to Europe or United States because it is not readily available. The process has been slow, because you don’t expect somebody to come from Europe to ask for a copy of the script. “But once they are online it becomes easier to share the content; it also makes it easy to protect issues of rights, issues of storage, it becomes fluid and seamless,” Guzaha said. According to Guzha, some of the challenges of not digitalising their archive was that they lost a number of scripts over the years. “We are actually going back in time bearing in mind Rootftop Promotions started in 1986 and now to think of digitalising that archive in 2023 you can do the maths in terms of how many years is that, but yes, we have lost some and we also trying to recover some. “What has also been particularly difficult is remembering the years of production that we did the earlier work, including who were the cast. "Remember we were not photograph everything not every play had photographs and not every play was reviewed; we might have to come in to The Herald. Unfortunately, Parade (magazine) archive nobody knows where it is or Look & Listen archive nobody knows where it is, otherwise it would’ve been easier to go to any of those archives and see what exists,” he said. He however acknowledged that they could also have made use of the National Archives and deposit their scripts periodically. The database project is being led by Swedish-based renowned researcher Prof Harries of Uppsula University. “I do research to make sure archives in African literature and culture are getting secured for the future. So, Rooftop has got this amazing collection of all of the plays that have been put up here since its beginning but have been sitting in this container and eventually some papers just disappear,” she said. She said so far they had created an archive of over 280 plays that were performed at Theatre in the Park. Plays on the database include 70 scripts by the late Stephen Chifunyise, one of the most prolific playwrights to emerge from Zimbabwe. Rooftop Promotions pioneer digitalisation of archive Life & Style Page 51 Ashleigh Harris and insert is Rooftop founder Daves Guzha Ashleigh Harris NewsHawks Issue 144, 11 August 2023
Page 52 People & Places Sport NewsHawks Issue 144, 11 August 2023 Regional journalists tour Zim
CHRIS TAVONESA NOW that the defending champions South Africa and the most dominant team in world team sports, New Zealand, have announced the World Cup squads, I have come to the realisation that the best players in the world do not play each other week-in week-out. This negatively affects the game financially because viewership is about watching elite athletes going toe-to-toe every week. In football, Real Madrid have to play Barcelona at least twice per season, outside the Copa del Rey. This is unavoidable. The best footballers in the world clashing! And it gets even better when it is UEFA Champions League time: Madrid v Manchester United – Erling Haaland vs Vinicius Jr! Years back, there was a trilogy in heavyweight boxing, meaning that the best at that moment had to face each other consistently. This gripped sports fans’ attention – whether one was a die-hard boxing fan or not. Another example: World Athletics created a structure where the best athletes have to compete against each other in the Diamond League. In cricket, they have the Indian Premier League (IPL), where the best cricketers in the world test each other’s skills to the limit. Imagine Virat Kohli batting together for Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate with AB de Villiers, and AB facing the express pace of his fellow countryman Dale Steyn. Or, David Warner facing Mitchell Starc, a fellow Aussie. This creates hype, and viewership. Viewership not only leads to popularity and growth of the sport, it has huge financial benefits for the sports federations – at both national and domestic levels. But not rugby! This beloved sport of mine, officially known as rugby union, is fractured at the moment. Totally broken for my liking. The best players in the world are not playing each other often, as in football or cricket. It deeply saddens me that there is no rugby equivalent of a Champions League, or an IPL. Because of that, the players of rugby are the biggest losers, because people do not put their money in a sport where viewers are not assured of entertainment value. Take, for instance, that South African fly-half Handre Pollard is the highest paid rugby player in the world – in the toughest sport in the world. He earns around US$1.8 million per year at UK Premiership side Leicester Tigers. His football rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, is getting over US$200 million in a year in Saudi Arabia. How can rugby compete with this kind of financial flow when you have the best rugby players in the world split across the United Rugby Championship, Super Rugby and the Heineken Cup? Why not, for once, ask rugby fans across the world what they like to see? They will definitely tell you that they would like to watch Richie Mo'unga and Siya Kolisi in the same team against Owen Farrell and Dan Biggar alongside an African wildcard from Zimbabwe called Tafadzwa Chitokwindo. This structure of avoiding each other is now spreading across the world at even lower levels of the game. A few weeks ago in Zimbabwe, St John’s College and St George’s College did not play each other across the different teams because the other school was not comfortable with the size of the other’s Under-14 team. A fixture whose rivalry that goes back nearly 40 years eas not fulfilled because of the personal egos of adults, depriving children of memories. So, even the best rugby schools in Zimbabwe no longer want to play each other, out of fear. And this is the foundation of our national teams. Where are we headed as a nation when you are denying kids the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of 3 000 cheering people in the stands? In the old days, the Zimbabwean-born record-breaking Springbok Tonderai Chavhanga, who went to Prince Edward School, could not avoid Churchill, one of their biggest rivals in Harare. Similarly in Bulawayo, Brendan Dawson at Milton Boys High just had to face the likes of Gifford and Christian Brothers College. A few seasons back, some schools even refused to play against Churchill due to accusations of age-cheating. Who can prove that? Where is the old guard of Zimbabwean rugby who cared so much for the sport, the good old guys whose vision for the country started at the junior level in schools? We need that back, the unity of purpose from the schools, then club rugby up to the ZRU level. For the love of the game, that is my story and I’m sticking to it! *Guest columnist Chris Tavonesa is a Zimbabwean former club rugby player and enthusiast of the sport. A Liverpool fan, he keenly follows a wide range of other sporting disciplines. Sport Page 53 With this kind of small mentality, will rugby catch up with other major codes? St John's and St George's didn't play against each other last month following a stalemate over the Rams' concern with their rivals' Under-14 side. NewsHawks Issue 144, 11 August 2023
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