After the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980 the University faced the challenge of becoming a "people's university". Practical drama courses were introduced in 1984 in the Faculty of Arts and the policy from the outset was to develop a drama programme in keeping with the process of democratization, Zimbabweanization, Africanization and socialist transformation. This took the form of establishing drama courses in the departments of English and of African Languages and Literature and encouraging extra-curricular cultural activities on campus and in the community as a whole. The Faculty of Arts programme saw theatre as a useful cultural activity and explored ways of involving people from both inside and outside the University in its first production, Mavambo: First Steps, in the introduction of courses in theatre for development and theatre-in-education, the establishment of the theatre group Zambuko/lzibuko and the Film of the Month Club, the development of a visiting productions programme, launching a University Playscripts publishing venture, and in the staging, both on and off campus, of previously published and original plays based on the cultural forms and languages of Zimbabwe and Southern Africa
Read
