Lonesome Kudzaishe Tapiwa

I am a theatre artist, social change documentary storyteller, and community development practitioner from Zimbabwe. My work sits at the intersection of creative storytelling and social change, using arts-based approaches to help young people and communities tell their own stories. I serve as Sub-Saharan Project Specialist for Hand2Mouth Theatre and as a volunteer project assistant at Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo. I help coordinate projects across several African countries, using creative storytelling to amplify voices that are not often heard, particularly young women and marginalized communities. My path to this work was not straightforward. I discovered my desire to be an artist while exploring different ways of understanding the world around me. I followed that passion to study and work alongside theatre artists who showed me what community-centered art could look like at its highest level, theatre generated from community voices, history, interviews, research, and cultural connection. I have led ensemble creation processes, guiding groups to gather material, collect interviews, and share personal stories to collectively arrive at new work that reflects the vision and ideas of the whole creative team.