KITF Edition 1

About This Project

The first Edition of the Kampala International Theatre Festival took place in 2014 and it featured so many amazing plays from countries like Kenya, Uganda, US, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and South Africa. Some of the plays included are;

Desperate to Fight (Ethiopia), a story about a woman who has been divorced three times, and now she’s not sure if she wants to give marriage a fourth try. Tormented by a the sounds of a newly and seemingly happily-wedded couple living next door, she wrestles with her past and the memories of her former husbands.

Strings (Uganda) it plays with the different character responses to the 20-year absence and now return of Maama’s distant husband, Baaba, from Kyeyo, where he was seeking work and a better fortune abroad for the family left behind.

Radio Play (Rwanda) When a young woman finds herself on the night watch as host of late night call-in show, the secrets of others — stories of the unsaid, failed relationships, secret diseases and affairs start to infect her life and imagination as she tries to stay awake.

Black Maria (Kenya) A young African woman from a privileged upper middle-class family comes of age learning how to survive in an African country at the time of the dictatorships of the 1980s. She has to navigate life away from the safety of her family and learn how to survive in university away from her privileged secure life in a world of ordinary people.

Déchirement (Burundi) is the story of a troubled man, a man torn in two with the reality of a strife-torn nation. A man alone on stage will revisit his country’s history: the arrival of the first white fathers, Christianity, the royal monarchy, ethnic division.

DJ Lwanda (Kenya), Set in a modern day imaginary slum called Kwa Maji, the musical revolves around the social and political struggles of a community radio DJ, Lwanda.

Others plays included were; The Song of Hip (Tanzania), Maria Kizito (US/UG), Ster City (South Africa), Africa Kills Her Sun (Tanzania) and Wimbo Wa Nyonga (Tanzania).