Almasi Collaborative Arts will bring two New York-based theatre and screen professionals to Harare in July 2026 for a series of intensive workshops designed for selected Zimbabwean entertainment practitioners.
Scott Miller, a professor at New York University’s Tisch Graduate Acting Program, and playwright-director Stephen Belber will lead separate training tracks from 13 to 25 July, ahead of the organisation’s flagship Africa Voices Now! 2026 festival.
Workshop schedule and venues
Miller will direct an Acting and Voice workshop from 13 to 24 July, culminating in a public showcase on 25 July. Belber will concurrently run a Writing for Stage and Screen workshop. Sessions will take place at The Friendship Bench and The Jasen Mpepho Little Theatre in Harare.
The programme is limited to a pre-selected group of Zimbabwean entertainment industry professionals and aims to provide practical training while facilitating direct engagement with international practitioners.
Instructor backgrounds
- Stephen Belber is a playwright, screenwriter and director whose work has appeared on Broadway and in more than 25 countries. His credits include The Laramie Project, Law & Order: SVU, Tape, and the Netflix series The Madness, which he created and show-ran. His films include Match (starring Patrick Stewart and Carla Gugino) and Management (featuring Jennifer Aniston and Woody Harrelson).
- Scott Miller is a professor at NYU’s Tisch Graduate Acting Program and founder of the mVm Miller Voice Method®. He has over four decades of experience as a coach, trainer and teacher across theatre, film, broadcasting, education and leadership development.
Almasi Collaborative Arts artistic director Zaza Muchemwa said the initiative is part of a broader effort to develop Zimbabwe’s creative sector and build a pathway from professional training to production and international opportunities.
“Zimbabwe has extraordinary artists, and this programme is about creating the conditions for that talent to grow, compete, and lead. Bringing practitioners of Scott Miller and Stephen Belber’s calibre into this process is part of ensuring that Zimbabwean artists are engaging world-class standards while developing their own voices.”
The July workshops feed into Africa Voices Now! 2026, Almasi’s flagship festival, which will showcase new Zimbabwean plays and support the country’s theatre and screen industries through training, intensive workshops, play readings and public presentations.
