BY WINSTONE ANTONIO ORGANISERS of the on-going annual Southern Africa Theatre Collaborative (SATC) programme have expanded their training and development mandate for the arts to focus on southern Africa. The on-going SATC programme, organised by local arts organisation Savanna Trust, began on September 10 and is set to end on September 24. It is targeted at young mid-career practitioners in theatre making. Savanna Trust programmes officer Nyasha Chagonda (pictured) yesterday told NewsDay Life & Style that 14 participants from seven Sadc countries were taking part at this year’s edition being held virtually due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. “This year’s edition being the first online training, we thought that we would lose participants along the way. We are, however, happy that all the participants regardless of the challenges in network connectivity are religiously committed to the process. The learning process is very interactive and the participants are happy with it, though they wished they were here in Zimbabwe physically,” she said. SATC programme helps nurture the growth of theatre practitioners and improve their craft. “For this year’s edition, we had almost 60 applicants compared to 39 in 2019. Of the 60 applicants, we only required 15 participants meaning the camp is getting more popular within the Sadc region. We also have participation from Eswatini for the first time, so the camp is growing yearly,” Chagonda said. “The SATC is centred around training and development, specifically focusing on intermediate theatre practitioners who often find themselves perplexed and unsure of how to navigate the ‘real world’ of work. Each year mid-career theatre practitioners from across the Sadc region congregate and undergo an extensive and fully-packed training programme comprising arts management, acting, directing and script writing.” Chagonda said at this year’s programme, training was being facilitated by well-accomplished experts in the region who include Bongani Masango, Leonard Matsa and Daniel Maposa.