Last month, I participated in the award ceremony for the 2022 Prize of Hope in Blue Lake, CA. Hosted by Dell’Arte International and Aasen Teater, the Danish Institute for Popular Theater in Brødholtvej, Denmark. The 2022 Prize of Hope was awarded to the Zimbabwe Theater Academy. The event included a performance of the 2-person play, “Zandezi.”
The award has traditionally taken the form of a mask. After reading the script, I viewed videos of the performance and researched Zimbabwean mask styles. About 50 sketches later, I submitted my concept with Dell’Arte.
I created the original mask in clay, made a silicon mold, cast three masks and painted them with acrylic paint. One mask was awarded to the group from Zimbabwe, one went to Denmark and the third went to the Dell’Arte International collection.
Zandezi is Zimbabwean slang for “prison.” The play questions if prison is for a rehabilitation or a place where innocent people become hardcore criminals.
Dell’Arte Institute and the Danish Institute of Popular Theater both focus on physical theater, a genre of theatrical performance that encompasses storytelling primarily through physical movement. In Zimbabwe, where 14 languages are spoken, the language of motion connects all.
Dell’Arte has been offering the Prize of Hope with the Danish Institute of Popular Theater since 2008; past recipients include Universes (2018), Cornerstone Theater (2016), Tim Robbins & the Actor’s Gang (2008), and many more!