Harare’s Almasi Collaborative Arts will present a free public staged reading of Sweat, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by American playwright Lynn Nottage, as the organization continues an ambitious 2026 season focused on developing Zimbabwe’s theater industry.

The reading is scheduled for April 17 at the Friendship Bench Hub in Harare and will be directed by Charlene Mangweni-Furusa.

The production marks Almasi’s latest effort to expose local audiences and artists to internationally acclaimed dramatic works while sharpening the craft of Zimbabwean performers and directors.

Written by Nottage, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Sweat examines class tensions, economic decline and fractured relationships in an American industrial town.

The play won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and has been widely praised for its portrayal of the social fallout of deindustrialization.

Mangweni-Furusa said the themes of the play extend far beyond its American setting.

“Sweat takes us through a cross section of society, from the optimistic outlook of ‘sweating’ hard enough to one day realise one’s dream, to being at the end of the line with no prospects in sight,” she said.

“This is a play I think we can all see a bit of ourselves in.”

The cast includes a mix of returning Almasi collaborators and emerging performers, among them Bliss Tanatswa, Shane Mahobele, Michael Kudakwashe, Deborah Nyasha Kabongo and Tsungirirai Chenjerayi.

Before the public reading, the cast and creative team will undergo a two-day intensive dramaturgical workshop led by Almasi Programs Director Gideon Jeph Wabvuta, part of the organization’s broader training model that combines performance with artistic development.

“Staged readings are the mainstay of Almasi’s development agenda,” Wabvuta said.

“They enable us to further the dramatic literacy of Zimbabwean artists while sharing rich, beautiful dramatic works with the public.”

He added that the production continues Almasi’s growing relationship with Nottage, who visited Zimbabwe last year to facilitate a rewrite workshop for local writers.

“Sweat is a timely piece, devastating in its exploration of human fragility, yet it serves as a window through which we can find the opportunity to connect over tumultuous times,” Wabvuta said.

The reading is the third major program in Almasi’s 2026 calendar, following its Writers Retreat in March and a February staging of A Raisin in the Sun.

The Harare-based arts organization, co-founded by actor and playwright Danai Gurira, has positioned itself as one of Zimbabwe’s leading institutions for dramatic arts training and creative development.

With Sweat, Almasi continues its push to blend world-class theater with local artistic training, offering Zimbabwean audiences a chance to engage with one of modern drama’s most acclaimed works while nurturing the next generation of stage talent.