By Sukuoluhle Ndlovu
Over 50 actors and actresses from Masvingo have been selected for the Wenera cast.
Due to the national lockdown, auditions were held online through sending in monologues and yesterday was the cut off day.
Masvingo responded in numbers and only those who met the Wenera standards made it through.
Speaking to Bustop TV, Wenera producer, Eddie Ndhlovu said they are rebranding Wenera hence most provinces are now included.
“As we are rebranding Wenera to VIVA WENERA, our vision is to create a Zimbabwean TV series that caters for all people from all corners of the country and being included in the cast. We have actors from major towns, Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare and including Masvingo,” he said.
Masvingo was targetted because of the Chivhitori tone.
“So we did Masvingo auditions on its own because we were looking for the ChiVhitori speaking people specifically and also we want to promote the town because one of our coordinators, Anna Chiketa is from Masvingo and she has been promoting arts, business ventures in the town and so Wenera is going to be one of those initiatives.”
“During auditions we were looking for potential not talent as such. Because there are other people who might not talent but as long as they have potential to be coached and moulded then that is our language. We believe in raw talent so going out there carrying out audition, it is a sign that we were looking for raw,” he added.
Ndhlovu said there is need to engage a number of players and come up with a TV Series from Masvingo. It is something that has been discussed since last year when he attended a talent show in the city.
The Masvingo cast will act some scenes that are going to be shot including a wedding, lobola and mine activities and the plots are some of the few that are continuing.
Wenera premiered in July 2015 after conducting auditions for18 months. It was created to fill the void that was left by dramas like yesteryear’s Studio 263 and to create better entertainment during family time.
