NEW MUSICAL: Cast members in rehearsal for the premiere of Tanaka Dunbar Ngwara’s new musical, “Paivapo ’76,” to be presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Theater and Music Theater May 3-5. (Photo by Allison Ha) 

Princeton University senior Tanaka Dunbar Ngwara, a student of the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Theater and Music Theater, will premiere his new musical, Paivapo ’76, May 3-5 at the Wallace Theater in the Lewis Arts Complex. Show are at 8 p.m. on May 3 and 4, and 2 p.m. on May 5. Admission is free.

Set in 1976 during the Zimbabwean Liberation War, the play explores the effects of the demonization and erasure of traditional practice during colonial rule in Zimbabwe, with themes of spirituality, community, first love, and grief. The title of the musical is derived from the equivalent of “once upon a time” in Zezuru Shona, a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. Ngwara draws from the memories and stories of her father and other family members who lived through the war. Most of her extended family still live in Zimbabwe.

The war represents a key time in the country’s history, and she was interested in the clash of traditional spirituality and Christianity during this period with the musical centering on Shona rituals and belief system, including spirits that protect the environment. Ngwars undertook extensive research in addition to collecting family oral history. The project represents her senior independent work in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in music composition and certificates in theater and music theater.

Visit tickets.princeton.edu for tickets.