As a freelance artist, Munyeshuri Innocent is known to many for his stage appearances in local theater productions, as well his penchant for the camera. As a freelance photographer, his work revolves as much around the theater stage as his acting.

He is also attached to the Mashirika Performing Arts and Media Company, where he has juggled the roles of actor, writer, director and coordinator in different projects and stage productions. When not on the Mashirika stage, you are most likely to find him capturing the moments on his camera.

Munyeshuri, the author, writes theater plays and TV dramas, and as a director he works with stage plays and TV dramas.

Interestingly, both his acting and photography journeys begun at Mashirika, which he joined in 2013 after meeting the founder and artistic director, Hope Azeda.

But Munyeshuri’s acting talent had manifested much earlier, in 2001, when he joined a dancing ensemble from his village of Byimana in Ruhango district, Southern Province.“We danced to Backstreet Boys, Nsync, and Chris Brown songs, and this continued up to 2008 when I switched to theater,” he reminisces:

“I was in high school (Groupe Scolaire St. Joseph Kabgayi) when La Benevolencia, a theater company that owns the popular soap opera known as Musekeweya came and founded a theater club which I joined and presided over for a year.

We would write sketches and perform them at the assembly every Tuesday in front of our fellow 1,200 students and teachers. This is when I found out that I was passionate about acting and theatre in general, so acting started stalking me.”

After completing high school he enrolled at the University of Rwanda’s College of Education, where he studied drama and education majoring in drama.

“After I graduated from high school I went on with my studies to university where I luckily found theater. I had never thought there was any theatre school in Rwanda.”

While majoring in theater at university he attended different theater workshops organized by Ishyo Arts Center, the Goethe Institut, and Mashirika, among others.

This further opened more doors for him, beginning with admission to a summer intensive theater training at Shakespeare and Company, a renowned theater company based in Massachusetts, US.

His most toured destination to date is India, where he has attended theater festivals in Kerala, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Kashimir. He has also performed in Sri Lanka.

All this came after he met Hope Azeda of Mashirika in 2013, with a view to joining the group.

“I started working with Mashirika right after my graduation in 2014. Since then, every moment has been a journey of learning and growth. Working with Mashirika did not only help me strengthen my potentials but also discover other strengths in me as an artist and a person in general.”

Today, he has acted in several local stage productions like Bisamaza (2008), Jack and Zenzele (2012), Romeo and Juliet (both in Rwanda and the US (2013, 2014), Inzira Yanjye (2012), Amani.Safe.Mudendezo (2015), Dear Children Sincerely, and a string of community theater projects with Urunana.

“The reason why I chose an acting career over everything else is summarized in one sentence: I love it, I followed what my heart was telling me to do,” he defends his choice of career.

“I'm passionate about theatre and the arts at large, and you can't run away from your passion. Running away from your passion is running away from yourself, I'm into this. What I do is where I wanna stay. As an actor I get inspiration from people around me in general and those I read, watch and listen to, both actors and non-actors.”

About photography, his second love Munyeshuri says;

“Photography has its way of strongly capturing human's attention. It's one of those forms of art that are not only good for story telling but also for keeping memories. I just found myself wanting to capture my work and/or others' works to share it with the world. I like taking pictures where there are artistic events though I sometimes find myself capturing some other moments as instinct might command.”

Yet, in it all, Munyeshuri believes he is still a work in progress:

“In my opinion, in acting as well as in other professions nobody is a finished product. I'd tell fellow artists to keep learning and finding ways of enriching their talents for being a better them.”

editorial@newtimes.co.rw