Biro (Beware of Time)

This initiative uses theatre to depict a very personal exploration of what it is like to live with HIV/AIDS, and to struggle with issues related to freedom and cultural clashes. The story is based on real events, as is the main character, Mwerindebiro, which means "beware of time because it has the answers". The audience first meets Mwerindebiro as a young boy caught up in the Ugandan insurgency of 1979. As he helps liberate his country, he finds himself facing his own personal war against HIV/AIDS. Biro is a story about "coming out", communicating with others about one's HIV/AIDS status, and the circumstances in which people do come out. The story begins in a Texas immigration prison, from where Mwerindebiro tells his story. Alone in his cell, dressed in a bright orange uniform, he makes a plea to the audience for help. He tells of his travels across Uganda, Cuba, and America, in search of treatment and freedom. The show aims to portray a realistic image of the first world society and its glamour, shadowed by HIV/AIDS and immigration issues. It aims to make issues accessible through their incorporation into one person's story.

During the 90-minute performance, Ntare, the actor, uses slideshows of photographs to keep him company on the stage. The photos are designed to make the audience more aware of Biro's world: war-torn Uganda, affected by HIV/AIDS; Cuba, where "everything is Russian, except for the heat"; and the United States, "the land of honey and milk," as Mwerindebiro describes these places. Sound effects emphasise the mood of each set of photos, which varies from serious to meditative to light and humorous. "Photos serve as memory, defining time and space." A photo exhibit set up behind the lobby of the theatre complements the show.

The show ends with Mwerindebiro's plea for help, and engages the audience to take an active role in his story after the performance, through an interactive question-and-answer session with the writer/actor.

In conjunction with the play, Ntare developed an HIV/AIDS advocacy programme, which he launched in Uganda in March of 2003. The programme, entitled "See the Tree in the Seed: Theatre Training for HIV/AIDS Advocacy" is an effort to engage local artists in HIV/AIDS advocacy work using theatre as the mode of discourse. In phases I and II of the programme, Ntare conducted workshops with artists in Uganda and created two training films and a manual. During phases III and IV, workshop participants were given the opportunity to explore their personal experience with HIV/AIDS. Eleven plays were developed incorporating messages of prevention and care. A 9-day intensive workshop was then held to develop a core group of trainers. Participants received first-hand experience in developing interactive pieces and were given the opportunity to instruct the class using the training films or manual.

Ntare has also produced a documentary entitled Beware Of Time, which focuses on the lives of HIV-positive Ugandans, and the crimes of a war raging in northern Uganda. The film received its first broadcast in Uganda and subsequently screened at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Black International Cinema in Berlin.