Abro
Winfred Rasina (aka Abro) is an established playwright, producer, director and choreographer based in Gaborone. He was national coordinator of Reetsanang until mid-January 2007 and remains the national co-ordinator of Abronia Theatre Productions Family. Abronia held arts' workshops for secondary schools and community-based theatre institutions around the country from 1998-2005. The workshops are due to resume this year.
Abro was chairperson of Jwaneng District Youth Council and has facilitated numerous workshops including the Masunga Workshop in 2003 and the Mantlwaneng Arts Camp from 2003-5, which were both commissioned by the Department of Culture and Youth to train community- and youth-based theatre groups. Abro served as the Minister of Entertainment and Culture for the University of Botswana from 2001-2, and has also been commissioned by the university to write and produce cultural and instructional theatre. As a playwright, Abro's successes include 'My Father at Ten', commissioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 'Woza's Friday 5e's', which won first place at the Segwana Sa Ngwao Arts Festival in 2001 and 'False Reasons', a production aimed to explore and deter violence at the University of Botswana. Abro called this brand of socially inspired theatre 'Talk Drama Talk' and it is used as a basis for all Abronia's educational projects.
Abro has worked as contributing Editor of Culture, Arts and Entertainment for Enviromag and has also served as Editor and Arts Consultant for DTM Magazine.
As a musician, Abro co-wrote, produced and performed the theme song for Botswana's 40th anniversary independence celebrations. He is also a director at Rasina Holdings, which manages artists such as DJ Colastraw (club chissa), Chilly, The Bees and Sowyer.