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School drama clubs gave way to Repteens (a youth theatre club at Reps Theatre in Harare). At Repteens he met with thespians of like-mindedness and they soon formed their own company. On the 29th of October 1994, on the pavements of Avondale Shopping Centre, Harare, Over the Edge Theatre Company was born. Originally called the ‘Crash Gaskets’, the company quickly changed its name to something more catchy and went on to tour three continents over a period of 10 years. Over the Edge won two ‘Spirit of the Fringe’ awards at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. They were also nominated for ‘Acting Excellence in an Ensemble’ at the same festival by the prestigious Stage newspaper, for their performance of self-penned Born African. Somewhere in the middle of all this Kevin completed a Bachelor of Arts degree and trained as a teacher. As Over the Edge drifted apart to get married and have babies, Kevin gravitated towards London. For two years in London he worked with Strathmore Publishing, where he learnt the art of producing and editing audio books. Highlights included compiling Monty Python’s autobiography for three months and writing a sketch for Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam. Kevin continues to work as an actor, director, writer, musician, sound engineer, graphic designer and teacher in Zimbabwe.
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Kevin Hanssen started his acting career at a very young age in primary school. However, it wasn’t his first love. Acting and ‘drama’ came a distant fifth or sixth to cricket, squash, hockey, soccer and BMX! It was only in high school, after being forced into a House play by a sister’s friend, that he began to develop an inkling for ‘treading the boards’. It may have had something to do with the ego boost that came with winning ‘Best Actor’ in the House competition that year. Whatever the motivation, noble or otherwise, the theatre ‘bug’ had claimed another victim.