Dates:23rd-25th April

 Drama for Life

Playback Theatre presents:

 Witnessing, Sharing, Listening, Being Through Our Stories.

Cost Per Ticket: Performances 50 pula

                                Workshop 40 pula

Duration: performance: hour and a half

Workshop: one hour

Time of Start: 24 April  workshop time:10am-11am

                             24 April Performance time: 11:30am-1pm

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                             25 April Workshop time: 10am-11am

                              25 April Performance time: 11:30am-1pm

Venue : Moving Space

Synopsis

 Maitisong

Drama for Life Playback Theatre presents: Witnessing, Sharing, Listening, Being Through Our Stories.

For the Maitisong festival Drama for Life Playback Theatre Playback Theatre will be providing a unique interactive, accessible space for the audiences of the Festival community to listen, witness and share stories through the form of Playback Theatre. 

Playback Theatre is a wonderful and powerful way to interact with communities. We bring people together in an intimate safe environment allowing a diverse range of voices to be heard. The sharing of stories within a Playback Theatre public performance creates the space in which barriers can be broken on a number of levels.

Often stories are told by the most unsuspecting voices in a community. Through Playback Theatre communities often get to discover their communities “untold story” which allows for the multiple telling of “untold” stories to emerge through the magic of Playback Theatre.

The Drama for Life Playback Theatre Company is made up of highly trained Applied Theatre practitioners and facilitators with varying skills. Just some of the company members who will be bringing your stories to life during the Maitisong festival are: Renos Spanoudes, Kathy Barolsky, Moshe Singer, Ookeditse Phala, Cherae Halley, Sian Palmer

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT :

Playback Theatre is a wonderful and powerful way to interact with communities. Playback Theatre is all about serving communities as a community based theatre. We bring people together in an intimate safe environment allowing a diverse range of voices to be heard. The sharing of stories within a Playback Theatre public performance creates the space in which barriers can be broken on a number of levels.

Often stories are told by the most unsuspecting voices in a community. Through Playback Theatre communities often get to discover their communities “untold story” which allows for the multiple telling of “untold” stories to emerge.

Playback Theatre has shown it has a pivotal role to play in Africa. It allows the space for enabling a very fragile and diverse continent to find its strength and trust through the reflection of our stories.

PLAYBACK THEATRE – SCHOOLS

Our School performances can be used is a variety of different ways:

·        Performances can bring together classes to promote a strong sense of community

·        A safe space for students to share their experiences of peer pressure and bullying at school

·        Diversity –celebrating who we are through sharing stories of our diversity

·        Provides an opportunity for students who are usually not heard to be heard

·        Playback Theatre models the important values of validating, witnessing and listening to other peoples experiences without judgment.

·        It marks important events such as the closing or beginning of the school year for teachers and students.

·        Can be used to highlight and shape the culture of a school

·        Can be used for teachers and students to reflect on their experiences of educational programmes and classes within school

PLAYBACK THEATRE – TAILOR MADE / COMMISSIONED WORKSHOPS

Drama for Life Playback Theatre can tailor make or provide you with a wide range of trainings and workshops to suit your needs. Drama for Life Playback Theatre Company is an Umbrella Company of the Drama for Life Company.

As part of the Drama for Life Company we can we can provide you with a number of packages:

Playback Theatre

Dance &Movement

Improvisation

DURATION

Workshops times can vary to suit your requirements. We offer short workshops that run for 1-2 hours. Half day workshops are 3 hours and full day workshop run for 6 hours. We are also able to supply a series of short or full day workshops.

PARTICIPANT NUMBERS

We work with small groups of approximately 20 people to ensure the quality of our work. We have multiple facilitators that are able to conduct workshops simultaneously to cater to larger groups of people.

PLAYBACK THEATRE – VENUE AND SPACE

We offer the ease and comfort of performing on your premises all we require is a quiet room such as a conference room, auditorium or hall to create a contained safe space.

CONTACTS

Kathy Barolsky

082 413 0361

Katherine.Barolsky@wits.ac.za

DRAMA FOR LIFE PLAYBACK THEATRE – THE FACILITATORS

Our facilitators are highly trained Applied Theatre practitioners and facilitators with varying skills. Company members carry out particular workshops based on their area of expertise.

Below is more information about our facilitators:

Kathy Barolsky

Kathy a National School of the Arts & University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) BADA,MADA graduate fell in love with Playback Theatre: a perfect outlet for her many dreams of becoming a psychologist, archaeologist, ballerina, human rights activist, historian BUT most of all an actor/ facilitator of processes that make people come alive! She is the founder and Director of the Drama for Life Playback Theatre Company.

 Kathy has extensive experience in using Applied Theatre techniques to address HIV/ AIDS and various social issues. She has worked as an intern at Sibikwa Community Arts Centre on the East Rand, managing the HIV and AIDS programme, and later went on to do HIV/AIDS industrial theatre work. In 2008 Kathy was awarded a scholarship to become part of the Drama for Life Programme based at Wits. It was during this time that she developed a passion for Playback Theatre; she pursued this passion and was awarded an overseas study grant by the Oppenheimer Foundation to train at the Centre for Playback Theatre. She is currently the only person in South Africa with the Advanced skills qualification from the Centre of Playback Theatre in New York.

Currently Kathy is the project coordinator and a facilitator on the Acting Against Conflict initiative developing an Applied Theatre model to address conflict in a South African context. The Artistic Director and founder of the Drama for Life Playback Theatre Company and project coordinator on the AAA-HA! Project. The AAA-HA! Project initiated by DramAidE based at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal focuses on raising HIV/AIDS awareness on South Africa campuses using Applied Theatre. As of 2010 Kathy is the course coordinator and facilitator for the Core Course in Drama for Life- Special Studies.

Kathy through her work continues to pursue her hunger for theatre and social change through the power of Applied Theatre.

Warren Nebe

Warren Nebe is the Head of Dramatic Art, Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand and the Director of Drama for Life, Africa. He is a Theatre Director, Senior Lecturer, a HPCSA and NADT registered Drama Therapist and a Fulbright Alumni.

His research focuses on identity construction, representation and memory in South Africa through an auto-ethnographic theatre-making approach.  This research is articulated in his Transformation Project supported by the Wits Transformation Office and Carnegie Corporation. Notions of identity are explored in two theatre productions, ID Pending and Hayani, under his direction.

Warren is also a research member of the Wits School of Human & Community Development, Apartheid Archives Research Project. His other research focuses on how an integrated therapeutic drama approach can foster capacity development in HIV/Aids education throughout Africa. Warren has also recently directed Closer and Woza Joshua!

Lebohang Masimola

Lebohang started his career in the arts in 1999 at Sibikwa Community Theatre Project, after being awarded best actor in high school two years before. His main passions are acting and music, but he also facilitates, writes and directs.

 He went on to study Dramatic Arts (BADA) at Wits. He  played Othello in the FNB Schools Shakespeare Festival, with the Plastered Cast Theatre Company. In 2003 Lebo worked with the Monkey’s Wedding Theatre Company in the Czech Republic, in the Prague Quadrennial.

Lebo started to work with Inzalo Dance and Theatre Company in 2005 and performed in Dancing Ahead of Time, choreographed by Moeketsi Koena, for dance Umbrella as well as for Arts alive in 2006.

Lebo has also been involved in community based projects. He joined the Amajika Project in 2005 run by Tu Nokwe, where he taught young artists percussions. In 2005 to 2006 he also ran workshops in percussion and in dramatic arts with (CICI) Creative Inner City Initiative as well as the Soweto Schools Workshops with Inzalo Dance and Theatre Company.    

In 2007, he co-created a multimedia production of contemporary movement oratory called “Bodyscape” with Moeketsi Koena under Inzalo Dance and Theatre Company. It premiered at the Dance Factory pre-season February and then toured to Cape Town for the Out the Box Festival of Puppetry and Performance in 2008. Lebohang travelled with Inzalo to Madagascar for the Itrotra Contemporary Dance Festival in October 2008, where he ran breath workshops for young aspiring dancers from the communities of Antananarivo an all over Madagascar.

 Lebohang is currently presenting a children’s entertainment program on SABC 2 called Jakkals Jol.  Lebo also works with the same production company as a Puppeteer for Thabang Thabong, another children’s education program on SABC2.

Moshe Singer

Moshe Singer was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. Since childhood he has been an active practitioner within the performing arts as a musician, writer and actor.  He graduated from Wits University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Drama and Film, after which he attended a year at AFDA (The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance), studying editing, writing and directing. Moshe has recently completed his Honours under the Drama for Life Scholarship Programme.

All the while, Moshe worked within the Johannesburg Jewish community serving as a camp counselor for the Jewish youth movement, Habonim Dror. As a counselor, his passion is to convey a message of harmony within a system of discord.

 In 2008, Moshe joined The DFL Playback Theatre Company finding it to be a complimentary fusion of his love for creative expression and healing. This led him to discover Drama for Life at Wits, where he has completed his Honours. At Wits Moshe  immersed himself  in his classes which included Applied Drama, Dramatherapy and Musical Theatre. He was voted in to be the class representative for the Honours students and was selected to participate in "Lozenge-The Suppression of Pain", a Physical Theatre Production that was received with ovation at the National Arts Festival held in Grahamstown in 2009. He also has an affinity towards Star Wars and kittens."

Renos Nicos Spanoudes

Renos, the son of immigrant Greek Cypriot Parents, holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education, Bachelor of Arts with Honours and a Master of Arts Degree from the University of the Witwatersrand. 

He is a teacher, writer, trainer, lecturer, facilitator, actor and presenter.  Presently, he is teaching Dramatic Arts, English and Mathematics at King David High School Victory Park, SAHETI (The South African Hellenic Educational And Technical Institute) and OWLAG (The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy For Girls), lecturing in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour at Midrand Graduate Institute and presenting on the Mindset Learning Channel and the New Pan Hellenic Voice Community Radio 1422MW. 

He is on the Board of Examiners for IEB Dramatic Arts Continuous Assessment Portfolio Programmes and Matric Theoretical and Practical Marking Teams.  Being a great believer in the power of Drama in Education, he has directed the musicals ‘Grease’ and ‘A Chorus Line’ and co-directed ‘The Ratcatcher’, ‘The Donahue Sisters’ and ‘Charley’s Aunt’ all at King David.  The production of  Aristophanes’ ‘Ploutos’ at Saheti went on to receive the World Prize for Hellenes Abroad in Crete in 2007.  Renos’ play about the Greek Diaspora, ‘The Apple Tree’ and his first poetry collection, ‘Breaking the Plates’,  have been critically acclaimed as new South African Works.  In March 2008, he completed a run in the role of Male Authority Figure in the Musical ‘Hairspray’ at Gold Reef City. 

His most recent roles at The Actors’ Centre include Pozzo in ‘Waiting For Godot’, Singer and Fat Prince in ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’ and Second Scholar in ‘Doctor Faustus’.  He also played the lead role of Koffie in ‘Shake, Rattle and Payroll’ for the Festival of Fame in June 2008 and was recently selected as one of the six members of Wits University’s first ever Playback Theatre Group who will be performing nationally through to 2012.  Roles in the past have been vast varied;  from Mr. Kraler in ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’,  to Vince Fontaine in ‘Grease’,  Herod in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and Monty in ‘Withnail and I’. 

Renos feels further humbled and blessed to have been honoured as a Golden Key Life Member, UJ Chapter in 2008.  He is currently directing two new musicals he has penned for youth in S.A., ‘The Winner Takes It All’ and ‘

Ookeditse Phala

Ookeditse Phala is an actor, director, facilitator and playwright working as an operations manager for Millennium Production House (MPH); a communication, education and empowerment hub. As the founding member of MPH, Phala helped build it into one of the most well established and professionally run theatre companies in Botswana.

Over the years he has worked with various local, regional and international NGOs and private organizations, in raising awareness on HIV/Aids issues through participatory theatre. Phala has performed and done theatre work in every major village and town of Botswana. His latest work was casting and directing Ditshwetso – a PSI Botswana and ABC Ulwazi South Africa commissioned Radio Drama on HIV/Aids issues, aired on a national radio station. 

Phala has just completed his Honours through Drama for life, at Wits.

Toni Morkel

Toni is probably best known for her performances with Robyn Orlin, having workshopped and performed in thirteen Orlin productions, most recently When I touch the sky.... She is currently performing in Sylvaine Strike's The Travellers and has experience in many aspects of theatre. Toni has also worked as a stage manager, puppeteer and improviser; she teaches mask making, and is the stage craft teacher at the Market Theatre Laboratory. Toni enjoys the process and challenge of creating new theatre. Notable productions co-created and performed include Two Straight Queers (for which she won the FNB/Tonight Comedy Actress of the Year), Fall, I catch you and Dinner and a Show, with Shirley and Mrs H. Other recent performances include performing French writer Copi's The Homosexual or the Difficulty of Expression for the French Institute in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Roberto Pombo

Roberto Pombo graduated with a degree in Dramatic Arts from Wits University in 2008, majoring in Physical Theatre.  Throughout university, Roberto performed in numerous student productions, proving himself a keen player in the field. He also worked in the television industry, appearing in various commercials, as well as the SABC2 series, Heartlines.  Since leaving university, Roberto has traveled Europe and South Africa performing various theatre shows including Robin Orlin’s Dressed to Kill, Kill to Dress. He has a keen interest in Physical Comedy and this is clearly displayed in his performance style. Roberto facilitates numerous theatre groups, and is interested in furthering his studies in performance.

Motlatji Ditodi

Motlatji hails from Pretoria and began performing at the age of three. While studying BA (Audiovisual Production Management) at the University of Johannesburg – RAU at the time – she joined the RAU Song and Dance, RAU Contemporary Dance, and RAU Dramatic companies, as well as RAU Choir. In her student years, she played various lead roles in productions such as Anything Goes, West Side Story, Jump For Joy (directed by Ian Von Memerty) and Cabaret. After completing her studies, she worked at Red Pepper Pictures, a television production company, on a TV called Rights and Recourse.

 In 2008 she played “Nombulelo” in the SABC 2 sitcom Askies.In 2009, she performed at the National Children’s Theatre in The Secret Garden.She was also an emcee for SABC 2’s SA’s Got Talent Roadshow.She is one of the performers of the HIV/AIDS industrial theatre piece The Truth About You.She is delighted to be a member the Johannesburg Playback Theatre Group.

Megan Reeks

From the young age of 5, Megan attended her first ballet lesson, her fate was sealed. Since then all Megan has ever wanted to do is perform, be it dancing, acting, or singing. During Megan’s school years, she did Ballet and Spanish Dancing, while also exploring other activities such as Karate, Hockey, Public Speaking and Drama. It was acting in school productions like Grease, and Annie as well as participating in other cultural activities that helped finalise her career choice.

 Wanting to explore as many avenues of performance as possible, after school, Megan expanded her dancing repertoire to include Latin & Ballroom, Irish, Modern, Contemporary and Tap dancing, as well as deciding to study a BA in Dramatic Art at Wits University. While at Wits, Megan majored in English Literature Studies, Performance Studies (Acting) and Physical Theatre (Mime, Clowning, Character Work and Choreography).

 Since graduating with Distinction in 2006, Megan has written her one-woman show, Number 1, which she has performed, and continues to perform, at various venues, including the Grahamstown Arts Festival in 2007. Megan has performed in various children’s theatre productions at The National Children’s Theatre since 2008. Her other performance credits include: staged readings and productions at The Actor’s Centre until it closed in 2008 and productions workshopped with fellow graduates.

 Megan is excited and honoured to now be a part of the Playback Theatre family and is really looking forward to the adventures ahead!

AUDIENCE COMMENTS

This was my third time seeing Playback Theatre... Several times I wanted to tell my story but I thought if I go there I won’t tell. But strange, it moved me. A space where you can tell your story and have it heard and played back to you. Different perspectives coming out. You get some kind of closure which you don’t get in TFD (Theatre for development) where it becomes a debate; it doesn’t hit the personal nerve (audience member 2008).

The way the stories were played was so beautiful, the way it was honoured… honoured. Playback Theatre creates that space for you. This space no messages, just you and your stories or you can listen, just being in the space! (Audience member 2009).

I really enjoyed the mirror effect, or the reflective aspect. Being heard not judged. Reflection is so brilliant, how it was established resonated. The acknowledgement that comes, because that’s what I think we seek for. That is the healing within you. Very human, very intimate” (audience member 2009).