by Wandile Mgcodo and Hardus Koekemoer
The Tshwane University of Technology’s Faculty of the Arts, in partnership with the City of Tshwane and DWR Distribution, will launch “HELLO,” a Community Theatre Arts Festival this weekend. The Festival aims to expand the boundaries of theatre by interacting with local and emerging artists at the Breytenbach Theatre on Friday, 29 and Saturday, 30 August.
The opening event at the Breytenbach Theatre will feature a musical show based on the story of 50 Gogos (grannies) who decided to leave their comfort zones and to meet each morning for activities to keep them healthy. At one of these meetings the idea came about to start a stage production called the “Gug’Othandayo Musical Show.”
The two-day multi-purpose programme will showcase performances by 11 community groups from Mamelodi, Hammanskraal, Refilwe: Centurion, Mnandi, Nkangala, Mabopane, Sunnyside, Atteridgeville and Soshanguve. There will be twelve performances over the two days.
The TUT Department of Entertainment Technology conducted various training and interactive support and development sessions with the community theatre groups. This included technical support and a series of workshops concerning technical theatre and drama aspects of performing. This formed part of the work-integrated- learning programme with students from the Department and participating community theatre groups.
In 2015, the second phase of the project will involve communities in all 7 districts of Tshwane.
Tickets are R10 and available at the door. You can also visit www.tut.ac.za/goto/breytie or Facebook “BREYTENBACH THEATRE” to make online bookings.
For more information, phone 012 440 4834.
