Newsletter: October 2012

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TWIST NEW PRODUCTIONS
The Twist groups have started the process of creating new productions, alongside the experienced writer/directors who are working as mentors on this project.

Siyakha Performing Artists:
Siyakha have been working with writer Themba Mkhoma on their new work “Save My Soul”.
The play is about a death-row prisoner, who is approached by a nun who visits him in prison.  While the nun aims to save the soul of this supposedly violent prisoner before his execution, his sad story of abuse and slavery unfolds before her.

 

 

Emuhle All Artists
Emuhle have been working with Neil Coppen on their new work “Fikile”.
A recent graduate is returning home to honour a marriage proposal made by her sweetheart several years ago. We follow her journey home, where she is confronted by a series of choices which will shape her future. She must learn to navigate the tricky terrain of traditional values, family affairs as well as past loves and secrets that are re-awoken with her arrival back into the community.

ISIGCAWU COMMUNITY ARTS FESTIVAL COMING UP
The groups will showcase their new work at the Isigcawu Festival at the Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre in KwaMashu on 2 and 3 November.  The festival is open to all, and runs from Friday 2 November, from 10 am to 5 pm daily.  The Twist shows will be at 10 am on Saturday and Sunday.  For more details, contact our partner, K-Cap on 031-5046970.

NETWORKING AND RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
The new Culture Secretary at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Jeroen Martens, will be visiting Durban early in November, along with Marianne Eijgenraam from the Dutch Ministry of Culture.  Twist has arranged a meeting of leading figures in the cultural sphere in Durban to discuss past experiences and future collaborations between South Africa and the Netherlands.

TWIST NEWSLETTER : AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2012

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TWIST / DUT EXCHANGE
Members of the Twist groups met with 3rd year students from the DUT Department of Drama in August for a day-long facilitated exchange workshop. Facilitated by Professor Debbie Lutge, the workshop focused on stage combat, improvisation and building scenes from simple pictures.The workshop explored conceptualising triggers, conflict, obstacles, anticipation, and building climaxes.Groups presented exciting new scenes at the end of the process, and felt that the day had been a great learning process, with one of the highlights being the session on stage combat.

TWIST GROUP NEWS
The Twist groups are busy with a number of projects at the moment. Emuhle All Artists are preparing a performance piece for the Market Theatre, where they have been invited to take part in The Community Theatre Festival, fresh from being awarded the prize for best performance at the Ishashalazi Women’s Theatre Festival at the Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre. The Siyakha Performing Artists have been touring schools around the Peitermaritzburg area, performing for young people. They also hosted a successful Heritage Day event with live performances on 24 September.

NEW PRODUCTIONS
The groups are about to embark on the process of creating new productions, alongside experienced writer/directors who will work with the groups in their home bases. Neil Coppen from Durban will be working with Emuhle All Artists, and Themba Mkhoma from Johannesburg will be working with Siyakha performing Artists.

OLD FRIENDS
The past Twist groups have also been busy over this period. Big Brotherhood have been working with The Playhouse Company, performing their anti-crime drama, Just Don’t. Ubuntu Arts Development have been performing in both KZN and Gauteng, and Umsindo are working on securing their theatre venue in Umlazi.

TWIST NEWSLETTER – JULY 2012

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Twist meets the Remix-Lab at the National Arts Festival

Emuhle All Artists and Siyakha Performing Artists have recently returned from having a great experience at this year’s Remix-Laboratory workshop at the National Arts Festival.
We were happy and things went well – the workshops were most useful – we gained a lot from them, especially the workshops on stage management and preparing for auditions, which were new to us. The children’s theatre productions that we watched were great, and it is the first
time that we have seen children’s theatre at this level.

The workshops inspired the groups, and they feel that they have learnt new skills and been exposed to new ways of working that will improve
the level of their own work.

Twist American connection
Twist hosted visiting PHD student, Nathanael Vlachos from Rice University in the USA for a short period in July.  Nathanael attended a community theatre festival with Xolani Dlongolo from Twist, and had this to say: “It was amazing to see all the different performances and the issues that are being tackled through theatre…. the performances were fantastic … Twist is doing really good work from what I’ve seen”.
We hope to welcome back Nathanael next year when he comes to complete his research into using theatre as a way of dealing with trauma and healing.

Coming up
The Twist groups will be consolidating their own work over the coming month. Siyakha Performing Artists has recruited new members, and is working on new concepts for a new show.  They are currently being mentored by Xolani Dlongolo, as they go through a change in leadership
structure.  Emuhle All Artists has recently hosted a successful festival on the Hibiscus Coast, and are continuing with other work in their area.

TWIST NEWSLETTER – JUNE 2012

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Twist Groups at the National Arts Festival

Emuhle All Artists and Siyakaha Performing Artists will be participating in the Remix-Laboratory workshop at the National Arts Festival from 29 June to 9 July.  The groups will be part of a 10-day programme which includes exchange with other groups, collaborative workshops, and watching a range of other performances at the festival.
This year the groups will also be working together to create a piece that will be part of the Street Parade over the final weekend of the festival.
The Showcase performances will be staged on Friday 6 July; Emuhle is showcasing their work “The Milk Factory”, and Siyakha is performing “Love Lost”.

Two of the graduated Twist groups are also taking their own work to the Festival Fringe this year.  They have planned, saved, and managed to secure sponsorships to tour their work and present it independently at
the Festival.  Umsindo Theatre Projects appears with their work “Truth Heals” and Ubuntu Arts Development take their new work “I Salute Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”.

We are proud that their first experience of the NAF was through Twist, and that they have grown to
the extent that they can now take their own work there.  We wish them all the best – and full houses!

Another link between Twist and the NAF is the appearance of Dhaveshan Govender’s new work “Twelve” at Dicks.  Dhaveshan was awarded the opportunity to create a new work to take to Grahamstown, supported by
the NAF, as a result of his outstanding new script created at the Twist Novel-Script Project in 2010.  We are delighted that he has been able to take up this opportunity, and wish the show well.

Twist Director, Roel Twijnstra, will also be facilitating workshops at the Festival, and looking for opportunities to further build the Twist network.

If you’re in Grahamstown, look out for us dressed in the black and yellow Twist beanies and scarves!

Twist Newsletter, May 2012

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Twist script-writer wins award
Zwai Mgijima, based in Port Elizabeth, first starting working with Twist in 2011.  As part of the Novel-Script Project, he began the process crafting a “Veil”, a play dealing with issues of love and
xenophobia.  “Veil” has now been developed into a full-length play, and received the audience favourite award at the PANSA Festival of Reading of New Writing in Johannesburg in May.  We hope that Zwai goes on to have great success with the play!

Zwai also worked with one of the Twist groups, Siyakha performing artists, to create “strokes of Society” for their new production project in 2011.

Twist networking at ACT conference
Twist recently attended the inaugural Arts & Culture Conference ‘The Arts of the Creative Economy’  organised by The Arts and Culture Trust (ACT), in partnership with UJ Arts & Culture at the University of
Johannesburg.  The conference gave great insight into the state of the arts sector, funding and financing opportunities, and ways to empower artists in the sector.  We requested that the presentations from the
conference be made publicly available, so that other performing artists can benefit from these insights.
Twist groups update
The Emuhle All Artists have recently hosted a successful theatre festival in Port Shepstone with attendance of over 800 people at their shows.  They are currently working with one of the fieldworkers from the Market Theatre Laboratory, to prepare their show “Anti-Christ” for the Market’s Community Theatre Festival.

Siyakha Performing Artists have been busy with their new production in Pietermaritzburg.

Contact with graduated groups
Twist is in regular contact with the groups who have previously graduated from the programme, forwarding opportunities for auditions, funding and festivals to the groups.  Twist will also be facilitating
meeting with the groups and a PHD student from the USA who will be visiting KZN to conduct research on theatre and social healing.

Twist Newsletter, April 2012

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TWIST COMMUNITY THEATRE GROUPS UPDATE

Siyakha Performing Artists, based in Pietermaritzburg, joined the Twist Project in March 2011.  As well as participating in all of the Twist projects, they have entered a number of festivals and competitions, and have generated income through performances for other groups.  In 2011 they won the Umgungundlovu District Drama competition, and the Umgungundlovu 1.07 FM drama competition.  The group also performed at the Women’s Festival at the Ekhaya Multi-arts centre in 2011, and auditioned for the Market Theatre development programme.  Siyakha also performed AIDS awareness plays for the
Ecumenical Lay Centre in Pietermaritzburg, and for the Auditor General’s office.  The group is continuing with the Twist programme in 2012 and is seeking additional sponsorship for their ongoing local programmes.

Emuhle All Artists, based in Port Shepstone, joined the Twist Project in March 2011.  In addition to the Twist projects, the group has auditioned for the Zwakala Festival at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, and conducted an educator’s workshop in conjunction with their local municipality.  They also offer regular theatre classes for local performers, and outreach programmes in indigenous music and dance.  The group is continuing with the Twist programme in 2012 and is seeking additional sponsorship for their local outreach programmes.

The following groups have graduated from the Twist Project, but we continue to offer mentoring support and to keep in touch with them:
* Umsindo Theatre Productions, based in Umlazi, joined the Twist Project in March 2011.   As well as participating in all of the Twist projects, the group has performed at many other festivals and conferences,
including the National Arts Festival, the Umlazi Arts Festival and an interesting collaboration with a Dutch theatre company. They are one of the busiest of the Twist groups, with a good public profile, are
taking a new work to this year’s National Arts Festival.
* Uthando Lwabaqulusi, based in Vryheid joined the Twist Project in March 2011.  The group has formed close links with the Department of
Arts and Culture in the Zululand district, and have been assisting with running performance workshops for other groups.  In addition to the Twist Projects, the group also created and performed plays for
government departments on women abuse and on sexual abuse.  Their current plans involve performances at schools around the Vryheid area, and the creation of a theatre festival in the district.
* Big Brotherhood Productions, based in KwaMashu, joined the Twist Project in March 2011 as Just Don’t.  Since then, they have grown into an independent and strong theatre group.  As well as participating   in all of the Twist projects, some of the individuals from the group were involved in education and theatre development projects with K-Cap. The group has embarked on a new performance project for 2012, and also hope to take “A Bull Called Bahlangane” to the National Arts Festival.
* Ubuntu Arts Development, based in KwaMashu, joined the Twist Project in March 2011.  In addition to the Twist activities, the group has also managed to generate income through their work, performing for the International Olympic Committee as well as at other functions.  The group has registered themselves as a Non-Profit organisation, and continue to grow.  They are currently involved in the Playhouse     Community Arts Festival project, and are taking a new work to the National Arts Festival.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
Twist Projects Director, Roel Twijnstra, has recently returned from a trip to Nepal, where plans are afoot for a local project that will form part of the Twist International network.  Roel was amazed by the enormous scope of work in Nepal, the wide and very accepting audiences, and the availability of funding for theatre projects.  He found the environment very different to that of the South African local landscape, but also saw similarities in the need for the development of strong writers working in the theatre for development field.  We hope that we will be able to institute an international exchange project with the groups in Nepal in the future.
Twist Nepal will kick off with a version of the Novel-Script project in December 2012.  For more information, visit www.roeltwijnstra.nl/nepal-i-am-a-spoiled-rotten-fruit/

Twist Newsletter, March 2012

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The Twist groups all performed at the Phambili Theatre Festival from 9 to 11 March.  The festival was hosted by our partner, the Stable Theatre, and was well attended and seen to be a great success.

The new 2012 Twist Playscripts book was also launched at the festival, and presented to partners and Twist project participants. The book will be distributed to theatre groups and theatre schools and arts centres around the country.

Web workshop
A workshop for the Twist groups was held during the festival weekend.  The workshop focused on the groups building their own websites, and some have already created these sites, so that they can take on a more proactive role
in marketing themselves going forward.  The workshop was also attended by other groups who were part of the Phambili Festival, and was supported by Business and Arts South Africa (BASA).

Farewell to groups
Four groups have now graduated from the Twist programme, after spending two years with the project: Umsindo Theatre Projects, Ubuntu Arts Development, Big Brotherhood Productions and Uthando Lwabaqulusi. The groups and individuals within them were awarded certificates of participation for their work with Twist – and we wish them the best of luck going forward.  The Twist co-ordinator and the mentors will continue to keep in contact with the groups, and to support them in any way they can.

2012 programme
Due to limited funding for 2012, at this point Twist will not be taking in new groups for the upcoming year.  We will continue with fundraising efforts and building the network of community theatre groups through the year. The 2012 programme will continue with the two existing groups; Emuhle All Artists and Siyakha Performing Artists.  Their next project will be to travel to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

Twist Newsletter, February 2012

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PHAMBILI Theatre Festival
The Twist groups will be performing at the Phambili Theatre Festival from 9 to 11 March.  The festival is hosted at the Stable Theatre precinct in Alice Street in Durban, in conjunction with our partners, the Stable Theatre.  Show times and details are as follows:

Friday 9 March, 6pm:  Launch of the 2012 New Scripts Book
The new book of scripts, with scripts in both English and Zulu, will be launched at the opening of the Phambili Festival. All are welcome!
Friday 9 March, 7pm:  The Seed – Umsindo Theatre Productions – Written by Amy Jephta, directed by Musawenkosi Shabalala and Bongomusa Shabalala, and Xolani Dlongolo.  An allegorical tale of AIDS.
Saturday 10 March, 3pm:  Lost love -  Siyakha Performing Artists, written by Sihle Mazibuko and directed by Dumisani Kubheka.  A new women’s prison-based drama.
Saturday 10 March, 4pm:  The Land of Milk and … – Emuhle All Artists – written by Bongani Baai and Genbia Hyla, mentored by Debbie Lutge.  A new production focused on tradition, expectations, roles and the differences between the world of women and the world of men
Saturday 10 March, 6pm:  How to Get tHe Story – Uthando Lwabaqulusi – Wrttien by the group with Bheki Mkhwane.  An award-winning journalist uncovers a deadly secret that exposes a criminal gang-lord.  His faithful henchman has no choice but to turn on the man who he thought was his protector.
Saturday 10 March, 7pm:  A Bull called Bahlangane – Big Brotherhood – written by Neil Coppen and directed by Edmund Mhlongo.  A family drama of brotherhood, power, corruption and a beloved bull.
Sunday 11 March, 2 pm:  We salute yesterday,tomorrow and today – Ubuntubesizwe Arts Development – Written by Xolani Dlongolo, directed by Sthembiso Zwane.  A musical celebration of the historic 1956 Women’s march to the union Buildings in Pretoria.

Web workshop
A workshop for the Twist groups will also be held during the festival weekend.  The workshop focuses on web-building skills and social media, and the anticipated end result is that all of the groups will have created their own independent websites.  The workshop is supported by Business and Arts South Africa (BASA).

Twist Newsletter, January 2012

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Musho! Festival
The Twist groups performed their new productions at the Musho! International Theatre Festival at the Catalina Theatre in Durban from 11 to 16 January. The productions were well received, with critical acclaim by reviewers on the Musho! Festival website.

This year for the first time, a Jury was in place to decide on awards for the productions. Themi Venturas Productions sponsored a prize for the Best Twist Performer which was shared between Vumani Khulamo from A Bull Called Bahlangane (Big Brotherhood Productions), and Snelisiwe Radebe from The Seed (Umsindo Theatre Group). The Judges also made special mention of the high quality of the Umsindo group’s production, The Seed.

The Twist groups thoroughly enjoyed the festival, watching a host of other shows from Durban and elsewhere.

Denise Lukkenaer, a previous Twist intern, visited the festival with the production Dancing on your Grave, which introduced the groups to a different style of work. Denise and the production team are now working with Umsindo Theatre Group to create a local version of the piece for performance in Umlazi Township.

Lighting Design Workshop
Representatives from each group attended a lighting workshop given by the Catalina Theatre Manager, Wesley Maherry. This introduced the groups to the basics of lighting design and gave them useful practical tips for stage lighting and for creating their own low-cost lighting effects for their shows.

Physical Theatre Workshop
All of the Twist members attended a physical theatre workshop created by award winning performer and theatre maker Tristan Jacobs. Tristan has previously worked on the Novel-Script Project with Twist.

Group’s feedback after the workshop included the following: “There is a whole lot that we learnt which we will apply on stage”- Ubuntubesizwe Productions.

“From the first exercise – all those moments of laughter and creativity, and to get to know each other and unify, it was very healing” – Big Brotherhood.
“The exercises show us that sometimes in the group you are a leader, and sometimes a follower, and you have to be both” – Umsindo Theatre Group.

Upcoming Projects
The next project that brings together is the Phambili Theatre Festival in March. Some groups are also registering to perform their pieces under their own steam at the National Arts Festival in June, 2012. The Twist office is focussing on fundraising efforts in an attempt to secure new funding for the third project cycle which begins in March 2012.

Twist Newsletter, December 2011

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The Twist groups performed their new productions at the Isigcawu festival in November, and have also had success with these productions and others at festivals and events around the province.

Big Brotherhood productions has performed their show “A Bull called Bahlangane” for the national Minister of Arts and Culture on his recent visit to Kwa-Mashu.

Ubuntubesizwe has performed their musical theatre piece “Township Life” by invitation at the Unyezi Festival in Ladysmith

The Siyakha performing Artists were invited to perform industrial theatre for the Auditor-General’s office in Pietermaritzburg, and created and HIV/AIDS play for World AIDS Day on 1 December.

Emuhle All Artists were also invited to perform their production of “The Milk Factory” at the Unyezi Festival.

Uthando Lwabaqulusi have been working on further developing their new work, now titled “How to get a story” and this has been performed in the Vryheid area.

Umsindo theatre Group has performed their new show “Seed” for the Sonqoba Victory theatre, and also performed their production “The Truth Heals” by invitation at the Unyezi Festival in Ladysmith.  They have been invited to perform “Jesus What a Disgrace” for a celebration of the 16 Days of Activism against violence.

All of the groups are now working on adapting their shows to perform as 2-hander productions at the Musho International Theatre Festival.  The festival runs in Durban from 11 to 16 January, 2011.  The groups will attend a number of other performances at this festival, as well as attending a lighting workshop and a physical theatre workshop.
For details about the Musho festival, see www.mushofestival.co.za

Twist wishes all our friends and supporters a peaceful and happy holiday period!

Twist Newsletter, October 2011

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This month the Twist groups have started to perform their new productions in their own communities.
Umsindo theatre Group has performed their new show “Seed” at the Umlazi Theatre Festival and at Zamanyanda (KwaMdlalose district) to over 300 audience members.  Responses were very positive, with one audience members commenting that “the show was brilliant; it made us think deep about HIV and AIDS”.
Ubuntubesizwe has performed their new musical theatre piece “Township Life” at a local high school, as well as at the YMCA in KwaMashu, reaching almost 800 audience members.   The audience response was very favourable, with people audiences responding that the show was both entertaining and informative.
Emuhle All Artists have had two performances of performed their new show “Milk Factory” to around 700 people at the “Crafted System Theatre Show” Festival at the Margate Town Hall. The shows were very well received.
Big Brotherhood productions has performed their new political drama “A Bull Called Bhahlangane” to 100 audience members, mostly youth, at Wushwini Arts Centre in Inanda Dam, and at the Umlazi Theatre Festival. The audience responded well to the shows.
The remaining groups will debut their shows at the IsiGcawu Festival in November.

IsiGcawu Community Theatre Festival
The annual IsiGcawu festival, run by Twist partner K-CAP, will be hosted at the Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre in KwaMashu between 4 and 6 November.  All of the Twist groups will be performing their new productions at the festival, as a show-case to audiences and to other community theatre groups.  The groups will be performing throughout the day on Saturday 5 November and Sunday 6 November.  We are delighted that we will be hosting Belinda van den Berg from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands at the festival, as this will be her first taste of Twist.
All are welcome to attend the festival, for details, contact K-CAP on 031-5046970

Twist Newsletter, September 2011

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SEPTEMBER SURPRISES

This month the Twist groups selected two of their members to attend a directing workshop, and the groups started to rehearse their new productions with professional directors.  Our exchange project with partner group Siberia in the Netherlands is also under way.

Group Director’s Workshop
A two-day workshop was facilitated for the directors from each group by Emma Durden, who manages the Twist Project as well as being an experienced theatre director.  The workshop focused on the skills required to be a good director, and allowed for plenty of hands-on opportunities for directing practice with each other, as well as with experienced actors Bheki Khabela and Bhekani Shabalala.
Many of the workshop participants commented that it was the first time that they had attended a workshop that balanced theory and practice in an accessible way, and that the workshop had prepared them to start work on their new projects.
The workshop was held in Durban and also allowed participants to attend a performance at the Jomba Dance Festival, and a performance of Saturday Night at the Palace at the Catalina Theatre.

Mentor-Director’s Meetings with Groups
The professional directors who have been appointed to work as mentors with the groups for their new projects include the following:
Bheki Mkhwane will be working with Uthando Lwabaqulusi; Themi Venturas with Siyakha Artists; Prof Debbie Lutge with Emuhle All Artists; Jerry Pooe with Ubuntubesizwe; Vice Motshabi with Umsindo; and Edmund Mhlongo with Big Brotherhood.  The director/mentors will be working closely with the groups, many of whom are preparing their new shows for performances in October.

International Exchange
Theatre Groep Siberia in Rotterdam will open their new production, Camp Noord, at the end of September.  Jabulani Mfeka and Ntando Mncube from Durban were cast to appear in the production.
Jabulani was injured during his first weeks of rehearsals, and had to return home.  He sadly passed away, a few weeks after coming home.  We are deeply saddened by this loss of another wonderful Durban performer, and our thoughts are with his family.
We wish Ntando and Theater Groep Siberia all the best for the production run.

Twist Newsletter, August 2011

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This month has seen the bringing together of writers from the Twist groups as well as the professional writers in preparation for the new productions for 2011.

Group writers’ workshop

Each of the Twist groups sent two of their aspiring writers to a 3 day workshop facilitated by Kobus Moolman.  This workshop explored the mechanics of writing, as well as inspiring new ideas and developing these ideas towards creating new scripts for the groups to work with.

The group members found this workshop both eye-opening and inspiring, and felt that it had built their confidence in using their own ideas and developing their own stories.

One writer from the Ubuntubesizwe group commented “I feel like the seed that was inside me has now been watered and has grown over this weekend”.  This sentiment was echoed by many of the participants, who felt that the workshop had boosted their creativity.

New publication

The scripts from the 2011 novel-Script Project have been compiled into a book that has been published by Twist.  This new publication has been recognised by the National Library of South Africa, and has an official ISBN number.

If you would like a copy of this book, please contact the Twist office.

Writer’s meetings with groups

The professional writers, drawn from the 2011 Novel-Script Project and from the new productions of 2010 have met with the groups to start work on their new productions.  Themba Mkhoma will be working with Uthando Lwabaqulusi; Zwai Mgijima with Siyakha Artists;, Simphiwe Vikalahle with Emuhle All Artists; Ayanda Mkhize with Ubuntubesizwe; Amy Jephta with Umsindo; and Neil Coppen with Big Brotherhood.  The writers are currently developing new scripts for the groups, which they will start to work on in September.

Directing workshop coming up

Representatives from the Twist groups will be coming together in September for a directing workshop that focuses them for their new productions.  At this workshop they will also be introduced to the directing mentors that will be assisting them through the process.

In memoriam

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Sduduzo Kawula on 16 August.  Sdu was a wonderful actor and teacher, who has been a great supporter of Twist.  He has been part of the Novel-Script Project, as well as working informally with a number of the Twist groups.  He was a veteran of the Musho Festival, and performed in the productions Boomgate and The Horseshoe at the International Community Arts Festival in Holland.

Hamba Kahle Sdu, we will miss you.

Twist Newsletter – July 2011

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A BUSY JULY FOR TWIST

The Twist Project was well represented at National Arts Festival, with both the  Novel-Script project and the Remix-Lab project.
The novel-script project included South African writers Napo Masheane, Themba Mkhoma, Zwai Mgijima, Simphiwe Vikalahle, Ayanda Mkhize and Tristan Jacobs from South Africa, and well known playwright Erik-Ward Geerlings and the novelist Jette van den Bergh from The Netherlands.

The writers’ scripts were brought to life by 10 South African actors, with Emma Durden, Sticks Mdidimba, Roel Twijnstra, Jolanda Spoel and Tarkan Korgulan directing.  The result was 8 diverse and engaging new scripts, which will soon be collated into a published collection.

The Remix-Lab programme included a variety of performances, workshops, public speeches and other events that the six twist groups attended.  This gave them a great deal to absorb over the 10 days in Grahamstown.  Bonagani Baai from Emuhle All Artists has this to say about it:  To me the Grahamstown experience was a breakthrough to many opportunities, and it was also a mind blowing developmental phase…

We hope that all of the groups will grasp the opportunities that the festival has offered.  Big Brotherhood Productions have been invited to a theatre festival in Lesotho with their production Camp 13, and are seeking funding for this.  Anybody who can assist with this is welcome to contact the group directly.

The DUT exchange programme
51 of the artists from the Twist groups joined with 3rd year students from the Drama Department at the Durban University of Technology for a two day workshop facilitated by Debbie Lutge and Thomas Mpoeleng to explore new concepts and structuring scenes with suspense & imagination.  The workshop included improvisations and sparked new ideas for all involved.  The groups loved the exercises, and are rejuvenated and ready to start their new production projects.

Other news from the groups
Umsindo Theatre Productions took their production To Be Like This Rock to the festival under their own steam, and received an Ovation Award from the festival.  Congratulations to them for this honour!

Ubuntubesizwe Productions were invited to perform at the King Shaka airport for the arrival of the International Olympic Committee in Durban – another great honour, and they were found through Twist Projects.

These are just two examples of the groups being able to benefit from the project – we are delighted to see them spread their wings.

Twist Newsletter – June 2011

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TWIST HEADS TO GRAHAMSTOWN
Twist will be working on two projects at the National Arts Festival this year. On Sunday 26 June we kick off with the Novel-Script Project, and from 30 June the community groups go to Grahamstown to take part in the Remix-Laboratory workshop.

Novel-Script Project
The Novel-Script project brings together selected writers from South Africa and the Netherlands in a professional writer’s development programme.   This year the programme involves eight writers, five directors, ten actors, and two intern co-ordinators, making it a programme that develops not only writing skills, but also capacity in directing, performance and theatre administration.

The workshop is facilitated by the acclaimed writer, poet and dramaturge, Kobus Moolman.

The project is co-ordinated by Twist in association with the National Arts Festival and the Performing Arts Network of South Africa (PANSA).  Each year we select a novel as the basis for the project, so that all of the writers are focused on a common theme and characters inspired by this.  The starting point for the 2011 project is Kopano Matlwa’s Spilt Milk, a wonderful short novel that opens up a range of possibilities for the writers to diverge from for the creation of their theatre scripts.

A public showing of the writer’s work will be at the recreation Hall in Albany Road in Grahamstown from 10 am on Thursday 7 July, and all are welcome.

The Remix-Lab

Members of the community theatre groups will be taking part in this dynamic development programme at the festival, which allows them to be part of workshops and performances, both as audience members and performers.  The groups’ performances will be having public showings on the following dates at the Recreation Hall in Albany Road:

Wednesday 6 July
09:00    Umsindo Theatre Productions
10:30    Siyakha Theatre Productions
12:00    Ubuntubesizwe Productions

Friday 8 July:
10:30    Big Brotherhood Productions
12:00    Emuhle All Artists
13:00    Uthando Lwabaqulusi

Newsletter – March 2011

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This period has seen the wrapping up of the first year of Twist’s activities, with the exciting Phambili Festival and the publication a book of English and Zulu scripts.  The new cycle of projects has also been initiated, and two new groups welcomed into the Twist programme.

Click here for a pdf version of the Newsletter

Twist welcomes new groups

The Twist project welcomes two new groups into the programme this month:  Emuhle All Artists, under the leadership of Bongani Baai, is based in Port Shepstone. The group was established in 2000 has been working over a number of years in the area around the Ugu municipality. The Siyakha Performing Artists are based in the Pietermaritzburg area, under the leadership of Dumisani Khubeka.  The group has been working together since 2005, and are the winners of a number of local drama competitions co-ordinated by the KZN Department of Arts and Culture.   We look forward to the new energy that these two groups will bring to the project.

The Sakhisizwe Drama Group from Zululand, and the Umphithi Arts Group from Peitermaritzburg have been withdrawn from the programme this year, however, they will continue to be mentored periodically through the year to track their progress and to continue to assist the groups to move forward.

Publication of new scripts

The new scripts created by the groups in association  with the professional writers and directors that they were paired last year have been compiled and published into a wonderful volume of new scripts, both in English and IsiZulu.  This book has been presented to our funders, as well as to the groups and writers involved.  It will also be distributed to theatre schools and other theatre groups within South Africa.  If you are interested in receiving a copy, please contact the Twist office.

Stable Theatre Phambili Festival

The Stable Theatre complex in Durban hosted the first Phambili youth theatre festival from 17-20 March.  Focussing on new innovative works that appeal to a youth market, the festival showcased all of the Twist groups’ new works as well as other work from around the country.  The festival was a feast of interesting work, and created an exciting buzz around the Stable theatre complex.

BASA business workshops

Business and Arts South Africa hosted a 2-day workshop for the six Twist groups, as well as other artists, focused on finding and securing project funding, with Llianne Loots from the Flatfoot Dance Company, David Gouldie from BASA, and Charlene Versveld from Versveld and associates Publicity.    The workshop also included a morning’s session from Old Mutual’s education department, on the financial management of arts groups, with information both for the artists as individuals and as a business.  The groups found these workshops both relevant and very rewarding, and we look forward to a long association with BASA in our attempts to build the groups as self-sustaining businesses.

Newsletter – February 2011

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South African actors return from Holland

The 4 Durban-based actors who were part of our international exchange project with the Theatre Groep Siberia have just returned from a three month stay in Holland.  During that time, the four were part of the generation and performance of the vibrant theatre production, TWIST, which performed to large audiences and critical acclaim in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The group also conducted artistic workshops and led discussions based on the play and the parallels between life on the streets in the Netherlands and in South Africa.  They will feed back their experiences to the Twist groups in Durban.

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Mentoring programme intensifies

Thanks to a special grant from the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT), the mentors have been able to spend quality time with the groups over the past month, assessing their progress with the groups, and focusing on their plans for the year ahead.
The groups have been able to examine their strengths and weaknesses through this process, and the mentors have been able to identify areas that the groups need to continue to work on to ensure their long-term growth.  Through this process, two of the Twist groups have been asked to withdraw from the project for the next 12 months, while they continue to work on particular problem areas.

Two new groups have been identified through discussion with our partners, and will join the project for the new cycle of the Twist annual programme from March 2011.

Twist evaluation

In an effort to ensure that the programme provides maximum benefits for the community theatre groups as well as for our partners, we have commissioned an external evaluation of the first cycle of the programme.

Development expert, Mpume Gumede, has met with all of the groups and our partners to investigate their experience of the projects.  This evaluation report will be available on request from the beginning of March.

News from the groups:

Over this period, the groups have been working on their own on the following projects:

  • Umsindo Theatre Group – have performed their production of To Be Like this Rock at the Courtyard Theatre in Durban.
  • Sakhisizwe Theatre Group – are currently busy doing research into the needs of the Isimangaliso Wetlands Park and the local municipality, and building a year plan for new performances.
  • Umphithi Theatre Arts – are preparing a performance for the Market Theatre Community Theatre Festival in Johannesburg .
  • Ubuntubesiwe Theatre Group – are currently reworking their production of The Wedding Goat.
  • Uthandolwabuqulusi Theatre Group – the group is preparing for upcoming performances in their local community.
  • Just Don’t Theatre Group – are exploring performance opportunities

 

 

TWIST NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2011

South African actors return from Holland

The 4 Durban-based actors who were part of our international exchange project with the Theatre Groep Siberia have just returned from a three month stay in Holland. During that time, the four were part of the generation and performance of the vibrant theatre production, TWIST, which performed to large audiences and critical acclaim in the Netherlands and Belgium. The group also conducted artistic workshops and led discussions based on the play and the parallels between life on the streets in the Netherlands and in South Africa. They will feed back their experiences to the Twist groups in Durban.

Mentoring programme intensifies

Thanks to a special grant from the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT), the mentors have been able to spend quality time with the groups over the past month, assessing their progress with the groups, and focusing on their plans for the year ahead.

The groups have been able to examine their strengths and weaknesses through this process, and the mentors have been able to identify areas that the groups need to continue to work on to ensure their long-term growth. Through this process, two of the Twist groups have been asked to withdraw from the project for the next 12 months, while they continue to work on particular problem areas.

Two new groups have been identified through discussion with our partners, and will join the project for the new cycle of the Twist annual programme from March 2011.

Twist evaluation

In an effort to ensure that the programme provides maximum benefits for the community theatre groups as well as for our partners, we have commissioned an external evaluation of the first cycle of the programme. Development expert, Mpume Gumede, has met with all of the groups and our partners to investigate their experience of the projects. This evaluation report will be available on request from the beginning of March.

News from the groups:

Over this period, the groups have been working on their own on the following projects:

Umsindo Theatre Group – have performed their production of To Be Like this Rock at the Courtyard Theatre in Durban.

Sakhisizwe Theatre Group – are currently busy doing research into the needs of the Isimangaliso Wetlands Park and the local municipality, and building a year plan for new performances.

Umphithi Theatre Arts – are preparing a performance for the Market Theatre Community Theatre Festival in Johannesburg .

Ubuntubesiwe Theatre Group – are currently reworking their production of The Wedding Goat.

 

Uthandolwabuqulusi Theatre Group – the group is preparing for upcoming performances in their local community.

Just Don’t Theatre Group – are exploring performance opportunities

 

 

 

Newsletter – January 2011

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January 2011

Twist started the year on a high note with the performance of the 6 community theatre groups at the annual Musho! Theatre Festival from 12-16 January. The groups had worked on making adaptations of their previously-performed new plays for the festival, adapting them to become two-hander productions to fit in with the festival’s particular genre. The plays were performed under the programme of “Musho with a Twist”, and generated a great deal of interest both in the press and amongst theatre goers. Audiences were asked to rate the performances, and the audience favourite award for the Twist shows went to Umsindo Productions for To Be Like This Rock, and the runner-up award went to Just Don’t for Camp 13.

Marketing and publicity workshop

The twist groups attended a stimulating workshop on marketing and publicity that was offered over the course of the Musho Festival by Illa Thompson of Publicity Matters. The workshop covered the need for marketing the groups, both as providers of services and a product, different means of marketing their productions. They also explored the importance of building relationships with the media and other community members who can advance their cause. Group members reported that they found the workshop extremely useful. Novel-Script winner announced

A jury comprised of selected theatre practitioners and Twist partners has selected Dhaveshan Govender as the winning writer from the Novel-Script Project. Based on the clarify of his voice as a writer both during the Novel-Script Project, and his subsequent work with Ubuntu Productions, Dhaveshan will be given a platform to stage a new work at the Arena stage at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown this year.

A call for new writers to participate in the 2011 Novel-Script workshop will go out over the course of the next month.

DUT link continues …

Thandanani Qwabe from the Just Don’t group was so inspired by the exchange workshop between the Twist groups and the Drama Department at DUT in that was held in August last year, that he went on to audition for the course, and has been accepted for study in 2011. We wish him all the best with his studies.

For older news see our Archive