Gina Shmukler has been in the entertainment industry since she was six years old. In her career, her theatre work as an actress, director and producer, has garnered ten theatre nominations and four awards across different genres ranging from Mamma Mia and Chess, to Master Class and Silk Ties. In 2013, after completing her Master’s Degree in Drama at the University of Witwatersrand, Gina was the proud recipient of the Dr Sibongile Khumalo Creative Research Award. Her select directorial credits include; The Line, Lost in the Stars, Songs for a New World, The Market Theatre’s Brer Rabbit, Beautiful Creatures, Love: A Musical Revue, The Last Five Years and The Whole Megillah. Having taken a performance hiatus, Gina returned to the stage in 2017 in Mike van Graan’s Helen of Troyeville. At the end of 2018, she returned to her musical theatre roots by stepping into Aunty Merle the Musical, which makes its way to Joburg Theatre following three sold-out engagements in Cape Town.
Category: Artist
A Conversation with Jill Levenberg
Jill Levenberg is an award-winning Film, Television and theatre actress. At the moment, she is currently starring as Mymoena in the long-running TV series, Suidooster. She has been receiving critical acclaim for her role as Ellen Pakkies in Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story, which marks her first leading role in a film. Jill has worked extensively in theatre and television since graduating from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Theatre & Performance and English Literature, graduating on the Dean’s Merit List. Her theatre credits include Medea, Blood Brothers and Orpheus in Africa which awarded her a Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. Select film credits include Noem My Skollie, Fluit Fluit, Abraham, While You Weren’t Looking and Uitvlugt. We sat down to chat with her about her career and her emotionally demanding and boundary-pushing role in Ellen. Continue reading
A Conversation with Jenny Stead
Jenny Stead is an actress currently starring as Judy Boone in the South African premiere of the West End and Broadway hit, The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time. After graduating from the University of Stellenbosch, she won the Vita award for Best New Actress for her performance in Fiona Coyne’s Glass Roots. Jenny won a Fleur du Cap for her performance in Reza de Wet’s Breathing In, followed by a tour through the USA and Europe with the New York Colonnade’s production of the politically charged, Truth In Translation. She was nominated for a Fleur du Cap for Best Actress in A Musical for her portrayal of Janet in The Fugard Theatre’s production of The Rocky Horror Show. Her fourth Fleur du Cap Nomination was for The Visit in 2018. Her film and television credits include The Poseidon Adventure, Starship Troopers 3, Restless, ICE and Blood Drive. Continue reading
A Conversation with Claire Taylor
Claire Taylor is an actor, singer, dancer and voice artist. Her select credits include West Side Story, Rock of Ages (Naledi nomination), Dirty Dancing, Sunset Boulevard and Cabaret, for which she was nominated for a Fleur du Cap Theatre Award. She has worked in theatres and countries all over the world including Australia, Italy, China and the USA. She has also featured on various local and international voice campaigns. Claire is the founder and director of a promotional and events staffing agency, and experiential entertainment company, Promotiv, which she launched in January 2018. She is currently starring as Mrs Wormwood in the South African premiere of Matilda. Continue reading
A Conversation with Cintaine Schutte
Cintaine Schutte is an actress and producer. She has performed in more than 30 professional theatre productions and has toured to all the national art’s festivals and major theatre’s in South Africa. In 2015 she received a Kanna Award for her performances in Moeder Moed and Die Seemeeu and in 2016, she was awarded a Fleur Du Cap Theatre Award for her performance as Masha in Die Seemeeu. In 2017, she was awarded the Woordtrofees Award for her performance in Reza de Wet’s Drif. She is well-known for her Television work, including Die Kasteel, PHIL 101 and Fynskrif. She has appeared in numerous local films such as Knysna, Sonskyn Beperk and most recently, the film adaptation of Christiaan Olwagen’s Die Seemeeu which will arrive in theatres in 2019. Cape Town audiences can catch Cintaine in Half Leeg, directed by Tara Notcutt which will run at the Alexander Bar in November. Continue reading
A Conversation with Thembela Madliki
Thembela Madliki is a theatre-maker and director. Her credits include Galela, My Boetie is ‘n Danser, Bayephi and Nyanga. She has showcased work at The National Arts Festival, The Cape Town Fringe Festival and The KKNK. Earlier this year, she was named as one of the recipients of Theatre Arts Admin Collective’s Emerging Theatre Director’s Bursary. Her bursary piece, Where She Walked will debut at Theatre Arts Admin from October 28th until November 3rd.
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A Conversation with Mariëtte Opperman
Mariëtte Opperman began dancing at the age of seven. She trained under Paula Olivier and later did an intensive vocational study with Martin Schönberg. She started her professional career in 2008 at the South African Ballet Theatre. She joined Cape Town City Ballet in 2010, where she is currently a senior soloist. Mariëtte also performed professionally in Stockholm, Sweden for a year. Her most memorable roles to date include the Black Swan in Swan Lake, Diane in Diane and Acteon, Kitri in Don Quixote, Sugar Plum in The Nutcracker, Firebird in Firebird, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Giselle in Giselle. She is currently gearing up to take on the titular role in Veronica Paeper’s production of Cinderella for Cape Town City Ballet.
A Conversation with Nicolette Moses
Nicolette Moses is the Associate Producer and Planning Manager for the Baxter Theatre, a position she has held since 2010. She is a trained classical ballet and contemporary dancer who graduated from the UCT School of Dance. Following a sojourn abroad, Nicolette joined the Jazzart Dance Theatre, which she managed before joining CAPAB as head of the Audience Development department. In the transition from CAPAB to Artscape, Nicolette worked as Project Manager and then Artistic Manager until 2001. During her time at Artscape, she also worked extensively with the Nederlands Dance Theater. She was appointed as Project Manager at the Baxter Theatre Centre in 2003, and shortly thereafter started heading up the annual Baxter Dance Festival. Now in its 14th year, we sat down with Nicolette to chat about this year’s festival.
A Conversation with Puleng Lange-Stewart
Puleng Lange-Stewart is a writer, playwright, filmmaker, director, designer and illustrator. In 2016, she was one of three shortlisted writers in the national PEN student writing competition. Her writing has appeared in the 2017 African Literature curriculum at UCT. Her first independent short film, written and directed with Jannous Aukema, Until the Silence Comes, was selected for the 2017 Cape Town International Film Festival and was nominated for an audience award at the Shnit International Short Film Festival. Her primary focus is in interdisciplinary performance and multimedia integration. As a queer, feminist, artist and mother of colour, she hopes to find ways to explore and question the practices and hierarchies that continue to erode human dignity and self-determinacy for so many within the context of South Africa and Africa as a whole. Her work is deeply embedded in a decolonial framework which hopes to elevate and recentre African bodies and voices as a response to its violent historical negation. During the 2018 Open Book Festival, Puleng will appear on a panel entitled Moving Pictures and Borders. Continue reading
A Conversation with Antoinette Kellermann
In a career spanning 40 years, Antoinette Kellermann has established herself as a doyenne of South African theatre, winning numerous awards for her work on radio, television and on stage. In 2008 she was honoured by the South African Academy for Science and Arts for her contribution to South African theatre. In 2010, she received several awards for her one-woman show As die Broek Pas, which she also performed in English as Man to Man. Select recent credits include Die Melktrein stop nie meer hier nee, Asem, Willem Anker’s Samsa-masjien and Hierdie Lewe by Karel Schoeman which awarded her a Kanna Award for Best Actress. She is currently starring as ‘Nell’ in the all-star cast of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame at the Baxter Theatre. Continue reading