Professor Elizabeth Triegaardt has made a career out of her love and passion for dance. A former ballerina, Ms. Triegaardt currently holds the position of Honorary Executive Director of the Cape Town City Ballet, a company she has remained with and stayed fiercely loyal to since graduating from UCT. Her full bio and more information about upcoming Cape Town City Ballet productions will be linked below. Continue reading
Bianca Le Grange made a name for herself after competing on the first season of South African Idols. A few years, and a lot of hard work later, Bianca has become a full-fledged Musical Theatre leading lady tackling roles in David Kramer’s District 6 Kanala and Blood Brothers, for which she won a Naledi Award, Anita in West Side Story and most recently, as the narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We sat down with Bianca before one of her final performances of Joseph to chat about the role, her return to Anita and her Musical Theatre journey. Continue reading
Loren Loubser is an actress who recently performed in Niqabi Ninja at The Cape Town Fringe Festival. I have been very vocal about my admiration for this powerful and necessary play. With abandon Loren performed as the title character alongside Bianca Flanders in the two-handler play. On top of being a performer, Loren along with Kelly-Eve Koopman and Kim Windvogel, has created an NPO called Femme Projects which empowers and educates young women. Continue reading
Opening this week at the Roxy Revue Bar, GrandWest, Shout! The Mod Musical follows the story of 5 women in the swinging 60’s. It is an inspiring celebration as we watch each of these women navigate womanhood and experience her own rite of passage to discover her true self through a decade of emotional highs and lows. What is also interesting to note is that Shout! centers around the fictitious Shout! Magazine: a magazine for the Modern Woman, so it was only fitting that Sarafina Magazine sat down with the cast to chat about the show. Ticket information and cast bios can be found at the end.
Ameera Conrad is a writer, director, actress and one of the Theatre Arts Admin Collective Emerging Young Director’s bursary winners. Currently she is starring in The Fall at The Baxter, a play which she also helped workshop and co-directs. Her new play Reparation, which she has written and will direct, will be produced later this year. Her resume is already impressive but what may surprise many is that Ameera graduated from UCT less than a year ago.
Evita Bezuidenhout, regarded as ‘the most famous white woman in South Africa,’ heads to the Artscape Theatre with her new show: An Evening with Evita Bezuidenhout. We sat down with her at the Mount Nelson to chat about the show, her grandchildren and of course, politics. More information about the show can be found at the bottom of the page. Continue reading
Megan Furniss is a writer, director, improviser, teacher, playwright and performer. This year Megan not only performed during the Cape Town Fringe Festival in The Finkelsteins are Coming to Dinner, but she also directed Niqabi Ninja. Written by Sara Shaarawi, Niqabi Ninja tells the story of one woman’s experience with sexual harassment in Cairo and her plans to fight back. It is an extremely empowering and important piece of theatre that Megan bravely and unapologetically brought to life. We sat down with Megan at the Alexander Bar to chat about her journey as a self-proclaimed theatre-practitioner.
Wynne Bredenkamp is a multi-hyphenate artist and the latest recipient of the Theatre Arts Admin Collective Emerging Theatre Directors Bursary. Her 2014 award-winning play, Salt received critical acclaim and captured the attention of audiences across South Africa. Her latest work At The Edge of the Light begins performances on November 6th.
Actress Genna Galloway is currently performing in this season’s most anticipated musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Gate69. Born into a family of performers, one could say that Genna had extremely big (tap) shoes to fill. With her determined attitude and the combined inherited talent of both of her parents, Genna has been able to work her way through the Musical Theater ranks from swing to leading lady and is now starring as Yitzhak, a man and former drag queen in the first South African production of Hedwig.
Look out Cape Town because there is a new Kramer about to grab your attention. For years the Kramer family has contributed to the arts and cultural landscape of South African Theatre and now it’s Jesse’s turn. Jesse has fast become one of Cape Town’s go to photographers for theatre. Her extraordinary work attempts, and succeeds, to do the impossible and capture those magical theatrical moments that are the reason that we as humans flock to the theatre.
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