The Jakes Gerwel Foundation and the Suidoosterfees develop the talent of emerging playwrights through their shared Jong Sterre / Rising Stars Project, an intensive three-week mentorship programme that is offered in the Foundation’s writers house in Somerset East. All travel and accommodation costs, as well as meals and mentorship fees, are covered by the Jakes Gerwel Foundation.
It’s the second time that this programme is offered and this year the mentor is the well-known actor and playwright Abduragman Adams. Besides the mentorship programme, the emerging artists will also get the chance to stage their productions during the Suidoosterfees in 2021. The stage development costs will be covered by NATi (the National Afrikaans Theatre Initiative) and Artscape.
The organisers received over fifty Afrikaans and English applications and fourteen promising candidates were shortlisted. During the presentation that followed at the Artscape, the judging panel was so impressed by the quality of the applications that seven (as opposed to five last year) were selected.
The playwrights who were selected this year are: Andrico Goosen, Carlo Daniels, Fabian Rainers, Gerhard Visagie, Margo Kotze, Misha Krynauw and Xolisa Ngubelanga.
Andrico Goosen has already turned his attention to contemporary South African puppet and object theatre in his postgraduate studies at the Stellenbosch University. In 2016 he and other artists started The Loft Puppet Company that includes shows for children as well as adults. In 2019 the company’s production Beloofde Land | Promised Land was nominated for a kykNET Fiësta Award for best set design. Other puppet performances include Janni Younge’s Firebird as well as Huppelkind that was nominated for a Woordtrofee in 2020 for best ensemble. Andrico has also acted in various film and television productions such as Boland Moorde, Sara se Geheim, Kanarie and Die Spreeus. In 2017-2018 he participated in the Debut programme of Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) and he obtained an industry certificate in asset-based community development.
Carlo Daniels grew up in Mitchell’s Plain where he started performing and singing on street corners. In 2007 Carlo’s professional career kicked off at Madame Zingara and many other theatre productions have followed since. In 2011 Carlo appeared at the Baxter Theatre in his first David Kramer musical Some like it vrot, which led to him featuring in other Kramer productions such as Kat and the Kings and District Six Kanala. In 2016 Carlo toured with Clowns without Borders South Africa (CWBSA) to perform for underprivileged children. He received training in physical theatre at the Magnet Theatre and graduated in 2019. He was nominated for a Fleur de Cap Award for his solo performance in Klippies van die grond.
Fabian Rainers hails from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. Fabian is a writer, storyteller, broadcaster and content curator. He holds a BA degree in humanities from the University of Pretoria and has a love for all things cultural and technological. As a father of two and a people-oriented person, Fabian works actively to promote South Africa’s unique and rich indigenous knowledge systems and believes in telling the authentic stories of our country.
Gerhard Visagie was born in Durban, went to school in Paarl, completed his studies at Stellenbosch University and now teaches English in Fraserburg. He has a singular understanding of children and the complexities in their lives, which is exactly why he is so deeply involved in developing literature and drama in the Fraserburg community. As chairperson of the organising committee of the annual Fraserburg Logan Drama Festival, happenings in school drama always succeed in transport him: to experience how a school production breaks the sound barrier is rich.
Margo Kotze obtained her degree in drama and theatre at the Stellenbosch University in 2018 and, in 2019, she completed an honours degree in creative writing. Her undergraduate focus on voice and acting prepared her well for the stage and radio as her preferred media. Her writing projects include theatre productions such as Koek en Tert, MOS and Ode aan ’n One Man Show while her radio work for RSG includes Luister en leer and Takalani Sesame. Margo has a special interest in comedy and farce and finds her inspiration in real life. Margo believes that where there are people, there are stories and where there are stories, there is theatre.
Misha Krynauw is a prolific copywriter and art critic from Cape Town. In her creative work, she aims to change the lens through which the queer coloured community looks at itself as well as the perceptions others have of this group. She is currently working on a play called The Infinite Woman in which the central character, Anna, has to find her way through generational trauma, enforced assimilation as well as other onslaughts on her individuality and efforts to break the cycle of poverty in order to reach the ‘beyond’ of her hopes and dreams.
Xolisa Ngubelanga is a writer and theatre maker who applies his drama and language skills to his work as youth developer and facilitator. Xolisa’s work at Pearston High School in the Karoo contributed to improving their matric pass rate within a period of two years with about 45% to 62% in 2019. Xolisa’s scripts include Flamebook for which he won the Standard Bank Ovation Award in 2017, Dinner with Bantu that celebrates Steve Biko’s heritage and Pieces of an African Drum that poses questions about African identity and the need to make money to survive. He completed his master’s degree in creative writing at Rhodes University in 2019. He is currently working on It’s My Baby that is set on a Karoo farm and that explores the complexity of relationships in a burning context of isolation and crime.
