Local artist wins international competition

MBOMBELA – Following hot on the heels of South African comedian Trevor Noah’s success in the cut-throat American entertainment industry, a Mpumalanga artist has just had his play selected to be staged in Los Angeles, California in April after winning an International Playwriting competition.

The play, titled The Last Show, is written by artist Goodenough Mashego and will be part of 10 chosen out of more than 200 international entries to be staged at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble as part of the Saving Indigenous Species Prize Benefit Performance for the Jane Gooddal Institute.

The competition was run in 2015 and attracted entrants from all over the world. Mashego is the only South African winner and one of only two Africans. The other African winner is from Zimbabwe while the rest of the winners come from Ireland, Canada, USA, New Zealand and England.

“It shows the talent that this country has and that if it is properly nurtured, we can become exporters of culture instead of being one of the biggest consumers of foreign culture.

“All that is needed is for talent from provinces in the periphery to be identified, supported and given an opportunity to grow and be ready for export.

“We don’t need to export grapes, as I am doing in this instance, when we can sell wine,” says Mashego about his achievement.

South Africans will best remember how another playwright Lebo M invaded the world with Lion King and how Sarafina came to define the spirit of South African theatre.

Mashego, who is also a published poet, writer, blogger, and calls himself a 360 degrees artist says his winning play, which is themed around saving endangered species was inspired by the state that the country’s game finds itself in.

“We have lost so many rhinos for their horns through poaching. Some few years ago we made a rhino Newsmaker of the Year to bring awareness. There are other forms of poaching taking place that involve exotic animals killed for their skin, sharks for their teeth, abalone for their rumoured aphrodisiac mystic.

“My play explores all these different kinds of poaching and how such endangered species can be saved through a multi-pronged stakeholder approach,” this literary judge says.

The Last Show will have an all-American cast and director. Mashego did not want to disclose the content of the play due to contractual obligations. He was compensated with US$100 for the play as the aim is to fund-raise for the cause.
He has since been invited to attend the staging of the play in April and to use the platform to advocate for endangered species and the challenges facing the continent and country in regard to poaching.

“I have already requested the Mpumalanga Office of the Premier and the Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation to sponsor my trip to the LA as this will be a platform to fly the country’s flag and talk at length about challenges facing us in this struggle; especially given that Mpumalanga borders the Kruger National Park which has seen an escalation of animal poaching.

“I am confident that my request will be granted and we shall add to the cultural success that the country continues to have with people like Noah who has exposed the talent we have here,” he says confidently.

This playwright, who needs to raise the money as soon as possible so he can start facilitating the acquisition of his American Visa says he expects like-minded organisations such as Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Authority (MTPA), SANParks, Department of Environmental Affairs, Department of Arts and Culture and private sector players such as Nedbank to jump as this opportunity to partner with a winning initiative as this will definitely put the country in the limelight.

“All these organisations I mentioned have programmes dedicated to environmental awareness; the Affinity Account at Nedbank is one such. I am inviting other private sector players and civil society funders. I just feel confident that this is a moment we can all be proud of and celebrate together,” he says.